#GobyLivesMatter

Ben jammin · Dec 10, 2015

My harlequin tusk, Raymond, is an otherwise very mild mannered and even clumsy fish. But he seems to have a thing for diamond gobies. When I first got him and added him to my 260 FOWLR that had a diamond goby already in it, all was well for several months until one morning my daughter woke up to find poor old Gus the Goby in the process of being swallowed by old Ray Ray. I decided it might not have been Raymond's fault because I had been feeding fairly sparingly and he was probably hungry. So for the last year-plus I have been feeding my fish generously and despite a heavy stocking level, I really haven't had any aggression or other issues, especially not involving Raymond. Several months ago I added another diamond goby to help turn over the sand and keep it clean.

Recently, I decided to try to cut back on the feeding slightly to keep nitrates from getting out of control. Well, yesterday ol Raymond had a relapse:

If he weren't so darn handsome I'd be really upset, but good looks will get you everywhere.

I might need to find a new way to keep my sandbed clean.

malira · Dec 10, 2015

I love the title.

Poor Gobies.

eatbreakfast · Dec 11, 2015

When you say "feeding sparingly" and "generously" please define. Availability of foods really cut down aggression. Predators are also less inclined to hunt when well fed, as hunting is more difficult than getting a free meal.

Duke4Life · Dec 11, 2015

eatbreakfast said:
When you say "feeding sparingly" and "generously" please define. Availability of foods really cut down aggression. Predators are also less inclined to hunt when well fed, as hunting is more difficult than getting a free meal.

+1

Ben jammin · Dec 11, 2015

I usually feed a mix of pellet foods of various sizes in the morning (not sure how to describe the amount - not enough to cover the bottom of a plastic cup). In the evening, I used to feed three cubes of some mix of PE Mysis, Mega Marine, Mega Marine Algae or other frozen foods. A couple months ago I cut that down to two cubes. In addition, every other evening I would feed one small chunk of Rod's Food predator blend to Raymond the Tusk, because he eats the pellets and frozen stuff but it never seemed like it was substantial enough for him.

When I feed, Raymond always swims to the top corner of the tank looking for his chunk and I feed him with some metal forceps. Thing is, he's really slow and deliberate. He likes to look at the chunk for a few seconds and then lunge at it. And he usually misses with his lunge - wide left like a bad field goal kicker. I think he has a depth perception issue or something. I distract the other fish while feeding him by squirting the frozen food into the water on the other end of the tank, but by the time Raymond lunges, misses, and lunges again, one of my other fish will often steal Raymond's chunk. Poor guy. I'd say he gets his dinner stolen about half the time. I haven't figured out a better way to feed him though.