Is My Watchman Goby broken?

[kevcarroll]

Hey everyone,

I’m hoping someone here might have some insight into a strange issue I’ve been having with my yellow watchman gobies. I’ve now had two different gobies exhibit the exact same behavior, and unfortunately, the first one ended up dying.

Both gobies initially seemed perfectly healthy. They would spend days hanging out in their burrow with my pistol shrimp, eating normally, occasionally coming out to watch what’s going on, and then retreating back into their burrow.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I’ll find them swimming at the very top of the tank near the waterline. Eventually, they end up near my powerhead or getting pulled toward the filtration intake.

When I catch it in time, I’ll carefully remove the goby from the filtration area and return him to the display. He’ll usually swim right back to his burrow and behave completely normally again for several days before repeating the same behavior.

Unfortunately, my first goby eventually died because I didn’t discover him in the filtration system until it was too late.

Now my second goby is doing the exact same thing, and I’m really struggling to understand what’s causing it.

Tank Information

• Tank: 15-gallon HelloReef AIO
• Powerhead: LSLW-10 sine driver (running at low speed)
• Return pump: Running at a relatively low setting
• Temperature: Constant 76°F

Current Water Parameters

• Salinity: 1.026
• Ammonia: 0 ppm
• Nitrite: 0.19 ppm
• pH: 8.1

Current Livestock

• 2 paired clownfish (they don’t bother the goby)
• 1 yellow watchman goby
• 1 pistol shrimp (paired with the goby)
• 1 bubble tip anemone
• A few soft corals
• 3 hermit crabs
• 2 Nassarius (zombie) snails
• 2 turbo snails

What Has Me Confused

The strangest part is that both gobies have followed the exact same pattern.

They’ll behave completely normally for days, eating and living in their burrow with the pistol shrimp, and then suddenly I’ll find them hanging out at the surface.

They don’t appear to be constantly struggling or getting blown around by the current. In fact, I’ve found my current goby literally perched on top of my powerhead just below the waterline (see attached photo).

My powerhead and return pump are both running at relatively low settings, so I wouldn’t think excessive flow would be the issue.

I’m starting to wonder whether there’s something environmental going on that I’m overlooking.

Has anyone experienced anything similar with yellow watchman gobies?

Could this be related to oxygen levels, water chemistry, stress, or something else entirely?

I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone who’s had a goby repeatedly leave its burrow and swim near the surface despite otherwise behaving normally.


I’ve attached a photo showing exactly where I keep finding him.


I’d really appreciate any advice. I don’t want to lose another goby, and I’d like to figure out what’s causing this before it happens again.


Thanks in advance!

 

[kevcarroll]

Also, just to clarify, it was two separate separate gobis that I had at separate times. They weren’t both in the tank at the same time.

 

[exnisstech]

Clowns maybe going after them. Fins look a little beat up. You almost need a camera or be able to watch out of site to see their true behavior.

PS. Normal healthy fish will not get stuck on an overflow.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO it has nothing to do with the flow, no healthy fish will get stuck to a powerhead.

I also suspect the clowns are harassing it.

What size is your tank? Can you show a full tank picture?

 

[Baldyreef]

third vote for the clowns, getting stuck in overflow is most likely weakness and exhaustion which if it is the clowns can be attributed to it trying to constantly evade them

 

[kevcarroll]

IMO it has nothing to do with the flow, no healthy fish will get stuck to a powerhead.

I also suspect the clowns are harassing it.

What size is your tank? Can you show a full tank picture?

Yeah he’s happy and eating and hanging out in and right outside the burrow 90% of the time and then randomly will swim to the top and then eventually get pulled against the overflow. All tank details with parameters are in the post, it’s a hello reef 15 gallon. The clown fish are always in the back of the tank along the back wall. I have never seen them anywhere else in the tank or anywhere near the Gobi.

 

[kevcarroll]

Also, when he ends up swimming around the top, I have never seen the clowns go anywhere near him. Also thanks for all the quick replies!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How long have you had the fish?
#fishmedics for more insight

 

[kevcarroll]

The first one that did not make it I had for 2 months. This one for about 3 weeks. Again about 99% of the time he acts completely normal eats mysis shrimp directly out of a spot feeder twice a day I’m doing normal Goby stuff, hanging out in the borough, smoking his head out, sitting outside the burrow doing watchman stuff.

 

[13rodo]

I think (not an expert) that swimming around high flow areas is a possible indicator of flukes / low oxygen.

 

[kevcarroll]

I think (not an expert) that swimming around high flow areas is a possible indicator of flukes / low oxygen.

I did think this could be possible cause so I just now adjusted the water flow to add more surface agitation. Videos are from about five minutes ago. He’s back to his borough acting completely normal.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I did think this could be possible cause so I just now adjusted the water flow to add more surface agitation. Videos are from about five minutes ago. He’s back to his borough acting completely normal.

That’s still pretty low surface agitation. Can you put an air stone in, even in the back chamber?

I’m not convinced it is low oxygen, but you 100% want to rule that out first. Two things pointing away from that is your high pH (meaning low co2) and *generally* gobies have a lower oxygen requirement than gobies do.

 

[kevcarroll]

If I point the return any higher I start getting bubbles all through the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

If I point the return any higher I start getting bubbles all through the tank.

You need bubbles somewhere in the system for proper gas exchange. A protein skimmer supplies that, so does an air stone. In my AIO tank, I have a protein skimmer in the back compartment. That usually suffices, but even then, one time, I let the pump that moves water from back to front get partially clogged. The oxygen level dropped overnight and I lost two shrimp.

What happens is; without bubbles breaking the water’s surface tension, proper gas exchange is impaired (oxygen in, co2 out). I’ve seen cases where even just feeding an oily food caused a surface slick in a tank, cutting off gas exchange, despite vigorous water circulation.