Six spot goby won't come outside.

[Vezirtziszarok]

Hello reefers. I've bought yesterday my first sand sifting goby. It's a six spot goby Valenciennea sexguttata. At first he stayed up all night swimming up and down the tank. Thankfully it didn't jump. When the other fish woke up he went and occupied the small cave you see in the photo and he didn't come out since then. I tried to feed him mysis shrimp, pellets and AF plankton but he didn't respond to anything. Should I be worried or eventually he will be alright? What do you think?

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Hello reefers. I've bought yesterday my first sand sifting goby. It's a six spot goby Valenciennea sexguttata. At first he stayed up all night swimming up and down the tank. Thankfully it didn't jump. When the other fish woke up he went and occupied the small cave you see in the photo and he didn't come out since then. I tried to feed him mysis shrimp, pellets and AF plankton but he didn't respond to anything. Should I be worried or eventually he will be alright? What do you think?

Not quite same, but let me share this story -

Wanted diamond goby to sift sand. Found healthy looking & eating well small one at local Petco, brought him home and put in QT observation and to acclimate/change salinity from theirs up to mine 1.026. Eventually diamond goby went into main 180g tank. Didn't see it. Didn't see any sand disturbed anywhere... one week went by... 2nd week went by... NO sign of fish or sand movement. Gave up on fish (assumed died and too small for my large tank to notice water parameter change due to death).

Found large healthy diamond goby and brought it home.

Now I have TWO.

Big one has caught small one in mouth but they seem to be working it out more or less. I only wanted one. I should have had more patience. I see lots of posts where fish disappear for months only to resurface... live and learn (again...)

Hoping your fish just needs time to settle.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It may but you don’t know it as they tend to be timid
Try feeding and walking away- they’ll know you’re there if you try to hide
Set your phone on video mode for about 20 minutes and come back and review video
You should see it come out to eat not in your presence.
If not, another fish may be intimidating it, which the video may confirm

 

[Vezirtziszarok]

And it's night again. He's out at last. He does his sand thing from time to time but he still goes up and down in the tank