Twin Spot Goby Advice

[dochow]

Hello all, just purchased two twinspot gobies from reputable LFS. They are tiny though and very delicate. I know they are extremely difficult to keep, but I like the challenge and they are extremely interesting to watch together.

They are currently on day 5 of TTM and will be QT'd after TTM to fatten up.

I was looking to see if anyone had advice on keeping these beautiful fish. There are limited resources online and in books.

I currently have sand in a tupperware container from my DT in each of the tanks used for TTM. During TTM they get fresh sand from DT.

I am attempting to feed calanus, brine, live black worms and finely chopped squid/scallop/clam. I even mix this into live sand that will be in the tank that they are being transferred into.

Over past few days their feeding response has improved as they will mouth the food, but often they spit it back out.

They are so small that the food may almost be too large.

I know they sift fine sand for microfauna, but to be successful I will need to get them eating live and frozen foods.

Any suggestions on what has worked for people in the past?

Some pics to enjoy:

 

[jenreefer]

Beautiful fish. Will follow along.

I would order amphipods and copepods to add to the system for them.
here is an excerpt from a writeup on them
"Live brine shrimp and black worms can be used to induce feeding in finicky individuals, but vary the diet as much as possible once they are eating. This goby will typically not take the food from the water column. Instead, it will ingest the food when it lands on the aquarium bottom by taking a mouthful of substrate. (If food never gets to the bottom of the aquarium because of more aggressive feeders, than your S. biocellatus is likely to become malnourished.) Of course, the feeding activity of this fish can help keep the sand surface clean of detritus and algae. An adult S. biocellatus will disturb the upper 1 inch or so of sand when feeding. When constructing a burrow, it will dig even deeper into the sand bed."

 

[eatbreakfast]

I've found they rarely take foods offered to them. They do best in a mature tank with plenty of sand space. They don't sift very deeply in the sand, so if the tank is mature and large enough, the microfauna will replenish itself.

 

[94Roarge]

These are my #1 favorite fish and I have done a heap of reading up on them, and as far as food goes, they are (micro) worm eaters, not pod eaters. My experience with them is that they would hover over the bottom and if their pelvic fins touched something, they would back up to eat it, if it tasted good, and it. I figured from that this meant they could taste with said fin, as a catfish does if something touches it's body. My two cents :)

 

[dochow]

Very interesting and thank you everyone for giving me some advice.

My DT is about 16 months old so I think the sand bed is established enough for these guys. I can visually see an unreal amount of life in the sand including larger worms.

So far they are doing ok, still tough to actually observe them eating anything I've offered. Like I said, they mouth the food, but I can't tell if they consume it.

Has anyone had any success with any prepared/fresh/frozen food???

 

[dochow]

1 twin spot gone, rest in peace little guy

 

[94Roarge]

1 twin spot gone, rest in peace little guy

Oh no :(

 

[leahfiish]

Hi @dochow, I was wondering if you had any success with your remaining twin spot?

 

[Scaggs1117]

Hello all, just purchased two twinspot gobies from reputable LFS. They are tiny though and very delicate. I know they are extremely difficult to keep, but I like the challenge and they are extremely interesting to watch together.

They are currently on day 5 of TTM and will be QT'd after TTM to fatten up.

I was looking to see if anyone had advice on keeping these beautiful fish. There are limited resources online and in books.

I currently have sand in a tupperware container from my DT in each of the tanks used for TTM. During TTM they get fresh sand from DT.

I am attempting to feed calanus, brine, live black worms and finely chopped squid/scallop/clam. I even mix this into live sand that will be in the tank that they are being transferred into.

Over past few days their feeding response has improved as they will mouth the food, but often they spit it back out.

They are so small that the food may almost be too large.

I know they sift fine sand for microfauna, but to be successful I will need to get them eating live and frozen foods.

Any suggestions on what has worked for people in the past?

Some pics to enjoy:

I drop coral food from the syringe (no needle obv) right near his borough and he sifts it…works nearly every time