Yellow Watchman Goby

[canadianeh]

Hello. Since I added YWG to my DT, I have not ever seen him go after food or shifting sands for food or eating at all. When he was in QT (just for observation only with only Melafix), I saw him eating food from the bottom of the tank once or twice. The rest of the time in QT I had to target feed him.

Now in DT, he made a cave for himself under a rock and during feeding time he does not come out. I feed frozen and pellets to the tank.

He has been in DT for at least 2 weeks or more so far. Is this normal behavior for an odd YWG? Can he lasted this long without eating at all (at least I don't see him eating)?

 

[dank reefer]

sorry to hear that he is not eating while in the DT. Are you noticing any tank mates darting after him or bullying it around?

 

[canadianeh]

sorry to hear that he is not eating while in the DT. Are you noticing any tank mates darting after him or bullying it around?

The tank mates are two juvenile clowns and Molly Miller blenny. They don’t dart at him at all.

 

[725196]

In my experience fish should start eating within the first 24 hrs. Often sooner. He may feel threatened by another inhabitant and therefore it could take longer but 2 weeks is not good if he is not eating. Try spot feeding him as he needs something in his system ASAP. You can also try feeding him when the lights are just going down or just starting to come on. My tank starts to get light when the sun comes up, light enough for the fish to be out. They get their first food then even though the lights don’t come on for a few hrs still.

I hope this helps and I hope he makes it.

 

[Angelwolf21203]

Could he be feeding at night? Picking through the sand then?

 

[canadianeh]

In my experience fish should start eating within the first 24 hrs. Often sooner. He may feel threatened by another inhabitant and therefore it could take longer but 2 weeks is not good if he is not eating. Try spot feeding him as he needs something in his system ASAP. You can also try feeding him when the lights are just going down or just starting to come on. My tank starts to get light when the sun comes up, light enough for the fish to be out. They get their first food then even though the lights don’t come on for a few hrs still.

I hope this helps and I hope he makes it.

I will try, but is it normal for YWG to be spot fed? If it is a mandarin, yes I can understand. But for YWG with juvenille clownfish and small molly miller? I have never seen them bullying YWG. They mind their own business. I will not get a mandarin just because I am not up for spot feeding it few times per day.

Could he be feeding at night? Picking through the sand then?

I really hope that he picks through the sand at night. I purposely feed a bit more into the tank for this purpose.

 

[725196]

I will try, but is it normal for YWG to be spot fed? If it is a mandarin, yes I can understand. But for YWG with juvenille clownfish and small molly miller? I have never seen them bullying YWG. They mind their own business. I will not get a mandarin just because I am not up for spot feeding it few times per day.

It may or may not be the issue. I am just suggesting for the short term to get him some food so that he will hopefully survive. The goal is that he will "hunt" his own food when you feed the tank.

 

[canadianeh]

It may or may not be the issue. I am just suggesting for the short term to get him some food so that he will hopefully survive. The goal is that he will "hunt" his own food when you feed the tank.

I see. Okay thank you. I will try this.

It is kind of my fault. He didn't eat at LFS, but he was the only choice that has perfect fins and I wanted YWG. The other ones were eating but had nipped fins. The rest of my fish that is eating all of them were eating at LFS. I should have gotten the YWG.

For next time, no matter how perfect fish look like from the outside, if they don't eat at LFS, I will not get it. Lesson learned.

 

[jkap]

Mine had always acted like this for a couple months. I added a cleaner shrimp the other day and it changed everything. I think the other fish stayed hidden while they checked out the new tank mate and that gave the goby a chance to swim around in peace. Now he is almost a completely new fish and swims around just like all of the other fish and joins the frenzy during feeding. I'm not sure if adding the shrimp was the direct cause but it's the only change that occured to the tank lately. Interesting that it is a cleaner shrimp and not a pistol shrimp.

 

[esther]

Hello. Since I added YWG to my DT, I have not ever seen him go after food or shifting sands for food or eating at all. When he was in QT (just for observation only with only Melafix), I saw him eating food from the bottom of the tank once or twice. The rest of the time in QT I had to target feed him.

Now in DT, he made a cave for himself under a rock and during feeding time he does not come out. I feed frozen and pellets to the tank.

He has been in DT for at least 2 weeks or more so far. Is this normal behavior for an odd YWG? Can he lasted this long without eating at all (at least I don't see him eating)?

We got a YWG back in March. Thought he didn't make it because we never saw him again. Just bought another one and he disappeared too. And guess what? They're both living together under the rock with their pistol shrimp. We set up a camera and caught them all on video. lol

Just accept that you'll probably never see him.

 

[canadianeh]

Mine had always acted like this for a couple months. I added a cleaner shrimp the other day and it changed everything. I think the other fish stayed hidden while they checked out the new tank mate and that gave the goby a chance to swim around in peace. Now he is almost a completely new fish and swims around just like all of the other fish and joins the frenzy during feeding. I'm not sure if adding the shrimp was the direct cause but it's the only change that occured to the tank lately. Interesting that it is a cleaner shrimp and not a pistol shrimp.

hmm interesting. I thought about this too. I wonder if he had a shrimp mate before they caught him. Now he is missing his friend. I don't want to get a shrimp though.

We got a YWG back in March. Thought he didn't make it because we never saw him again. Just bought another one and he disappeared too. And guess what? They're both living together under the rock with their pistol shrimp. We set up a camera and caught them all on video. lol

Just accept that you'll probably never see him.

That's cool! But do you ever seen one of them or both out and eat?

 

[esther]

hmm interesting. I thought about this too. I wonder if he had a shrimp mate before they caught him. Now he is missing his friend. I don't want to get a shrimp though.

That's cool! But do you ever seen one of them or both out and eat?

I've never seen them eat. Not once.

 

[canadianeh]

I've never seen them eat. Not once.

That give me some comfort that I am not alone. I hope it is the same case with mine.

 

[Paul B]

I have a spawning pair for many years and the female almost never comes out of the cave. The male stays next to the entrance and hardly ever swims far. I just shoot some food into their cave when I feed. My last pair lived about 12 years

They were like an old, fat married couple.

 

[canadianeh]

I have a spawning pair for many years and the female almost never comes out of the cave. The male stays next to the entrance and hardly ever swims far. I just shoot some food into their cave when I feed. My last pair lived about 12 years

They were like an old, fat married couple.

I am humbled to get a response from the legendary @Paul B

Thanks for the hope

 

[vetteguy53081]

Mine darts out at feeding and returns to its hiding spot thereafter

 

[JMac82]

My YWG didn't come out for about a month. He paired up with the pistol shrimp almost immediately but would stay hidden. I would see evidence of new tunnels and hear the pistol shrimp popping at night. One night i decided to check on the tank in the middle of the night, all the other fish were in their sleeping holes, the YWG and pistol were scavenging the sand bed. Once he got comfortable he started coming out during the feeding times. I guess he got tired of getting only the scraps and wanted fresh stuff.

 

[Paul B]

I am humbled to get a response from the legendary @Paul B

Lets not go there, I am a fish Geek like you.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

We got a YWG back in March. Thought he didn't make it because we never saw him again. Just bought another one and he disappeared too. And guess what? They're both living together under the rock with their pistol shrimp. We set up a camera and caught them all on video. lol

Just accept that you'll probably never see him.

Ha! That's awesome!!

 

[JohnGP]

My current YWG hangs out at the opening of his cave while the Pistol Shrimp works away but he will dart out to grab a piece of food. I had one previously that seemed like he wouldn't eat so I would take one or two round pellets and put them in my target feeder tube and drop them right at the entrance of his cave so they'd roll down into his cave. It didn't take long before he started eating the pellets and soon thereafter he started coming out more and more. I know you said you don't want a Pistol Shrimp but I agree with the poster/s who said get him a shrimp, it seems to make them feel more secure.