Twin Spot Goby Help

[Enigma]

So, being a silly noob who clearly doesn't research her purchases well enough, I purchased a lone Twin Spot Goby a couple of weeks ago.

The store only had the one, so even though I learned that they should be kept in pairs very quickly after the purchase, there was no mate to go back and get. Should I consider looking for another lone Twin Spot? I'm not sure how to sex them.

This little guy is eating like a little piggie. I mix up a frozen mysis, brine, spirulina, and Garlic Guard concoction and inject it into the sand around his borrow. He clearly works the food in his mouth and his little belly noticeably rounds out. He looks good.

I am injecting a LOT of food into the sand (though this isn't being reflected in the tank's parameters . . . Thankfully!): probably 1-1.5 frozen cubes a day. What can I cut this back to?

Also, any ideas as to how I can deal with feeding him when I'm away on a week long vacation in August? I have an auto feeder for the fish that feed in the water column. They're not excited about pellets and flake, but they'll eat it. The auto feeder won't work for this guy, though.

[paddyob]

Twin spot are not a good choice for most. As you already learned, better in pairs.

Also more sensitive than others. More of an advanced/expert fish.

If you can't support it on sifting alone, you are going to have trouble.


Get a baby sitter if you need one.

Good luck.

[dc4]

I've tried keeping a single signal goby and then a pair, didn't end well on either occasion and I over feed my tank twice a day. I would never recommend them to anyone and I think they should be left at the LFS so they stop stocking them. I have a pair of fat mating Mandarins and I would rate them a 5 and the twin spot a 10 in terms of difficulty if that helps.

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[Enigma]

Twin spot are not a good choice for most. As you already learned, better in pairs.

Also more sensitive than others. More of an advanced/expert fish.

If you can't support it on sifting alone, you are going to have trouble.


Get a baby sitter if you need one.

Good luck.

I can certainly support it by continuing to do what I'm doing: injecting the food into the sand. I'm hoping I don't have to do it forever, though. Once the new tank is set up I'll be investigating ways to populate the sandbed for him. Though I will continue to give him his "shrimp cocktail."

I didn't treat him for internal parasites, however. When I do the tank switch he'll be treated before moving to the new display tank. I suspect this is what will kill him: if I don't treat him.

The tank is peaceful, and he doesn't seem agitated or nervous. Of course, I have nothing to compare his behavior to so I may not know what I'm looking at.

I am going to have to find someone to pop into the house a couple of times, as we have a rabbit and plants that will also need care while we're away.

I've tried keeping a single signal goby and then a pair, didn't end well on either occasion and I over feed my tank twice a day. I would never recommend them to anyone and I think they should be left at the LFS so they stop stocking them. I have a pair of fat mating Mandarins and I would rate them a 5 and the twin spot a 10 in terms of difficulty if that helps.

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How long did your gobies live? I desperately want a Mandarin, and now I'm thinking that maybe I can do it: if I can care for the goby as long as you did. :lol:

If this one does well I may look for a partner for him, but that is the only reason I would ever purchase another one. I have read a couple of anecdotal stories online where a couple of people have been successful with them for a year+, but they are very much the minority.

I had researched "sand sifting gobies" in general, but I hadn't encountered this species in my research. I figured he had to be reasonably similar to the others. A quick "google" on my BlackBerry at the store didn't raise any red flags, so I went ahead with the purchase. Then when I did my in depth research at home while acclimating him, I learned about my mistake.

[paddyob]

Mandarins are expert only fish. Most will die in the hands of noobs. Mandarins rarely take frozen.

Do more research and don't buy anything until you know what you are getting in to.

Let the twin spot be.

As for a new tank, six months minimum before adding a Mandy or sifter. Let bugs populate.




I can certainly support it by continuing to do what I'm doing: injecting the food into the sand. I'm hoping I don't have to do it forever, though. Once the new tank is set up I'll be investigating ways to populate the sandbed for him. Though I will continue to give him his "shrimp cocktail."

I didn't treat him for internal parasites, however. When I do the tank switch he'll be treated before moving to the new display tank. I suspect this is what will kill him: if I don't treat him.

The tank is peaceful, and he doesn't seem agitated or nervous. Of course, I have nothing to compare his behavior to so I may not know what I'm looking at.

I am going to have to find someone to pop into the house a couple of times, as we have a rabbit and plants that will also need care while we're away.



How long did your gobies live? I desperately want a Mandarin, and now I'm thinking that maybe I can do it: if I can care for the goby as long as you did. :lol:

If this one does well I may look for a partner for him, but that is the only reason I would ever purchase another one. I have read a couple of anecdotal stories online where a couple of people have been successful with them for a year+, but they are very much the minority.

I had researched "sand sifting gobies" in general, but I hadn't encountered this species in my research. I figured he had to be reasonably similar to the others. A quick "google" on my BlackBerry at the store didn't raise any red flags, so I went ahead with the purchase. Then when I did my in depth research at home while acclimating him, I learned about my mistake.

[Enigma]

Mandarins are expert only fish. Most will die in the hands of noobs. Mandarins rarely take frozen.

Do more research and don't buy anything until you know what you are getting in to.

Let the twin spot be.

As for a new tank, six months minimum before adding a Mandy or sifter. Let bugs populate.

Do you mean that I shouldn't treat it for internal parasites? That is counter to everything I've read about "successfully" keeping them. I'd rather not do it, but I thought it was required.

Or, do you mean it shouldn't be moved to the new display? Everything is moving from one to the other. Not moving it isn't an option I'm willing to consider.

A second tank (12 gallon nano cube) will be plumbed into the system to be a refugium to cultivate pods. That won't happen until the end of August or early September at the earliest. It would probably take months to get a healthy pod population. A mandarin would only be added after I had complete confidence in the population. I have done a lot of research on those, so I'm pretty confident in the plan. It all hinges on getting the require pod population.

[xnmuller]

Just a quick anecdotal story. I have had a win spot (my daughter named him Spotsy-Jumpy) in my 135 gallon for just under a year now. Spotsy-Jumpy was added when the tank was about 6 months old as I wanted to more certain in his food source. He has not been paired up all that time and he has never once shown signs of distress. Nor do I do anything special for his diet, but then again he has a very large dinner plate. Maybe I got lucky, I don't know, but I would not rate them as high as ten out of ten for difficulty of care.

Although it does sound like you may have some difficulty with the move. Good luck.

[jtbadco]

I am not saying how difficult they are or can be, or whether or not they should be allowed in the aquarium trade.

I picked one up also, with no idea on difficulty of feeding. I have read that paired twin spots should be kept together but not that solo twin spots are disadvantaged in some way.

I have only had mine for 2 months but he is healthy and eats well. He is in a well stocked 65 gal community reef tank. He eats anything that hits the sand including shrimp, brine shrimp, mysis, flake, pellets, cyclopeeze.

Now it has only been two months but I would think the varied diet and good eating habits are a good sign. I also have a m+f Green Mandarin that are both on prepared foods as well but they were eating well before I bought them.

I suggest you continue what you are doing. Putting food in the sand will guarantee he is well fed...but only do it once or twice a week. It will encourage him to eat when you feed the tank.

HTH
Blaine

[Enigma]

Although it does sound like you may have some difficulty with the move. Good luck.

I'm not overly worried about the move. It is something I have to do for maintenance and budget issues. I can't afford to properly manage two tanks ("properly" for me includes chillers and controllers). I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the existing sandbed. It does have a population of largish amphipods that I don't want to lose, but it is a very young sandbed.

I shut one tank down when temperatures spiked in it and I purchased a chiller for the other tank. I moved the residents into the tank with the chiller (25 gallon system: 10g in the display and 15g in the sump and refugium). This leaves me overstocked at present, so we're in a mad panic to get the new display done. The parameters are presently good on the system, but if we leave it too long it will all go to hell. The five fish are basically babies .75" to 1.5", with the Goby being the largest by a 1/2 inch.

I suggest you continue what you are doing. Putting food in the sand will guarantee he is well fed...but only do it once or twice a week. It will encourage him to eat when you feed the tank.

Thanks for the suggestion. :) I will try it twice a week for now.