Diamond Goby - Dead or Alive?

[hmello]

Saturday afternoon I purchased a diamond goby at my local LFS (they quarantine for you!). I brought him home and used the drip method to acclimate him for 3 hours. When I tried to net him out of my 5 gallon bucket, he flipped out and started jumping. I placed the plastic lid on the bucket and just waited until he calmed down. When the jumping stopped, I removed the lid and he wasn't jumping anymore but was listing to the side once in a while. He appeared to be a little stunned. I put him in my display tank and he seemed to swim fine over to a corner. He stayed in that corner until we went to bed that night. He did move/scoot a little when others would swim by him (no one was picking on him though). When I woke the next morning, we couldn't find him anywhere. I know that they dig holes under rocks and hang out there so I wasn't too worried. But today is day 3 in the tank, and I still haven't seem any sign of him. I have eggcrate and a canopy on my tank, so he couldn't have jumped out. I checked my overflow to see if he got in there, but no sign of him. Should I be worried? Do you think he is just shy and still hiding? I keep looking for signs of the sand being disturbed, but nothing obvious. Could he have dug a hole and died in it? I hate to start digging around and taking out rocks looking for him. If he is alive, that would scare the cr_p out of him. What should I do?

 

[renogaw]

i'm not quite sure what you mean by your lfs quarantines your fish for you. they kept your fish for upwards of 3 weeks without having the water from their normal tanks get anywhere near your fish? i honestly doubt that.
the acclimation technique should have been fine, but without YOU observing the fish for 3+ weeks in your own QT, how do you know it wasnt sick? it may be shy and not ready to pop its head out, but more likely your fish is dead. also, you should honestly try to never use a net on fish, but rather use a plastic tupperware container to grab your fish. if you or your lfs uses a net isntead of the over the side hanging plastic containers or tupperwares you are risking damaging fins and stressing the fish.
i hope it turns up ok.

 

[hmello]

Thanks for the feedback. When you say to use a tupperware instead of a net, how do you keep the water from the acclimation bucket from getting into your display tank? At the LFS they used this plastic thing to scoop of the fish and the water to put in the bag. But I couldn't think of anyway to get the fish but not the water into my DT without using a net.

 

[renogaw]

here's what i do, and solely because i qt my fish. since my DT water goes into my QT water, a small amount going into my DT isn't a big deal UNLESS the fish was sick, and luckily none of my fish have been sick other than some fin damage. I put the fish in the tupperware container with very little water. then i tip the container to almost parallel with the tank, but angled enough where the water doesn't spill out and the fish will generally slide out at this point, or jump out into the tank.
I would not do this way in your case since you have no control over the QT water.
i am not sure if i'm opening myself to criticism for this, but it has worked 4x so far, and my net has only been there to capture some crabs.
anyone else do this or have a better way?

 

[bugapash]

I don't believe nets are so bad as long as you are GENTLE. I could be wrong, though. I was once;and it was also on a tuesday.

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by hmello
Thanks for the feedback. When you say to use a tupperware instead of a net, how do you keep the water from the acclimation bucket from getting into your display tank? At the LFS they used this plastic thing to scoop of the fish and the water to put in the bag. But I couldn't think of anyway to get the fish but not the water into my DT without using a net.

An idea I'm batting around is to get two tupperware-like containters, one slightly smaller than the other, small enough so it just fits inside the larger one. Then I'll cut or drill some holes in the smaller/inner container, essentially making it a strainer.
Put the two together, get the fish in it, then carry it to the DT and lift the smaller one out and set it in the DT, allowing the fish to swim/float out. A lid can even be used on the smaller one if jumping is a concern.

 

[hmello]

Great idea!

 

[dogstar]

Hopefully the fish is OK, its not unusual for a goby like that to hide for up to weeks....you could test for a spike in amm. to see if it died but not knowing the tank size, it might not even register....

 

[hatessushi]

After I acclimated my diamond goby I put him in the display and the first thing he did was sift sand. That was about 4 months ago and he hasn't stopped. He has cleaned out the base of all my rocks and very active all the time. Of course I bought him from SWF.com and was toatlly satisfied. This fish was so active eversince I openned the bag.
You said your goby "flipped out and started jumping" does that mean he flipped himself out of the bucket and started jumping on the ground?
Try looking for a hole in the sand near some rock or a lump of sand. Every evening mine clears out his hole and covers the opening with sand then when he is ready he will sit in the middle of the tank and just disappear. He moves so fast you can't see where he went. I filmed it and slowed down the playback and found that he took off right into the sand he covered the opening of his hole with and disappeared. You could barely see the sand move since he went so fast. After a while a lump will appear where he reinforced his hole opening. I would say give it a few more days and keep watching for an ammonia spike.

 

[indydirk]

When I made my purchase of a diamond goby (about 1.5 yrs ago) the thing went MIA for about 2 weeks. I was ready to go buy another when he showed up one day, now he thinks he owns the bottom of the tank, will even chase damsels when he feels like. He's prob. fine and hiding under some rock, give him time.........

 

[hatessushi]

now he thinks he owns the bottom of the tank

He does own the tank, they all do. It's a conspiracy against all SW fish enthusiasts everywhere. The diamond Goby is the King baby!

 

[poniegirl]

Originally Posted by indydirk
When I made my purchase of a diamond goby (about 1.5 yrs ago) the thing went MIA for about 2 weeks. I was ready to go buy another when he showed up one day, now he thinks he owns the bottom of the tank, will even chase damsels when he feels like. He's prob. fine and hiding under some rock, give him time.........

Glad to hear this story!! I have had the same experience, with the Houdini act from a ODG purchased 2 days ago! Such great little fish.

 

[hmello]

Originally Posted by indydirk
When I made my purchase of a diamond goby (about 1.5 yrs ago) the thing went MIA for about 2 weeks. I was ready to go buy another when he showed up one day, now he thinks he owns the bottom of the tank, will even chase damsels when he feels like. He's prob. fine and hiding under some rock, give him time.........

Thanks for the inspiring story! I did find a hole at the base of a rock that you can only see in a reflection in the glass when you look at the tank on an angle. My daughter thought she saw an eye peering out of that hole yesterday while I was at work. No ammonia spikes yet, so I'm hoping he is fine. Thanks for all the responses!

 

[swim]

Mine hid out for a couple months, my lfs told me to feed my other fish mysis shrimp so I did, and he can bolting out and loves it, they are great fish to watch. Now hes out all the time, I think it takes them a little time to get around and get acclimated with the surroundings. good luck and I think your fine!!!