How many burrows does 1 fish possibly need?!

azreefgirl

azreefgirl

Member
I have a Four Wheel Drive (Twinspot) Goby that burrowed under one rock for a few weeks, then burrowed under another and divided his time between his two homes--spending a night or two in one place, spending the next night or two in the other, etc. Yesterday he decided on another piece of real estate in my tank and spent the night in that burrow. All of the other burrows are still intact, but I guess he just feels the need to have multiple homes, being the rockstar that he is. Oh, and I guess I should add that he is the first and only fish in the tank (that will probably change this weekend--boy, is he in for a rude awakening!), so he's not being harassed by any other critters (unless my snails are bullying him when I'm not looking).
Is this normal behavior for these fish?!
 
hatessushi

hatessushi

Active Member
Yes, it is normal. Gobies are very particular of where they like to sleep and don't like sleeping in the same place every single night. They like to rotate their sleeping areas. If you ever watch them right before they turn in at night it's very interesting. My diamond goby builds a thin door of sand over his entrance about 1 hour before lights out and will be sitting there sifting sand and at exactly (like clockwork) the same time every evening 20 minutes before lights out he will dart right into that sand door. Basically he just disappears because the sand door will collapse on itself and you see no entrance. If you don't watch close enough you can't see him do it but since we have the time narrowed to the minute we know and watch. It is a site to see.
Soon your goby may have roommates like star fish if you plan on that or shrimps. The more ground area with rock the more they will perform improvements. Better keep an eye on your

[hr]
and make sure he doesn't take out a home improvement loan.
 
azreefgirl

azreefgirl

Member
Too funny!

You're in Tucson, right? I'm considering a road trip to check out a couple of the LFS down there. Is it worth the trip, and which store(s) do you recommend?
Thanks in advance!
 
azreefgirl

azreefgirl

Member
They are pretty difficult. They shouldn't be kept in a small or young tank because they feed on copepods. I didn't find this out until after I got him (and please, nobody flame me--I flame myself twice a day as I turn off my pump and bottle-feed him mysis shrimp with a turkey baster, and then wait to make sure he gets enough to eat! He's the most spoiled fish I've ever met! But he is cute!)
 
nick76

nick76

Active Member
Cool Fish ive also been looking at one to add possibly soon. Is your base rock setup on the bottom glass to prevent them from getting crushed or knocking down the rock?
 
azreefgirl

azreefgirl

Member
Yep, the LR is directly on the glass. The rocks that he burrows under are the smaller mushroom and polyp rocks I've added.
 
al mc

al mc

Active Member
Nick has a great point about the rocks...They can collapse a rock(s) on themselves or the other critters that make their way into the burrows.....If your tank is on a stand and you have a clear glass bottom check out the bottom sometime...they connect many of their burrows with intricate tunnels and you can watch them move around 'under' the substrate.......
 
nick76

nick76

Active Member
Originally Posted by AZReefGirl
Yep, the LR is directly on the glass. The rocks that he burrows under are the smaller mushroom and polyp rocks I've added.
Yea...grr when I started I didnt use baserock so I guess burrowing fish are out of the question for me. I dont want to turn one into a pancake
 
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