Clown Goby Food

[Donya]

I've been reading about clown gobies (I guess also called citrus gobies?) and I've read conflicting things on what exactly is required to feed them. Some sites say live food only (brine shrimp, etc.) and others say they will eat pieces of frozen shrimp meat. Is the answer somewhere inbetween, a function of whether they are captive bred, or is like freshwater bettas where it depends on the invidividual?

Also, since the gobies are carnivores, will they harass small, hatchling-size snails at all?

Last question...if brine shrimp or something similar are a must, can they just be dumped into the tank as a bunch or do they need to be added in small amounts for target feeding? I've never kept anything like brine shrimp before so I don't know if they can handle current, etc.

 

[Fish Fingers]

My clown gody eats both frozen brine and mysid shrimp. I just put a bit of food in the tank and he comes racing over (always going for the bit half the size of him ). My goby doesn't harras my baby snails or my big ones.

 

[Donya]

The biggest piece always tastes the best

If I'm able to get one, I'll stock up on frozen foods and I figure I will get a small portion of live brine shrimp as well, just to be sure. I want to have all worst case scenario bases covered, since I know fish can get stressed from transport and be funny about eating.

Would tubifex work as an additional munchy every now and then? I've got a few too many of those growing in one of my fw snail tanks right now

 

[Donya]

Nooooo....I waited one day too long. All the gobies were sold I hope I see some more of them at some point.

Anybody got opinions about the tubifex feeding idea?

 

[veen]

i feed my clown gobies crushed up mysis, cyclop-eeze & tiny pellets. they both chow like little piggies!

 

[Donya]

Wooh!

How on earth do you get the food small enough? I got some brine shrimp and thought surely those would be small enough and a good starter snack for the first feeding (wanted to make sure it would eat), but only the immature brine shrimp seem to be small enough. The goby has a go at anything that comes out the end of the turkey baster but adult brine are too big I'm thinking frozen food cut up with a knife, but I don't know that I could get it small enough that way. I didn't see any prepared foods today small enough. How do you guys do it??

I think it must be a young goby...my guppies are bigger lol. It's 1/2", maybe a little less...it owns the heater now.

 

[Fish Fingers]

My clown goby can eat adult brine (hes about 3/4-1 inch though) although it takes him a while to get it all down. Maybe you could try blending it to make it a little smaller?

 

[veen]

i use a small cheese grater to get the food in small enough form.

 

[Donya]

I don't have a blender, but I do have a cheese grater...I will have to try that.

I am getting worried though...mine was eating right after being braught home and acclimated, but now he doesn't seem to be eating a whole lot. He was a bit skinny when I braught him home, couldn't really tell at the time I got him. How long before he should start to fill out? I'm concerned that he isn't eating anything but small brines, at least when I'm watching. He may be eating other stuff when I turn my back but I can't tell if it's him or the hermit eating it.

The current may be a little strong. Do clown gobies have a maximum current above which they dont' like it?

 

[Donya]

Great, will inanimate food is off the menu now little finick. It's only food if it wiggles a bit and/or comes out the tip of the turkey baster. Apparently adult brine are ok, as long as they're dead and crumpled up...but I have to blow them out with the turkey baster still, usually several times since the goby misses the first couple times. I'm back to wondering about tubifex??

 

[veen]

i suppose you could try tubifex but i would think the shrimp is better. try live brine to get him eating then slowly introduce the frozen mysis, etc. i wouldn't feed brine forever because it has little to no nutritional value. have you tried the small pellets i mentioned? here's a link to them so you'll know what i'm referring to. also, definitely get some frozen cyclop-eeze & crush it. cyclop-eeze is a must for any marine fish. i even feed it to my corals.

http/www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=NL1133

 

[Donya]

I didn't find any pellets of the right description today. I went to the store the goby came from, and found at that the rest of the gobies from that shipment were also refusing most foods, but that they were eating mashed up frozen mysis. The mysis shrimp seem to be a hit so far...probably because they smell so strongly when thawed. I will try to find some of those pellets to get a more varried diet. How do you feed the pellets exactly? Same target feeding with a turkey baster or just drop them in?

 

[veen]

I didn't find any pellets of the right description today. I went to the store the goby came from, and found at that the rest of the gobies from that shipment were also refusing most foods, but that they were eating mashed up frozen mysis. The mysis shrimp seem to be a hit so far...probably because they smell so strongly when thawed. I will try to find some of those pellets to get a more varried diet. How do you feed the pellets exactly? Same target feeding with a turkey baster or just drop them in?

definitely feed the mysis, it's more nutritional than adult brine.

i use the turkey baster to float the pellets toward the gobies so they see them. they'd probably find them even if you just drop them in, but i like them to definitely see the pellets cuz i'm so paranoid about them starving, as their reputation is for doing that.

 

[Donya]

How do you keep excess gunk from the frozen foods from floating off into a corner somewhere and making a mess, or is there a way? Some of the frozen mysid I got settled in a corner of the tank, right next to a spirulina pellet, and none of my snails would touch it with a 10-foot pole lol they wouldn't even touch the "contaminated" spirulina pellet that the frozen food had touched. It was a sloppy mess this morning that was hard to get out of the tank...should I watch for that and clean up excess shrimp byproduct immediately next time?

 

[veen]

How do you keep excess gunk from the frozen foods from floating off into a corner somewhere and making a mess, or is there a way? Some of the frozen mysid I got settled in a corner of the tank, right next to a spirulina pellet, and none of my snails would touch it with a 10-foot pole lol they wouldn't even touch the "contaminated" spirulina pellet that the frozen food had touched. It was a sloppy mess this morning that was hard to get out of the tank...should I watch for that and clean up excess shrimp byproduct immediately next time?

if you see stuff collecting you could take it out with a syphon or turkey baster. if it does indeed sit there and nothing eats it or it doesn't get processed out it could potentially creat things like cyanobacteria, which is a pain to get under control. you could get some hermits in addition to your snails if you don't have them already. they're pretty good scavengers.