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eldiente 
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 Topic: Bar Gobies
Posted: January 30 2008 at 3:42pm |
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My wife loves these fish (Bar Gobies), and i admit they are kinda cool. The problem is they seem to slowly get skinnier and skinnier and then they disappear. I've tried two sets now, My second set is still with me but they are getting smaller and smaller, and I'm afraid they will disappear soon. They come out and eat, love cyclopeeze and small meaty stuff. I'm assuming they are grazers of small meaty/flake food. The problem being if I try and feed them enough to keep them fat, I overfeed the tank and get a hair alge problem. Recently I added a few more fish and now they hide (burrow) even more and will only come out really quick to eat and then zip under the rocks. Does anyone have any experience with these fish or similiar ones? Anything else I should try to do for them. I will post some pics of the tank later when I am home. thanks in advance.
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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CrimsRayne
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Posted: January 30 2008 at 3:55pm |
That's doesn't sound good at all.  I have a set of three that are doing great. They are the first ones out and last ones to bed. They eat a TON when I feed and the scissortail that hangs with them is nice and fat. Personally, I feed once a day in the evening when I get home from work. I feed assorted frozen foods ranging fromemerald entree, marine cuisine, mysis, brine shrimp, rotifers, prime reef, and formula one. This rotates day to day to give them a varied diet.
What other fish are in the tank with them? What specifically are you feeding them? How big is the tank?
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"What we know from this hobby is too hard to share with the people who just want to look and not get wet." -Rioreefer
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eldiente
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Posted: January 30 2008 at 4:07pm |
My tank is 210 Gallons, I feed a range of Emerald Entree, Marine Cuisine, Mysis, Brine Shrimp, frozen cyclopeeze, rotifers, formula one, some small sinking pellets (name?) and Nori. Mainly the same stuff you do. It's hard to quanitify how much but usually one cube of the emerald entree or equivalent of the other stuff, now I'm starting to feed less though to help with the algae problems
As for tank mates I have:
1 Naso Tang -4"
1 Yellow Tang-4"
1 Purple Tang -4"
1 Hippo Tang -3"
1 Flame Angel-3" New
1 Bird Wrasse -6" (my favorite) New
1 Cleaner Wrasse - 3" New
1 Blue Jaw Male Trigger - 4" New
1 Lawnmower Blenny -6" (not kidding, he's a pig) New
3 Green Chromis -2"
1 Bicholor Pseudochromis -2"
1 Black Damsel -3" (he needs to go)
1 Black Clownfish -3"
2 Orange false Perculas -2"
1 Mandarin Dragonet - 2"
I Used to feed every other day and then thought I was starving the bar gobies and started to do it every day and then I had a huge hair algae bloom, so I have started to do smaller feedings every day or everyother day feedings. Also I feed at varied times of the day to keep the fish guessing when the food will come. but mostly after work
Edited by eldiente - January 30 2008 at 4:09pm
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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eldiente
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Posted: January 30 2008 at 7:08pm |
When I first got them -2 months ago (2nd set) They were always out, but now they hide, I never see them being chased and I figure they are intimidated by the other new fish, but I'm not sure how to feed them, here are some pics of the tank, the bar gobies can't be seen as they are hiding, but they hide under the rocks on the left front side.
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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Debbles
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Posted: January 30 2008 at 7:43pm |
I'm sorry, I don't have experience with these fish but I just wanted to say that your tank is gorgeous!
Debbie
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Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!!
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Mike Savage
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Posted: January 30 2008 at 11:43pm |
Gorgeous tank Brian. Thanks for posting those pictures.
Mike
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eldiente
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Posted: January 31 2008 at 9:34am |
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thanks Mike, you are always too kind, I like this board for that great feeling you get while on it. I hope you have a great day.
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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Will Spencer
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Posted: January 31 2008 at 11:00pm |
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Brian, You have the same problem I have. You have a lot of rambunctious fish that the shier more peaceful fish are afraid of. I too have a lot of tangs and have lost most of my calmer fish either to jumping out of the tank or not getting enough to eat. My Bangaii's are still doing great, but they don't often move more than a few inches away from their hiddey hole.
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eldiente
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Posted: January 31 2008 at 11:21pm |
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Yes, I was watching them closely today and I would feed everyone on one side of the tank and then while everyone was busy eating over there I would sprinkle some food on their side. I saw them venture out a few times but never eat much before they would see a bigger fish and go and hide. So maybe I will have to get tricky to feed them, thanks for the input.
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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BobC63
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Posted: January 31 2008 at 11:36pm |
A question and a suggestion:
Q: Did I misunderstand, or did you say you feed your (entire) tank only 1 cube of frozen food -or the equivalent in non-frozen food - per day?
Suggestion: have you tried some of those sinking pelleted foods, like Spectrum pellets, for example? Maybe more food would get to those bottom dwelling gobies that way?
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- My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) -
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: January 31 2008 at 11:46pm |
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I had some bar gobies tha loved the spectrum sinking pellets. They were nice and fat and even layed eggs.
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eldiente
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Posted: January 31 2008 at 11:46pm |
I do feed with spectrum sinking pellets and that's what I did today and they still didn't make it to the bottom for the gobies to get many. Yes usually I will feed only one cube with maybe a little of cyclopeeze in there and then sometimes some nori for the tangs. Until about two months ago I didn't have as many fish, and then through a friend having to take down his tank, I acquired 6 more and then I found 4 tangs that I wanted all at the same time at BW and got them. I guess I probably should feed more now that I have alot more fish, but I hate dealing with hair algae, I have a very stringy type and a mat hair type, but the string stuff is a pain to deal with.
What do you think the ideal amount is that I should feed my tank?
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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BobC63
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 12:14am |
 eldiente wrote:
I do feed with spectrum sinking pellets and that's what I did today and they still didn't make it to the bottom for the gobies to get many. Yes usually I will feed only one cube with maybe a little of cyclopeeze in there and then sometimes some nori for the tangs. Until about two months ago I didn't have as many fish, and then through a friend having to take down his tank, I acquired 6 more and then I found 4 tangs that I wanted all at the same time at BW and got them. I guess I probably should feed more now that I have alot more fish, but I hate dealing with hair algae, I have a very stringy type and a mat hair type, but the string stuff is a pain to deal with.
What do you think the ideal amount is that I should feed my tank? |
For that many fish, in that size tank, that's a surprisingly small amount of food... and IMO not the cause of any hair algae problem (at least not directly). In my 125 I have (2) 3" Tangs, (2) 2.5" Pygmy Angels, 2 Banggai Cards, 2 juvenile Oscellaris clowns, a 2" Yellow Tail Damsel and a 2" Six Line Wrasse - only 10 fish total. And I feed 2 cubes of frozen per day; on the 3rd day I don't feed any frozen but instead feed Spectrum pellets, some veggie flakes, and half a sheet of Nori. AND I feed my corals a cube of frozen reef planktons or rotifers or even some Cyclopeeze at least twice a week on top of that.
I would suggest at least doubling your feeding regimen.
As far as the HA, do you know your nO3, pO4, and Mag levels?
If your 'trates and 'phates aren't at "0" then I would look into a pO4 reactor, some water changes and / or use of macroalgaes for nutrient export (like in a refugium)... Also, if you don't run any carbon filtration I would do that as well. For Magnesium, you'll need to have a test kit and you would want a Mag reading of at least 1150 ppm (1250 - 1300 would be even better). Magnesium can act as a "limiter' to some species of nuisance algae
Since you have such a nice tank I am guessing you have a good skimmer, too?
In any event, I have only a "so-so" skimmer, but with a very healthy refugium, carbon filtration, and good Mag levels I have zero hair algae:
(Not the best pic but it is the most recent I have  )
And BTW I run halides for 8 hrs/ day and PCs for 12 - 14 so lighting shouldn't cause you problems (unless you run your lights for longer than that...)
But overall, I would say that with that small amount of food it is not overfeeding that is causing your algae issue... I would guess the "food" for your algae is coming from another source; like incoming water, existing nitrate or phosphate levels not being reduced either physically (water changes), chemically (carbon, pO4 remal medias), or organically (macroalgae export)...
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- My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) -
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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eldiente
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 12:52am |
My mag level is 1350, Ca 400, Alk 9.0. My Nirtates and PO4 test at 0. I run both a carbon and phosphate reactor. I also skim all the time. I have a 75 G sump (2/3 full of water) with about half of it with chaeto and some caluerpa. I believe I need more macro, it just doesn't grow to well. I run my MH 8 hrs a day and my PC's 12 hrs a day. I do reverse daylight on my sump. I use RO/DI water, 20% Water Changes about every 2-3 weeks (sometimes longer). The hair algae thing is baffling to me, I don't really know where else I could be getting the import of nutrients. The only thing that I can think of is a while back my sump water was running really hot (its in the basement, and to keep the main tank warm enough -75 degrees- I have to keep the sump at about 81) a few months ago it was probably running about 83-84 degrees. I got an aquacontroller to help with that so that it stays at 81 degrees. Anyway I noticed that I got alot of slime coming from my caluerpa at the time and it seemed to be dying off, so I could have had a lot nutrients from the die off, although the PO4 always tested 0. I am going to change my phosphate reactor media and probably the carbon also. I have read people say not to run them full time, is there a reason behind this. I will probably also do some more frequent smaller water changes too. (my water tests at 0 TDS, so it should be ok). Then I will start to feed more, in an attempt to save my fish, thanks for the help.
Does anyone have any experience with Weiss Marc Algae Magic product. I started to use it recently, I haven't seen much results, but it's supposed to take awhile (1 month) to see any.
It's interesting you mentioned the Magnesium, it was very low several months ago (1000) but as I raised it the corals seemed to do better but the hair algae also seemed to do real well. I will try to get a pic of the specific algae to see if anyone has experience with it.
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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Adam Haycock
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 1:23am |
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I would keep on dropping the pellets in until the other fish stop eating and enough sinks to the bottom for the gobies. Add it fast enough so this occurs after 1-2 minutues.
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cl2ysta1
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 9:29am |
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another thing you can try is feeding all the other fish on the opposite side of the tank and get them enough food they are busy for a minute. and than use tongs or something to get a bunch of food down to wear the gobies are. we have a pair of these and they do great. They are only housed though with one small purple tang, a flame angel, and a lawnmower blenny.
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I <3 Boxers
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CrimsRayne
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 3:05pm |
Will Spencer wrote:
Brian, You have the same problem I have. You have a lot of rambunctious fish that the shier more peaceful fish are afraid of. I too have a lot of tangs and have lost most of my calmer fish either to jumping out of the tank or not getting enough to eat. |
I have to agree with Will. My gobies are the second biggest fish in the tank. The only fish really bigger than them is a blue sided wrasse that I bought at the same time and from the same tank as them. I have been kinda picky about the kinds of fish I have in there. I have picked mostly calm fish. Though the damsels can really get into it at times, but they just pick on each other from time to time.
I'd say your best chance at keeping the bar gobies is to find a way of feeding them seperate from the other fish. I have tried a bunch of techniques in the past with feeding different kinds of fish that eat the same stuff. I found that if you can get the bigger greedier fish to go to one part of the tank and the shy fish to go to another part then you can spot feed the shy fish while the others are distracted. I've even gone so far as to melt the cubes in water and just pour the scented water in on one side. The fish go crazy in that spot looking for the food but because there isn't any you don't risk over feeding. During this time get a baster or sea squirt and feed the gobies as close to their home as possible for the first couple times just so they get as much of the food as possible. The other fish may pick up on the smell quickly so get ready to distract them again or just feed them too. After a while the gobies should become accustomed to being fed they should start to look forward to it and you may even get them to swim out for feedings.
BTW if you turn off the pumps for feeding the food will stay put a lot longer (kind of suspended in the water) and it will take the other fish a lot longer to pick up on the smell. This could also give the gobies enough time to eat before the other fish swarm in.
Keep us informed on your efforts. I'd love to know how it goes.
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"What we know from this hobby is too hard to share with the people who just want to look and not get wet." -Rioreefer
"The Puffer Girl"
Zoo freak :)
West Jordan
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cl2ysta1
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 5:02pm |
oh and i forgot to add
HOT Da** your tank looks nice!!!
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I <3 Boxers
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eldiente
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 5:18pm |
Thanks for the advice, I tried doing the seperate feedings today and it worked all right. that bird wrasse is fast and he zips all over. I am going to get a large baster to try and put the food right where they are.
Thanks for the comments on the tank, I love it.
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Brian
Twin Falls, Idaho
210 Gallon Glass reef
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rabbit2555
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Posted: February 01 2008 at 5:52pm |
that is a very nice setup
trenton
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72g bowfront(two clowns and one chromise a royal gramma and a small blue tang, snails, hermits and misc coral frags
34 gallon Red Sea max
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