Hubby Bought Me A Violet Goby

[nmonks]

should I be careful not to overfeed?

Fish have quite inefficient digestive systems, and if they eat a lot at once, most is passed out undigested. There's little point to "stuffing" a hungry fish. Instead, offer a series of small meals, even as many as four, over the course of the day. There's less risk of water quality issues this way, and your fish will fatten up more quickly.

Also would he be happier with an extra airstone in? At the moment I just have my internal filter with venturi effect running.

An extra airstone won't make much difference if you already have a decent filter.

Cheers, Neale

 

[iluvguppies]

Thanks for all your time in helping me out and to everyone else for their comments

I will go with giving him several small meals a day....ie, I will just portion his 1/2 cube per day into 3 pcs and feed him one every 5hrs or so .....am I right in thinking the total amount he's fed shouldn't exceed this 1/2 cube per day?

At the moment after doing a 90+% water change nitrite is back to 0 (ammonia already was back to 0)....if it stays there is it then most likely spike was due to the kids tipping that food in? (now hidden out of their reach, lol)......if it doesn't stay at 0..what then? Is it likely a mini cycle due to adding new fish and will it be over quickly if I keep up with the waterchanges?

Bought a hydrometer today and at the moment my water is 1.002 SG....is that ok or too quick?

Sorry for all the questions, but I want to make sure I'm doing all this correctly for the sake of the fish.

Nikki

He still appears very content and happy with his surroundings so fingers crossed that all goes well.

 

[nmonks]

.....am I right in thinking the total amount he's fed shouldn't exceed this 1/2 cube per day?

Pretty much. He can eat more, but it's debatable whether he'd digest much of it. As always, water quality is the key thing. If you think you're overfeeding, you probably are.

if it doesn't stay at 0..what then? Is it likely a mini cycle due to adding new fish and will it be over quickly if I keep up with the waterchanges?

It will be fine. Violet gobies aren't especially delicate, and more importantly, salt detoxifies nitrite, so while nitrite is bad, it's less bad in a brackish tank than a freshwater one.

Cheers, Neale

 

[iluvguppies]

UPDATE:

Ok, he's doing really well..he's still alive so hopefully I'm doing something right! All of the family have fallen for him....they find him really fascinating and I have to say that he has become my favourite fish so we will be setting up the new tank completely around his needs (with regard to tankmates, etc).

He has found himself a den/burrow by digging under my log ornament to make a little burrow that has become his HQ, lol. He stays there and then ventures out exploring quite alot...he's less secretive than I thought and he's so cool to watch when he is eating....wow, his mouth opens real wide!!!!

He hasn't bothered any of my fry at all and they aren't scared of him at all..they swim very close to him in search of food. Even the male guppies are slowly getting braver and venturing to the bottom of the tank again.

How long is it likely to take him to fill out so that he looks normal? He's on 4 smaller meals a day and so far he is having bloodworms mostly but also sometimes tubifex, daphnia and pieces of algae wafer.

Thanks,

Nikki

 

[shelaghfishface]

wow youre doing a great job , lucky bones has you x

have you taken any pictures of the little fella?


all the best with him
shelagh xxx

 

[cheesy feet]

I've recently got one of these from forum member beasley, they are awesome fish.

 

[indigoj]

Sounds like he is doing really well

Hopefully he should start to fatten up but slow and steady is probably the best way.

Pics please!

 

[nmonks]

All of the family have fallen for him....they find him really fascinating and I have to say that he has become my favourite fish so we will be setting up the new tank completely around his needs (with regard to tankmates, etc).

A-ha! This is why people set up brackish water tanks. It sounds like a hassle, but it's really not, and there are some simply extraordinary fish you get to keep. Violet gobies have to be in the top three, along with mudskippers and archerfish. There's really nothing else like these fish, and you're getting to enjoy a unique bit of the hobby.

He has found himself a den/burrow by digging under my log ornament to make a little burrow that has become his HQ, lol. He stays there and then ventures out exploring quite alot...he's less secretive than I thought and he's so cool to watch when he is eating....wow, his mouth opens real wide!!!!

Yes! Folks that feed them live brine shrimp have describe them as feeding like baleen whales: big animals gulping down tiny ones in large quantities. It's certainly fun to watch.

He hasn't bothered any of my fry at all and they aren't scared of him at all..they swim very close to him in search of food. Even the male guppies are slowly getting braver and venturing to the bottom of the tank again.

This all sounds completely normal and very promising. Despite their size, these are gentle giants, and in the right tanks, utterly enchanting community fish. Some folks keep two, but you need around 55 gallons for that. But what happens is the two fish "wrestle" with each other, lying one along the other, gaping their mouths and looking ferocious (but not actually doing anything mean). So long as each fish has its own PVC tube or similar, they usually tolerate one another fairly well beyond the occasional squabble.

How long is it likely to take him to fill out so that he looks normal? He's on 4 smaller meals a day and so far he is having bloodworms mostly but also sometimes tubifex, daphnia and pieces of algae wafer.

My guess is he'll be nice and fat within 2-3 weeks.

Cheers, Neale

 

[bealsey41]

Bones is a good name, mine was called Fugly! Mine was great to watch, took ages to dig himself a cave then just used to stick his head out waiting for the food to pass him to gulp as much as he could! They look really evil with them big teeth but too blind to get any fish. If i ever get a Brackish tank i would definately have another one.

 

[tropic_john]

Pictures... we need pictures

 

[iluvguppies]

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for their interest and advice

Our new tank is going to be 220 UK gallons, so it's great to hear that we can have another one (maybe 2 !!??) in with him. What sort of turnover (flow) rate does this type of tank need?

My present tank now looks like there's sand dunes everywhere (it started out completely flat) and he's made himself about 3 burrows next to or under the biggest 3 ornaments. Bones divides his time between all 3 sites and he's often out on show as these 3 places are near the edges of the tank. He's not overly shy, if you put your hand near the tank he doesn't swim off. He spends a lot of his time wriggling side to side to move the sand out of the way and further improve his burrows(I originally wanted to call him Ug, short for ugly, but my kids said I was mean! lol). In fact, anywhere he lays for an extended period gets this treatment, hence the sand dune effect and everything in the tank being covered in a layer of sand.

He looks noticeably bigger already! The water stats are back to 0 again so the bacteria have obviously multiplied to cope with his size.

My guppy males are no longer scared to venture to the bottom of the tank and have stopped hiding on top of the filter! lmao.

The new tank's decor will have to carefully thought out, as I don't want him digging out under stones, etc and collapsing the lot on top of himself.

I will try to take some photos of him in the next week or 2.

At the moment, the salinity of the water is reading 1.003 SG. In order to slowly raise the salinity to 1.005 SG should I add more salt than I am at present. So far, I've been adding 112.5g sea salt to 12.5 litres of water and each time I'm changing 2 buckets of water but only one of which has salt added. Should I now add 1 1/2 buckets of salted water if doing a 2 bucket change or can I just add more salt to the first bucket. If so, how much salt should I add? ( I was thinking 168.75g or is that too much too quickly?).

Many thanks to all once again and I promise to keep you all posted.

Nikki

 

[dthoffsett]

The new tank's decor will have to carefully thought out, as I don't want him digging out under stones, etc and collapsing the lot on top of himself.

If you place your rocks/decor on the bottom of the tank before adding sand you won't have that problem. You have to do that in mbuna tanks too as they are obsessive diggers.

I've really enjoyed reading your thread and I'm glad to hear Bones is doing well.

 

[iluvguppies]

Thanks for your comments, dthoffset

I'm hoping to take some pics of him this weekend and put them up on here for all to see. He's getting an iridescent gold sheen to him which freaked me out at first as I thought he might be ill but on researching it's apparently a sign that he's being well cared for

He already looks so different to the fish I first got...it's amazing...only wish I'd took some of him on the first day to see the difference but it didn't occur to me and I didn't think he would improve so quickly. I started off overfeeding him a bit (not deliberately but he's so cute and always seems hungry and I felt mean not feeding him,lol) but think I should cut down now he's looking so good and I don't want to cause any problems by overfeeding him.

All my daughters' friends think he is cool and want to take turns feeding him at feeding time (as do my kids and hubby, lol)......he's on 4 small meals a day so they are often around at these times... but I will be cutting down to 3 then 2 meals a day over the next few weeks.

My water is upto 1.0035-1.004 SG so we are slowly getting there. The Guppies seem happy as well just need to decide on the rest of the tank for when we upgrade to 220 UK gallons in mid September. I like colourful, interesting fish and would like all levels of the water covered. I intend to get more Violet Gobies (1 or 2 if possible) and not sure what else as I don't want my current inhabitants to get eaten or harrassed in any way.

Any suggestions welcome, then I can spend time researching before setting it up .......Bones must have sensed me "talking" about him as he's come over to this side of the tank and is half climbing up the side...if I didn't know he was half blind I'd swear he was looking at me, lol.

Thanks,

Nikki

 

[indigoj]

Nikki, sounds like you've done a fab job with him, can't wait to see pics.

 

[Xenon Junkie]

i must say this has been good reading ,
i was recently tempted by the very same gobies, but then after research decided against. I must say though, this thred has definately made them seem more desirable than i originally thought.
As with many other members reading this, i really cant wait to see a picture
Keep up the good work! It's nice to not only see an original mistake become a much wanted success