Need Info On The Yellow Goatfish

[AliRichardson]

Hi

I have just been to my LFS and spotted 2 healthy looking goatfish. They were bright yellow and had barbels and were about 3-4 inches long.

Do these fish have any natural enemies that I would be likely to have in my tank? and also will they attack anything such as zooanthids or corals or inverts?

EDIT: How big to they get?

 

[Lynden]

Goatfish are lovely animals, in a way they can be compared to the catfish that freshwater people keep in their tanks to eat leftover food; except that Goatfish are about a 1000% as efficient, digging through the substrate with their strong barbels, then eating any morsels they find.

They are a very common sight at many tropical locations, including the one I visited last year. Their sizes are highly variable, but unfortunately they usually exceed 9'' in length, so a large tank is a must.

As far as I am aware of, they do not consume corals, but crabs, small clams, buried snails, et cetera are all food. Goatfish have powerful crushing jaws that will make short work of these animals. I personally would rather have the Goatfish; they are a "one man army" capable of doing the work of several clean up crews all by themselves.

Good foods for these animals (I would imagine) include chunks of squid, mysis shrimp, cockle, et cetera. Goatfish, as I am sure you can tell by now, are well suited to a tank full of messy, large fishes that will continuously drop food for them.

-Lynden

P.S.
A soft, fairly deep substrate is also a must as Goatfish are found in lagoon areas that also have these characteristics. Coral gravel, shell flakes, et cetera are wholly unsuitable for Goatfish.

 

[AliRichardson]

cool thanks Lynden.

I spoke with my LFS peep today and he recommended the goatfish. So now I have one on and maybe an extra bag of sand for him to sift through as our sand layer can get a bit sparse sometimes.

I love the fact that it has barbels- totally cool.

oh btw, any ideas on some names for him/her? I could only think of Barbie

 

[andywg]

The below is gleaned from Reef FIshes Volume 3 (Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes) by Scott W Michael:

Yellow Goatfish (Mulloidichthys martinicus)

Max size: 40cm (15.6")

Found in lagoons, reef faces and fore-reef slopes, usually on sandy bottoms.

Juveniles of the species are often difficult to maintain in the aquarium due to their high metabolic demands. They will need to be fed 5 to 6 times a day to ensure they get enough nutrients to fulfil basic metaboolic rates and growth requirements. Keeping the water temp lower decreases the metabolisma nd as such the caloric needs.

The fish may eat small tank mates, and in nature feeds on polychaetes, crabs, crab larvae, bivalves and shrimps, so any motile invertebrates will be at risk if kept with the fish. They are also known to consume serpent stars, chitons, peanut worms, isopods, amphipods and mantis shrimp to a lesser degree. IT will also ingest large amounts of sand when it feeds.

It is given a difficulty of 2-3 where 1 will almost die in the ocean if you even think of taking it, and 5 is easy to keep. Minimum tank size is listed as 180 (us) gallons, meaning a 6x2x2.

Also remember many public aquaria have problems keeping goatfish alive as they often carry internal parasites and they really can strip a tank bare of any natural food supply in a matter of hours (such as LR and live sand).

The aquarium should have plenty of open spaces (this is a big fish after all) with at least 50% of the substrate open sand.

Finally, they are known to jump from aquaria with more aggressive tank mates.

 

[Lynden]

Bicolour Goatfish are more suitable for aquaria as they supposedly max out at around 8''-9''.

 

[AliRichardson]

Juveniles of the species are often difficult to maintain in the aquarium due to their high metabolic demands. They will need to be fed 5 to 6 times a day to ensure they get enough nutrients to fulfil basic metaboolic rates and growth requirements. Keeping the water temp lower decreases the metabolisma nd as such the caloric needs.

The fish may eat small tank mates, and in nature feeds on polychaetes, crabs, crab larvae, bivalves and shrimps, so any motile invertebrates will be at risk if kept with the fish. They are also known to consume serpent stars, chitons, peanut worms, isopods, amphipods and mantis shrimp to a lesser degree. IT will also ingest large amounts of sand when it feeds.

It is given a difficulty of 2-3 where 1 will almost die in the ocean if you even think of taking it, and 5 is easy to keep. Minimum tank size is listed as 180 (us) gallons, meaning a 6x2x2.

Also remember many public aquaria have problems keeping goatfish alive as they often carry internal parasites and they really can strip a tank bare of any natural food supply in a matter of hours (such as LR and live sand).

The aquarium should have plenty of open spaces (this is a big fish after all) with at least 50% of the substrate open sand.

Finally, they are known to jump from aquaria with more aggressive tank mates.

This part makes me think maybe its not such a good idea to keep a goatfish

I was hoping that the tank size might keep him to a smaller size but the feeding requirements also make me think maybe not as we feed 1-2 times daily rather than 6 times per day.

And finally... internal parasites!!! Stripping tanks bare! :cry:

 

[Lynden]

Why not exchange (if possible) your Yellow Goatfish for a Bicolour? Like I said, the latter is much more suited to aquaria.

 

[AliRichardson]

Because I have already asked my LFS if they could look out for a yellow one for me

Although they know what size tank I have as they sold it to me so they shouldnt sell it to me if they think its unsuitable! I can use that line I hope

 

[Lynden]

Ahh well, it'l work out... it always does.