Peacock Gudgeon Issues

[CathyGo]

A cichlid I was waiting to come in didn't show up this week and so I decided to see what other new fish my PetSmart had gotten. I really liked the look of these guys plus the fact that they don't get real big. I've had them two days now and have yet to see them out and about or eating. All they do is hide. I did some more research and realized that they probably didn't like the current in my tank so I fixed it to what my betta's liked. I offered them a few more types of frozen food but they won't come out of there hiding spots to eat anything. My turkey baster is broke but tomorrow I will be getting a new one and trying to target feed them. Is there something I'm missing as far as preferences for these guys? My tank is cycling but Im doing daily water changes and feeding sparingly. I added some ghost shrimp(10) to help with clean-up. I think they have learned to leave the gobies "cave" alone excepting the big 2 inch long shrimp. He goes wherever he wants to. I'm also going to add a few more hiding spots and a heater since the temp has been fluctuating more than I like.

The two I picked were active in the tank at PetSmart which has much more current and fewer hiding spots than my tank. More stable water quality and temperature though.

 

[cheesy feet]

My tank is cycling.the temp has been fluctuating more than I like.

The two I picked were active in the tank at PetSmart which has much more current and fewer hiding spots than my tank. More stable water quality and temperature though.

I would think these ^ are all attributing to stressed goby's..
I would suggest to get some live bloodworm, daphinia or similar, if it riggles they will most likely want to eat it.
I don't feed live food to any of my fish long term anymore though as I have had fish get diseases/infections from it...My peacock goby's favorite foods are bloodworm and glass worm.At roughly 3/4 the size of adults they will only eat about 10 worms each max, then you'll see their belly's bulging outwords I only feed them once a day in the evening.

 

[CathyGo]

No temp fluctuations anymore and ammonia levels have been kept very low through daily water changes(30%) but these guys still won't eat. I've tried frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen cichlid mix, flake, shrimp pellets. All were tried in very small amounts to not make the ammonia levels go crazy but target fed near the gobies. I would normally have no problems getting them live worms but unfortunately I don't have a car anymore and the only close fish shop other than PetSmart/PetCo is all saltwater. These guys are almost 2 inches so almost adults. Do you think they would take fruit flies since they don't tend to come up to the surface?

 

[Mr._Fishy]

What are the exact test results for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? What is the temp? You could try feeding live foods as cheesy feet suggested.

Ryan

 

[CathyGo]

Nitrite and nitrate are at 0. I did my testing at PetSmart and they warned me that the ammonia strips had apparently been exposed to air and were reading high ammonia every single time. The chemicals in my old test kit had spilled so I will have to wait on testing it till tomorrow. Colors are still bright on them and they haven't been acting strange so I don't think it's gotten real high. I have seen one of them nibbling on a vacation feeder I dropped in for them. It's basically daphnia in a gel that really only comes apart when it's picked by the fish. It doesn't automatically dissolve like the old plaster ones did. I have it right inside the little cave area that they like the most. They have started to go inside the pieces of pvc pipe I put in too. I think the stress of coming home with me and the temp issue I had the first day was the main problem. They come out a lot more when I'm around rather than rushing for the nearest hiding spot. I think they will eventually start eating other things. In the mean while my ghost shrimp are happily eating everything that they don't.