Spotted Mandarin Goby......found Dead Today

[craigybaby37]

Woke up this morning and everything was fine in the tank and the mandarin was half burried in the sand as usual at the front of the tank (i guess thats how they rest)

Come home from work and knowtised one of my hermit crabs the 1 with a blue and orange body and 1 large claw was picking at something at the back of the tank and it was my spotted mandarin goby.

All tank stats are fine and the fish was eating perfectly well........however i have been knowtising that that particular hermit has been agressive towards my other hermit and various other snails and tonight i watched it go for my yellow watchman goby so could the hermit of possibly killed the spotted mandarin???

Hermits been removed and put into my 5 gallon tank set up for my mantis.......if i ever get it that is.

 

[Musho3210]

did your mandarin eat prepared food, what size tank? how much live rock? Do you have any additives, what do you normally feed the tank? Do you have a fuge or something similar?

 

[Lynden]

Some hermit species are indeed predatory, but most likely the mandarin died and was being scavenged by the dominant crab. How long has it been in the tank?

 

[Musho3210]

Some hermit species are indeed predatory, but most likely the mandarin died and was being scavenged by the dominant crab. How long has it been in the tank?

in addition, how old is the tank? Is your live rock very live (look for small hairs of algae and dark colors) better yet, look into your tank at night with a flashlight carefully, do you see lots of small life like worms, pods, maybe even slugs?

Within the week of death, was the mandarin chubby? Not bloated fat, just jolly fat (dont know how else to put it)

 

[craigybaby37]

the tank is comming up for 9 months old ide say the live rock is very live yes as there is quite a lot of activity at night time weather it be new crabs that keep appearing, my hitch hiker porceline crab, various worms and pods.

The tank is a UK 20 gallon with 12kg of liverock and the only addative i use is calcium with my weekly water changes (dont even know if its classed as an addatice) The tank was fed once daily at around 7 at night with a mixture of frozen brime and frozen mysis shrimp and i always turn the powerhead off to make sure the mandarin gets food from the floor. And no i dont have a fuge or anything like that.

The mandarin has been in the tank around 5 months and wasnt fat or bloated at all before it died.

Most probably just a random death i guess.

 

[@ombomb]

what food was the mandarin taking?

 

[PRW1988]

Unfortunatly I've read that Mandarin gobies (unless they are not competing for the food, and the food is vast and plentiful) end up slowly straving to death. I've had this happen twice to me now and I finally dug a little deeper in my research and discovered that factoid.

 

[craigybaby37]

Yea ive read that to but thats the reason for me turning off the powerhead so the food has a chance to settle so it can eat......and i know it definatly ate plenty as i watched it to make sure it was getting enough food.

And it would eat both the brime and mysis shrimp.

 

[SkiFletch]

activity at night time weather it be new crabs that keep appearing,

Remember, lots of crabs are territorial/predatory... Could be your trouble

 

[Musho3210]

could also be starvation, as you said the mandarin wasnt at least chubby before death. Could be quite a few things actually.....

Have you medicated the tank with anything lately?

THe tank is small, not much live rock, im pretty sure it was starvation that killed it

 

[craigybaby37]

Ime going more with the idea of something preditory killing it as ime pretty sure it ate more than enough food each day......and if it didnt then that realy supprises me as it sounds like it need half a block of brime to itself. Dont get me wrong i appreciate all your input and i still may be wrong but i guess its one of them things we cant realy get to the bottom of.

And no the tank hasnt had any medication in it of any sort for months since i had my nitrate problem.