Strange Yellow Watchman Goby Behavior

[lk250f]

Hello,

I have a 29G Coralife Biocube with about 20lb. of established LR from a friend, 40lb. of aragalive sand. No bioballs, just running filter pads and purigen and my coralife skimmer. I have had a Chromis for almost three weeks and just added my second fish, a yellow watchman. He has been in my tank for about five days and has been doing fine, sifting sand at times, eats fine and is active. He used to hide in a cave between a couple pieces of rock while still being out a lot and being active. Last night he ate some of mysis and was sifting sand for pods, etc. A couple hours later he was swimming up and down the glass like my Chromis did for a little when I first had it added. Then I went down to watch the tank and he was sitting on top of my powerhead and I even found him floating towards the top where to intake is in the back which is strange.. Went down this morning and he was sitting in front and in the corner not really moving. I opened the tank to empty the skim cup and he moved when he was startled. But he has not really been returning to his hiding place either. I thought these guys were secretive. I am not sure if this may be normal for a still new fish that may be stressed, he is eating and doing fine except I noticed this strange behavior. I may try to move some sand away from the entrances to his hiding place to get him to maybe go in. My nassaurius can be bothersome when they move sand around... Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Maybe he found that hiding place unsuitable and is stressed? I suppose I could dig some more for him. There are only two decent hiding places.

 

Parameters: Tested last night around when he was acting up. pH was 8.0. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate all zero. Specific Gravity (1.025), temp 79-79.7.

[RC1313]

Did you QT the fish? It might be sick, or just stressed. Normally those fish are perfectly capable of digging their own burrows, I didn't see mine for three months once because it was so shy. When you said "floating" did you mean like not moving at all floating or lightly swimming?

[lk250f]

Hello,

No QT since I do not have a tank. I observed him eating nicely at the store, and got him home within 15 minutes to start acclimating for another 30-45 min. I put him in and he found a home in one of the caves and started eating within two days. He would originally get spooked when I would feed. His complexion looks fine too, same as when I got him. I cannot recall exactly what he was doing but i believe his fins were moving. It is weird because with the lights on he was out swimming around and would hang out in the middle of the tank. It got closer to the lights going out for the end of the night and then he started doing this.

 

Update: My Mom was home with him all day and she said he would change spots but just was sitting on the substrate just hanging out. Then she gave me an update when the actinics came on and she said he is swimming around and gulping sand like normal. Not sure what the deal is..

[lk250f]

I moved the rocks around a bit and did a water change. The goby must have been scared during the change and found home in my new found hiding spot. Now he will retreat there and peek out randomly while still hanging out in the tank. He seems a little better, I think the stress was induced by not having a hideout. He was sleeping in the front corner of the glass this morning on the substrate. All seems to be well thank goodness!

[PiscesFish]

Just want to give you a heads up, but don't worry too much if your Yellow Watchman Goby doesnt go back to his cave. Also, if his entrance gets closed up, he is able to reopen it or even create a new passage. Don't be too worried about him if he doesn't move much. The YWG tends to be more of a perching fish than an active swimmer.

[AmyFbaby]

I just purchased a yellow watchman goby today, he seemed fine at the fish store and was hiding out under a rock, seemed shy but active. He is now just swimming oddly near the top of my tank and I have seen him a few times just still just perched on the side of the glass about 2 inches from the top. He was also perched in the top corner by the filter.... he was missing his back top front fin when I got him, I was told it will grow back. Please help is he ok?