Lost Rainford/Court Jester Goby

[DeltaZ]

I have been having many issues feeding my goby, its been really skinny and small.  Yesterday I saw it really weak, it was getting moved around by my powerhead all over the place, it moved some but it seemed weak.  I turned off my powerhead and left it to die since that was going to be the outcome anyway.  I had been having a hard time feeding this fish, I tried everything, copepods, prepared frozen food, nori seaweed, and pellets for omnivores.  So my main problem is that I have no algae growth yet, my tank is about 3 months old, but for some reason I cant grow algae or its very slow to grow.  I heard that these fish eat algae and seems to have starved because of it.  

 

Anyway, so it yesterday It was dying and today its missing.  I have a candy cane pistol shrimp and a hi-fin banded goby and the rainford swam near their hole and was sideways but breathing, now I don't see the rainford anymore, not even the body.  Whats going to happen if my pistol shrimp took it under the rocks ????  I am hoping that there is no ammonia spikes or high nitrate spikes.  I have a 14G Biocube and I don't want to disturb my rocks to get this dead fish out, but I also don't want to get some sort of disease in my tank from the dead corpse spoiling.

 

What should I do???

[Tamberav]

Don't do anything since you can't find the body to take it out, the shrimp or bristle-worms, nass snails, ect will eat its body. It is a small fish and should not cause any sort of ammonia spike in a cycled tank.

 

If the fish has disease, it is already in the tank at this point so taking out the body won't matter.

 

Research all purchases, these guys are known to be difficult to get feeding/keep alive. Some are captive bred which is easier but even they are still not particularly easy. I would not add one to a system without enough algae/pods to sustain it. 

 

Honestly I would not put more than 3 fish in a 14g anyways. 

[DeltaZ]

I don't think it had any disease or anything, it died because it did not eat.  I read that mandarins are hard to keep alive, but never heard about these guys.  The LFS is pretty good about telling me what to purchase and how to take care of it, but this one he probably was not sure.  Yeah, I don't have any bristle worms to eat it, and the 3 nass snails cant get to it if its in the pistol shrimp cave system he set up.  So I guess ill just pay attention to any sort of spike at this point.  But ill leave alone.  

 

On a side note, you think I should get some bristle worms as detritus processors ?? would they be a nuisance for the pistol/goby in its den ??

[Tamberav]

You will likely get some eventually, they are beneficial. They don't pose a threat to the pistol. You can add some small ones if you want. 

 

I never trust LFS fully. Some are honest but they house fish temperately in their tanks, they don't have experience with keeping every type of fish long term in proper environments. Other hobbyist are often the best source of information.