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Undoing the antenna goby disappearing trick


Tired

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I have an antenna goby. I put him in my tank on the second, and I haven't seen him since. From what I'm reading, this is not that unusual for them. I checked the floor around the tank, and he's not there, so either he's still in the tank or the cat ate him. He's not in the filter compartments, as far as I can tell, and I haven't seen a pile of snails that would suggest something died. I assume he's decided that somewhere in the portions of rockwork I can't see is a good perch. 

 

Has anyone had an antenna goby vanish, and then done something (other than removing all the rocks, I'd rather not do that) to make it reappear? I'm wondering if there's any point to shooting mysis shrimp around the edges of the rockwork and seeing if he snatches any. I'd just like to confirm that he is, in fact, alive and getting enough amphipods to eat.

 

They don't come out at night, do they? 

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, Tired said:

I have an antenna goby. I put him in my tank on the second, and I haven't seen him since. From what I'm reading, this is not that unusual for them. I checked the floor around the tank, and he's not there, so either he's still in the tank or the cat ate him. He's not in the filter compartments, as far as I can tell, and I haven't seen a pile of snails that would suggest something died. I assume he's decided that somewhere in the portions of rockwork I can't see is a good perch. 

 

Has anyone had an antenna goby vanish, and then done something (other than removing all the rocks, I'd rather not do that) to make it reappear? I'm wondering if there's any point to shooting mysis shrimp around the edges of the rockwork and seeing if he snatches any. I'd just like to confirm that he is, in fact, alive and getting enough amphipods to eat.

 

They don't come out at night, do they? 

Mine vanished for 40 days and then re-appeared, looking larger and healthier than normal. They can disappear for a long time - but sometimes, I have noticed they like to sneak out of whatever burrow they've crawled into at night. Is yours paired with a shrimp?

 

Moving the rockwork around can be a bit dangerous - just be careful not to accidently squish the fish if its under there somewhere. 

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Mine doesn't have a shrimp, and I don't currently have access to a shrimp for it. Nowhere locally has one. I assume a shrimp will bring it out to some degree, to be a watchman. 

 

I'm not going to move the rocks unless I don't see it for another couple months, I don't want to disturb everything. Plus, I have twice now moved all the rockwork into a bucket for something temporary, and found that my pygmy goby who I did not move on purpose is now in that bucket, so the rocks are full of hiding places. I don't know that I'd find him even if I did move the rocks. 

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I'd leave it alone.  They can disappear for a long time, especially when they are first added.  Dither fish can help - a peaceful fish floating around  the water column all day signals it's safe for the goby to come out.  A shrimp will help when you're able to get one.  But other than that, patience is the only thing I've used that's worked.  

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