Rainsford Goby...easy to feed or hard?

[duganderson]

I was thinking about a Rainsford Goby for my 28 g. reef tank; however, some folks say they tend to starve because they don't eat well BUT other sources say they are easy to care for?

 

Is this difference due to wild caught vs. tank bred? OR...are there other predictors for keeping this fish alive?

[alaskan84]

The Rainsford Goby is similar or the same to the Hectors Goby right? I had one in my 5 gallon and he arrived very malnourished. After a couple months he looked like he had recovered and was eating film algae regularly. I never saw him eat nori or any of the pellets i fed to the tank. After about the 6 month mark he disappeared. Never found a corpse and the last time i saw him he appeared healthy. He was a great looking goby, but always very skiddish. Just my experience.

[Chew_Magna]

I'd also like some solid info on these fish. It was actually my first pick for my tank but I was told they're harder to keep/train than dragonettes.

[lakshwadeep]

The Rainsford Goby is similar or the same to the Hectors Goby right? I had one in my 5 gallon and he arrived very malnourished. After a couple months he looked like he had recovered and was eating film algae regularly. I never saw him eat nori or any of the pellets i fed to the tank. After about the 6 month mark he disappeared. Never found a corpse and the last time i saw him he appeared healthy. He was a great looking goby, but always very skiddish. Just my experience.

 

I had a Rainsford's goby (which is related to the Hector's) and it did the same thing: "picking" at things on the rocks/sand, never eating introduced foods (unlike my shrimp goby), and eventually just disappearing.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/3/fish

[jojoe972]

I had one that would not eat anything and eventually disappeared. I would try to find another fish to add in my opinion.

[dling]

I also have been looking at a goby for my tank.I just received an e-mail from thatfishplace.com .I had ordered an Hector's goby along with a few other things and now their out of stock.I'm looking for a good sandsifter that will not get much bigger then 2" long.

[BulkRate]

They're gobies, so are generally regarded as "easy" beginner fish... but they tend to only graze on whatever they can pick out of the substrate or whatever poss are tangled up in filament algae. So are really "hard", I guess. A pity as I initially was planning to get one when I first set up my tank. But every one I've seen for sale locally has had a sunken belly and generally looked to be in poor health.

[buddythelion]

It's a finicky fish unfortunately.

[19jeffro83]

I've had three so far. The first didn't last a week. My second was also in my 50 with a sump and fuge. It live for about 5-6 months sifting sand and picking pods and algea off rocks the. Started to eat frozen cyclops mysys and brine. I kept him for over 11/2 years. The third I took from a freind who had him in a 72 half he took down and placed it in my biocube 14. It didn't eat any frozen and without enough algea and pods to eat it only lived 3 weeks. A 28 might work but I wouldn't put them in a tank under a 40 gal w fuge. I think they should be treated like a mandarin but one that also needs some sort of micro/macro alge.

[fwadiver]

I had one that got wiped out when ich nuked my tank, was fine picked at/sifted sand all day, cant say I really every saw him eat frozen/pellets so in that sense hard to keep, if you have a well established tank with algea/pod i would think not too difficult.