Clown goby won't eat

[M68]

I've had a brown clown goby for about a month, and I have never seen it eat. So far I have tried live baby brine shrimp, flake and granulated food (the granules are mostly for my cleaner shrimp), frozen brine shrimp and blood worms, Liquid Life MarinePlankton, and adding garlic juice to the food, and the goby never seems to notice any of those.
So, does anyone have any ideas about how to get my goby to accept prepared foods? The little guy is getting kind of skinny and I'm getting desperate!

 

[Juck]

This is all too common with clown gobies,,, in my experience, if it won't eat live baby brine then it won't eat anything.

Once I could not get a yellow clown goby to eat for over 2 weeks after i got him,, I swear I could see right through him,,, I put in another clown goby that would accept baby brine and that got him eating,,, i think seeing the other one eat saved his life.

Sounds like you've done everything you can for this guy.

BTW,, if you have acros/millepora or similar SPS in your tank, do not keep a pair of these fish. Mine laid eggs and stripped the flesh off my biggest acro and pestered all my millepora by biting the polyps every time they were extended.

 

[Unarce]

I just got my Yellow Clown Goby to eat Hikari's Bio-Pure Daphnia. Maybe you could give that a shot. Good luck. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Also, another that really gets butterflies going NUTZ is bloodworms. Believe it! Or NOT! (Learned that little trick at the LBAOP.)

 

[Unarce]

Yeah, I've heard that before too when I was trying to get a Golden Pygmy to eat. It was weird, but worked. :?

 

[Anonymous]

They wiggle like nothin' else. Heh, I keep getting this picture of Bugs Bunny dressed up like a woman, "HUBBA HUBBA!"

 

[M68]

I finally got the goby to eat! I won't move very far from its perch, so the food has to go in the current right in front of it, and since it always hides when it sees anyone, the food would go through the filter before it could get to it. So now all I have to do is take out the filter pad, so the food stays in the current longer.
Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Juck]

Good job! What did he eat finally? They take a couple of months to fatten up,, mine loved golden pearls. One got so fat he couldn't rest on both his fins at the same time,, had to lean over on one fin cos his belly was so big.

 

[M68]

It was a puree of calamari, shellfish, shrimp and some nori.

 

[Anonymous]

My clown took right too live brine, and quickly adapted to marine flake. He was a last addition to the tank, I don't know if competition is what did it or not. I don't know what to say to that. Do you know if he was eating at the LFS?

 

[Rikko]

You could try target feeding him.. Takes a little getting used to on the part of the fish, but my yellow watchman figured out the routine after 2 days. I've used either frozen bloodworms or mysis and thawed them in a bit of water from the tank to dilute the pack juices somewhat. Then I suck up some of it into a turkey baster and slowly bring the baster near his hideout. Give a little squirt and you get a good distribution of food all around the area.

 

[candide]

Also try turning off the pumps for a bit while you feed so the food doesn't get "blown" away so quickly when you target feed. Turkey basters work great

 

[Anonymous]

My clown goby lives off of frozen meals; two words baby: "Garlic Xtreme"! :wink:

Made by Kent Marine, I believe; 2-3 drops on ANY food, and even the pickiest eater will at least become interested. And it keeps them free of parasites; in the year that I have kept my tank, Ive never had ANY occurence of internal or external parasites... *shrug*

 

[HClH2OFish]

I'll second the turkey basters.....if he's really shy, you may wanna try some clear stiff airline tubing instead to target feed...if the tanks deep, it's easier anyway

 

[delvcaem]

Hi - new to the forum, but found you while searching to figure out why my yellow clown goby has stopped eating.

He was fine for a month, and now he's just emaciated. In one week he has gone from happy and playing to not moving and hiding in the macro algae.

We've tried the garlic flake food along with the brine shrimp, actually, that's what he'd been goign nuts over since we got him.

Tonight we'll try some of the suggestions.

Thanks for posting all this info!

 

[ChrisRD]

Delvcaem...

:welcome:

 

[Anonymous]

Try some cylop eeze it has worked for me inthe past.

 

[delvcaem]

The goby wouldn't eat and has gone to the great reef tank in the sky. I'm totally bummed. We loved this little fish.

I just wish I knew what made him go from being, well, a clown - perching on the glass, swimming everywhere and exploring, and eating like a pig to starving within what really is less than a week.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder how these guys are caught. If cyanide messed up his digestive system, there is nothing anyone could have done to save him.

What else do you have in there? And how are you water params?

In any event, I am sorry for your loss.