Twin Spot Goby

[NTidd]

I purchased a twin spot goby not knowing that they like to be kept in pairs, the one I picked out wasn't paired. Can I add another one or will they just fight with eachother? Mine keeps swimming up to the glass an seeing his reflection.

[NTidd]

Well I decided to try it, I bought some mysid shrimp too. They only had one 2 spot left, and of course she had her back fin torn off, but I purchased her anyways. I put her in and she went to the left side of the tank, and I reached and scared her over to the other side, they found eachother and began somewhat swimming together, then sat face to face for a bit, she even swam up and layed touching his face, this may work afterall :)

[Triggeraddict]

Good luck trying to keep them alive. They need a very established sand bed (which they will deplete the top layers) in order to have ANY success. The only tank I would consider putting them in is with a Seahorse or other extremely passive eaters. Sounds like you might have a little pair though. It is very cute when they sift together and do their little dances. Hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck with them. They are amazing little fish!

[Sloeber]

neat fish, very beautiful. too bad they usually do not accept prepared foods, and then destroy our DSB and bury corals in the process. most starve in a month to 3.

good luck.

[NTidd]

Yes, I have learnt that now, I didn't research properly before purchasing, now I am paying for it.

[salty joe]

NTidd,

Twinspots just might eat flying fish eggs.

My mandarin likes them, and generally mandarins don't eat prepared food either.

Asain food stores usually carry them.

I sure do hope this helps.

Joe

[Snarkys]

Originally posted by salty joe
NTidd,

Twinspots just might eat flying fish eggs.

My mandarin likes them, and generally mandarins don't eat prepared food either.

Asain food stores usually carry them.

I sure do hope this helps.

Joe

i just tried this . turned off all the pumps and sprayed the eggs all over the sand.

going to give this a shot for a few days . lets hope it works : )

[salty joe]

I'm real interested the result. Be careful to not foul your water. Good luck.

[Snarkys]

well there is no question that he eats it but it is more of what he comes across rather than actively seeking them out. the eggs are kinda neat because they are about the same size as my sand and if i turn the pumps off i can easily spread a coating of the eggs on the top of the sand. i think i'm going to mix the eggs with some mysis and hope that i can get him to respond to feeding time and actively seek out the food rather than just stumble across it.

[salty joe]

How long have you had your twin spot goby? Please keep us posted.

[Snarkys]

about a week and a half , i got two but the second one vanished after two days .

[salty joe]

I have never owned a twin spot goby. Very cool little fish. Is it very hard to tell female from male? If so, I wonder if you got two males and it was a conflict that sent one into hiding. I'm assuming that two males would not get along, but I don't know.

How long has your tank been set up?

[salty joe]

If you could get your twin spot goby to eat and thrive on store-bought food, that would be absolutely outstanding!

[Snarkys]

tank has been up for over a year. i have no idea if i had two males or not.

I'll be impressed if i can get him to chase the food down rather than just be forced to find it as he sifts.

[New2This]

Dont know if this will work in your case but you might give it a shot. I have to suck up some brine shrimp in a turkey baster and squirt it at my mandrin. Dont know how calm that little fish is, but my mandrin is very tame to the baster now. I can push him with it if he is not close to the food.

Good luck, very cool little fish.

[Snarkys]

today i tried something new also

i have a bunch of Erick's famous fish food in the freezer so i tried that . this has tons of really small particles that coat the sand (with the pumps off)and he just went after it. I think he really liked that stuff .

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176530

While i think this is working it will be a royal pain in the butt if i have to feed this way forever and i most certainly will have to step up the water changes because of the extra feeding. My main worry is sooner or later i will forget to turn the pumps back on : ( i really hope to train him to eat mysis.

[Snarkys]

well he looks to be gaining weight and doing well . the only problem is this really is a pain in the butt (mainly remembering to turn off and on the pumps) and is adding more nutrients to the tank so i have had to step up the water changes . if at the 6 month point he is still alive i may try and find him a friend as everyone says they do better in pairs.

I may also buy a reef keeper to turn the pumps on and off for me so i dont forget someday.

[Snarkys]

well as of today he actively chases down any mysis that hits the sand near him . only problem is it seems the mysis might be a bit large for him and he has trouble ripping it apart.

I think i may have succeeded in training him to eat prepared foods. guess the only question now is, can they survive on a diet supplemented by foods that aren't their natural diet.

[SDguy]

Finely mince the mysis. Use ailine tubing like a straw to get it close to him, rather than just filling the tank with it. Try and get it on something more balance, like formula 1 frozen.

PS I had one eating mysis...still died after about 6 months (no sunken in stomach either). Hope you have more success :)

[Snarkys]

if you mince up the mysis aren't you releasing most of the important fatty acids ? i was thinking on just getting smaller mysis.

just as a bit of info it has been almost a month since i got him.

11/12/05

[Snarkys]

interesting how all the sites selling them totally lie and make them seem to be easy fish to keep.

live aquaria
Care Level: Moderate
and even says they will spawn in the right conditions.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=216


MDL
Diet: The Signigobius biocellatus is a carnivore and likes to eat variety of foods, especially Mysis Shrimp, worms, flakes.
Breeding: Able to breed.

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/two-spot-goby---signigobius-biocellatus-fish--gobies.html

saltwaterfish.com
Diet: Live Brine, Pellet
Care Level: Easy

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11_03/product_info.php?products_id=1015&parent_category=4&category_search=61&root_parent_id=4&PHPSESSID=f709e744f16a530bf66217a6f217b1fc

pet solutions
This Goby readily adapts to a diet of frozen or live shrimp such as Mysis Shrimp or Brine Shrimp.

http://www.petsolutions.com/Twinspot+Goby-I-127200L-I-C-16226-C-.aspx

[SDguy]

When I say mince, I just mean small pieces (ie...not whole mysis shrimp, which can be 3/4" long, or bigger). Don't mash into a paste though ;)

Yeah, it sucks that they aren't regarded as more difficult to keep. I remember mine always went for the food with gusto, and seemed to try desperately to swallow it. His mouth would work it, work it, work it...but more often than not, ended up spitting it out or passing it through his gills. I just assumed that it had to do with the structure of their mouth...designed to sift TINY organisms out of sand. "pieces" of food were just so hard for him to get down. :( Like I said, he wasn't skinny when he died, but the only thing I could say for certain I ever saw him swallow was mysis. My guy was also pretty small, like a couple inches. Maybe a larger one will have an easier time.

[Snarkys]

I remember mine always went for the food with gusto, and seemed to try desperately to swallow it. His mouth would work it, work it, work it...but more often than not, ended up spitting it out or passing it through his gills

I think this is what i was watching him do today.

I know he is gaining weight but i don't know if it is from the mysis or from the "Erick's famous fish food" and flying fish eggs i have been spraying all over the sand . the fish food is full of really small particles . tons of golden pearls , cyclop eeze, phyto , blended fish and shellfish, Fish roe , Powdered marine flake , selco .... I'm sure that some of this has to be similar enough to what he would eat in the wild.

[SDguy]

That definitely sounds promising! :D I unfortunately didn't research other food very much at the time...didn't take advantage of what was available to me. Sounds like you're doing it all right. Now just make sure your skimmer is crankin'...cause all that food does a number on your tank, that I remember also :rolleyes:

[Snarkys]

ya i am doing weekly water changes now also ....

[SDguy]

The things we'll do for one little fish!!:D (As I eat my tuna salad :eek2: )

[Snarkys]

well its two more weeks and hes gained a lot of weight since i got him. I don't think mysis is a good choice for these fish . Not only do they have trouble swallowing them but something tells me their digestive track is prolly not long enough to digest large items like mysis. the fish eggs and blender mush seem to work much better.

[SDguy]

Very cool! Keep the updates coming. And Happy Holidays!

[Snarkys]

well i have had him for almost two months now , I think it is time to find him a friend, anyone know how to sex them ?

few things Ive noticed and educated guesses. while i have successfully trained him to eat prepared foods and he actively chases down mysis and even pellet now i don't think these are the very good foods for them, first is because when he gets the mysis he seems to have to chew it for a quite some time before he can swallow it meaning this food is way to big for him. this is pure conjecture on my part but in the wild they feed by eating small bugs in the sand so I'm guessing their digestive track is not as well developed and maybe doesn't have the ability to fully process large items like mysis shrimp. I think a few good options are blender mush/eriks famous fish food, flying fish eggs (Asian grocery stores) and products like cylop eeze. the eggs tend to sink so you don't need to turn off the pumps but if you want to use the cyclop eeze or blender mush i would turn the pumps off for 20 minutes and then use a Turkey baster to coat the sand with some of it.

I personally would not recommend this fish to anyone who doesn't want to spend some extra time every day feeding as it is more hands on and labor intensive than most fish . I would also stay away from it if you already have nutrient/water quality problems as it it requires more than you were prolly feeding before.

I hope i can find another soon : ) If i can keep a pair alive for a year i think i will claim success.

Erick's famous fish food.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=176530

[Snarkys]

He now also actively chases down nutrifin slow sinking pellets, even without the presence of other foods. they are about the same size as the flying fish eggs that he likes so much. i think i may have a partner for him on Monday , it will be interesting to see if this same technique works to train him to eat various prepared foods.

[Peter Schmiedel]

Mine eat all kinds of pellets. The small size of Formular one is eaten - depending on the size of your goby.

Signigobius biocellatus does not show any sexual dimorphic's so you have to try to pair them and watch them carefully. In most of the cases it worked for me - only ones I couple did not find harmony and I had to split hem up.

[Snarkys]

I tried some flake today and he really seemed to like that . by the time it floated down to him it was really soft and he was able to swallow it really easy rather than the chewing motion he makes with most other foods.

[Snarkys]

well it's been three + months and he is doing well . i alternate feeding with mysis one day and some flying fish eggs the next. he likes the fish eggs the most. i did try to get him a friend but she died within hours : ( i may try again some day.

moral of the story , to get them to eat , turn off the pumps and coat the sand bed with food until they get used to the prepared foods and choose a small food.

[salty joe]

Hey, that's great! Do you have it to the point where you can load the food in the same small spot & the goby knows to go there? If not, I'd bet the fish is smart enough to be trained. Maybe make the feeding area smaller & smaller.

Thanks for the update and keep us posted.

Joe

[Snarkys]

no , now I just feed normaly . he knows it is feeding time an chases it down like the rest of the fish

[Aimforever]

Snarkys,

Any updates on the TWG? Just wondering if its still doing good, and if your method has proven successful. Did you ever get a mate?

[fishyz]

I have had my twin spot goby for a little over a month now. He has readily accepted mysis since about day 3. Now, he even swims up higher in the tank to get mysis.

[Snarkys]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10341356#post10341356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aimforever
Snarkys,

Any updates on the TWG? Just wondering if its still doing good, and if your method has proven successful. Did you ever get a mate?

my long nose hawkfish continually harassed him and he disappeared.

I personally would leave this fish alone unless I had a large established fine grain sand bed and no aggressive fish . The feeding method worked but it adds a bunch of nutrients to the water and its a pain in the butt. If there is anything i have learned it is to skip any coral or fish that requires special care on a daily basis. I want it to be a hobby not a chore : )

[Snarkys]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10341854#post10341854 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishyz
I have had my twin spot goby for a little over a month now. He has readily accepted mysis since about day 3. Now, he even swims up higher in the tank to get mysis.

You might want to try a smaller food than mysis.

I know many people have reported them just gumming mysis desperately and then spitting it back out because it is too big. Some type of gut loaded brine or even small pellet food might be a better choice.