Court Jester Goby (rainfordi)

[Mark426]

I have been thinking of adding a Court Jester Goby (rainfordi) to my tank. I know that they can be difficult to feed along with their cousin Hectors Goby. But, I have seen a couple of places that have captive bred/raised specimens and wonder if these have a good success rate. My reef tank has very little to no algae at all, so right there may be a problem.

My question, who has tried the captive raised ones and what are your thoughts.

Mark

[MondoBongo]

so i haven't tried the captive raised ones, sadly they weren't available when i bought mine, but i can at least offer my general experience.

mine is kept in a tank with some decent algae growth. first in my grow out system, and now in my display fuge. he does seem to appreciate snacking on filamentous algae, but seems to sift sand even more. he's even excavated himself a small cave under a cluster of barnacles.

he's been difficult to get on to prepared food, but now he does like to pick at hikari mysis. mostly i think he figured out the whole prepared food thing watching my OSFF pair and scooter snag them. i had him probably about 18 months before he started really showing any interest in frozen.

i haven't tried any nori or anything like that with him, although maybe that would be worth a shot.

on the whole a really enjoyable fish. very colorful, and has an endearing personality.

[71xlch]

I have one. Not sure if captive or not but readily eats the homemade food I make. Also picks at sand and rocks all day

[LobsterOfJustice]

I haven't had one personally, but I know a couple local people who tried the captive bred ones without success.


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[Mark426]

Thanks for the replies.... I am about 50/50 on if I should try one. They sure are nice looking.

[jar41]

really nice looking fish! very high in my want list! question is:how would you quarantine it?

[MondoBongo]

really nice looking fish! very high in my want list! question is:how would you quarantine it?

given the complications with their feeding while in TTM i chose to bypass that and place mine straight in to my grow out system.

the grow out system was (i tore it down recently to rebuild differently) a fully cycled 20 long with sump, skimmer, and all the goodies. it was packed with algae and had a decent amount of rock, and even some sand in it. so he was able to subsist in there just fine.

[jar41]

Thx! Would ORA one be safer/better to add?

[MondoBongo]

i think the ORA one would be better to add from a sustainability perspective, since they're captive bred.

however as far as a potential disease, i treat everything wet the same.

as always your mileage may vary, so choose the appropriate level of risk you're comfortable with for your system.

it is also possible that the captive bred ones may be more inclined to eat prepared, making their QT easier, but i would have a backup plan in place in case that does not pan out.

[jar41]

I even asked Liveaquaria about it and thats what i got:
Thank you for your e-mail and question. All our specimens are quarantined for two weeks or more depending on the species. We would not suggest adding any more medication because it can be stressful to your specimens. Here is a link to our Divers Den acclimation which is also followed by our other facilities.

[MondoBongo]

yeah i'm not a big fan of prophylactic medication in most cases, save for prazipro. however even though they call that two week "quarantine" it's not really quarantine, because it doesn't span significant enough time to account for the progression of most diseases, so they still advocate that you QT on your own.

like i said, it's all a risk mitigation strategy, so choose what works best for you and how risk averse you are.