Fountainhead
04/03/2006, 03:49 PM
I've had a diamond Goby for a litte over a year now. Today, for the first time, he failed to come out from under his rock this morning. I was concerned, so I suctioned the sand away from his hole (he always closes himself in) to see if he was OK. After dropping some food out front, he appeared and ate a little bit. He looked to me to be laboring. Seemed to be breathing heavily, and just didn't seem right. His appearance seemed normal, no marks or spots. But he wasn't acting right.
He sifted sand for maybe 5 minutes, and then he went back into his hole and hasn't come back out for several hours. I can barely see him down there just sitting in one spot. I can see he's breathing, but he's not doing much else.
My question is, should he die down there, how essential is it that I get him out? The rock he lives under is the largest, heaviest rock in the tank, and is covered by other large, heavy rocks. It would be a major (and destructive) engineering process to get down there. He's about 4 inches long, and my tank is 100 gallons. Will the crabs take care of him? Or is he too big to leave?
I'm still hoping he's OK, obviously, but I want to be prepared should he expire.
He sifted sand for maybe 5 minutes, and then he went back into his hole and hasn't come back out for several hours. I can barely see him down there just sitting in one spot. I can see he's breathing, but he's not doing much else.
My question is, should he die down there, how essential is it that I get him out? The rock he lives under is the largest, heaviest rock in the tank, and is covered by other large, heavy rocks. It would be a major (and destructive) engineering process to get down there. He's about 4 inches long, and my tank is 100 gallons. Will the crabs take care of him? Or is he too big to leave?
I'm still hoping he's OK, obviously, but I want to be prepared should he expire.