rainfords goby info

[CeeGee]

I saw these fish in the LFS and think that they are pretty cool looking. Was wanting to get some info on them.

I have a mixed reef with about 60% SPS 40% LPS and a couple of softies in the mix. Tankmates would be a couple of fairy wrasses a royal gramma and I am also researching the tail spot blenny.

are there any concerns about coral eating with these guys? what about feeding and how do they do in quarantine?

Any info I could get would be great.

Thanks in advance,
C.G.

[SDguy]

They eat filamentous hair algae and the interstitial fauna associated with it. So, in other words, make sure they are eating prepared foods, otherwise you risk serious threat of starvation. I've seen many waste away. I've seen others eat frozen food no problem.

[reefdadx2]

I'm with SDguy. They are also jumpers. Cool inexpensive fish. Michael R

[Kahuna Tuna]

I kept one for years in a 12 nano and they are cool little fish. Mine never ate a single thing I tried to feed but sifted sand, ate pods, and nibbled the liverock and got nice and plump doing that. If you have lots of natural feeding possibilities in your tank this is a great fish.

[Angels]

keep one with passive tankmates..they eat the smallest of pods, and they are also egg eaters. i keep several cerith snails, when they lay their eggs on the glass my rainfordi gobbles them up. He also likes DT's oyester eggs. Mine is very calm, i keep him in an open top 38. Very cool fish........

[CeeGee]

I am not sure if they are right for me then. I have a solar wrasse that is kinda aggressive towards my other wrasse and I have so much flow in my tank that I don't see a whole lot of pods. They are probably there they just get blown around.

I am also planning on going BB when I upgrade tanks.

I do on the other hand have a little hair algae here and there.

[SDguy]

IMO, I would never add one of these fish to a BB SPS dominated tank. Just not the right environment...

[d9sccr]

my mom had one w/ a damsel that she had used to cycle the tank...the damsel seriously stressed the goby..we ended up getting rid of the damsel and the rainford's thrived then..i def. wouldn't mix w/ an aggressive species

[snorvich]

I go with Sdguy. I have a couple but not in your kind of environment. My fairy wrasses do not even notice them.

[CeeGee]

just for reference what type of environment do these fish like?

aside from peaceful tankmates.

[snorvich]

Live rock, live sand, lots of pods. I don't have hair algae so cannot say if that is of value or not.

[Amphiprion]

Hair algae isn't necessarily of much value, though it is acceptable. Most people have filamentous algae on their rocks, etc. whether they realize it or not. A small visible patch wouldn't hurt, though.

[JJohn]

I had one of these guys for a couple of years. Great little fish. Very nice looking patterns and colors. Also had an interesting little hunting behavior. He ate nothing but pods in my tank, at least while I was watching that is. He eventually got spooked by my yellow tang and went into hiding in the rockwork. He would "disappear" for months at a time and just when I thought he was dead, he would show up again for a few minutes just before the lights went out. It was the strangest thing.

I fully agree that they need to be kept with mellow tank-mates.

John

[snorvich]

Amphiprion, I was trying, albeit poorly, to say this fish may or may not have value in removing hair algae.

[SDguy]

I agree...I don't think the HA itself is of very much value to the fish...just all the little critters living in it.

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8494566#post8494566 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Amphiprion, I was trying, albeit poorly, to say this fish may or may not have value in removing hair algae.

Ah, understood and I agree. Despite the fact that its diet is heavily influenced by filamentous algae, I doubt, as you said, that it would be able to deter or eliminate infestations (to any extent).

SDguy, I see where you are coming from, but given that they consume so much more algae in comparison to interstitial organisms, I just don't think that they could derive enough nutrition from that small amount. A similar species, A. hectori shares similar observed feeding habits and crustacean fauna only comprises around 5% of its diet, whereas filamentous algal species comprise the other 95%. Granted, these numbers fluctuate and will prove different between species, but I doubt that the inclusion of large amounts of filamentous algae in their diets is merely incidental. This holds true, as far as I have seen, for many other Amblygobius species.

[SDguy]

The reason this comes to mind is from when I had a mandarin. It was my very first FO tank..U/G filter, hang on power filter...you get the idea. The whole thing was eventually filled with HA and pods. My mandarin would actually ingest tons of the HA with the pods. How do I know? Because I would see it poop big balls of HA :D So, then the question becomes, even if the fish is ingesting the HA, is it digesting any of it.

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8495891#post8495891 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
The reason this comes to mind is from when I had a mandarin. It was my very first FO tank..U/G filter, hang on power filter...you get the idea. The whole thing was eventually filled with HA and pods. My mandarin would actually ingest tons of the HA with the pods. How do I know? Because I would see it poop big balls of HA :D So, then the question becomes, even if the fish is ingesting the HA, is it digesting any of it.

I would hope that the Amblygobius sp. would, or otherwise they would be subsisting on a very small amount of food. IME, these species still seem to wane in tanks despite high 'pod numbers (more than sufficient if this were the sole source of food). This incidence seems to be different in tanks will filamentous algae, at least from what I have seen.

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8495952#post8495952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
I would hope that the Amblygobius sp. would, or otherwise they would be subsisting on a very small amount of food. IME, these species still seem to wane in tanks despite high 'pod numbers (more than sufficient if this were the sole source of food). This incidence seems to be different in tanks will filamentous algae, at least from what I have seen.

I've seen the same thing, and agree 100%.

[MJAnderson]

Any tips on getting these guys to eat? I have HA and the goby is parked right in the area it's growing (lowest flow part of the tank...Nanostreams are coming) but he's not eating. It's been 10 days and his stomach is starting to look sunken. I have a decent amount of HA and tons of pods. Not sure what to do. It's not like i can soak them in garlic.

He's not being bullied. I have a very passive tank and he's sitting out on the open 24/7, just not eating...