Engineer Goby in nano

[Batts]

I was wondering if anyone had an experience with engineer gobies in a nano tank set up.

I have a nuvo 24g reef tank and planning to add two or three juvenile engineer gobies to my current set up. I read they do better in groups rather than single.

I currently have a clown pair, a bicolor blenny, and a pair of peppermints. Clowns and blenny have become very good friends, they always swim together and occupy the same corner of the tank.
So the engs will basically have three quarters of the tank to pick a spot for them without any territorial issue.

I know eng. gobies grow quite large in size, and but i have plans to move to a bigger tank when i move to a new place next year.

Any thoughts?

[Booboobear259]

They will outgrow that tank quickly how large is the larger tank that you would move him to.

[Batts]

I'm thinking to upgrade to min 100gal in feb or march, how quick would they outgrow do you think?
Would love to hear your story If you had them in your 29gallon

[Booboobear259]

If you are upgrading that soon then I think you should be good I would wait until December just in case he grows too quickly. Fish are like people they all grow at different rates

[spicytuna]

Get your engineer gobies when you have a bigger tank. They have absolutely no place in a 24g tank. It says online they grow to 24 inches, that's not true. I have seen engineers well over 3 ft.

Be a responsible aquarist. Buy livestock that can live a happy healthy life in the tank you have.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by spicytuna

Get your engineer gobies when you have a bigger tank. They have absolutely no place in a 24g tank. It says online they grow to 24 inches, that's not true. I have seen engineers well over 3 ft.

Be a responsible aquarist. Buy livestock that can live a happy healthy life in the tank you have.

Completely agree.

[Batts]

Originally Posted by spicytuna

Get your engineer gobies when you have a bigger tank. They have absolutely no place in a 24g tank. It says online they grow to 24 inches, that's not true. I have seen engineers well over 3 ft.

Be a responsible aquarist. Buy livestock that can live a happy healthy life in the tank you have.

So you are suggesting engineers grow over 24 inches in 6-7 months that makes inch a month. If it grows an inch till march that would be remarkable hence I wanted to see if anyone had an experience growing one- nothing to do with being unresponsible aquarist so I find your comment quite irrelevant.
If I asked "what is the growth rate", that would have reflect my actual question better I guess. Yeah my bad.

Anyways the following comment is for the ones actually wants get something out of my experience with this.

I got two juveniles both 2 inches long three weeks ago..
I did get two because I read they were social fish within their breed. that's where I made the mistake I should have got only one.

two of them were getting along very well in the beginning, sharing the same burrow, eating - investigating the tank together looked really happy. then a week a later, one of them kicked the other one out of their burrow didn't let him back in. The kicked out one felt lost - could not settle anywhere else although there were plenty of holes & sand on the other parts of the tank that he could have made another burrow. He swam all night out in the space like crazy. I guess he got so tired swimming because he got sucked in to the overflow twice on that night and I had to rescue him. In the morning I found him stuck in a little tunnel between my rocks that he obviously thought he could get through (clowns might have chased him to there as well because he was keep bothering them), I rescued him again but it was too late he wasn't swimming properly anymore. He passed away once I got back from work on the same day. That's the sad part.

The happy part is the other goby doing great on his own. I call him the brother killer that suits his convict name. They are really interesting fish to watch I highly recommend getting one.
p.s. been three weeks and seen no significant growth (except for his fat belly)

[OrQidz]

I googled "how fast do engineer gobies grow" and got a lot of information. The consensus is, they grow fast. A couple of example statements I saw:

"They grow pretty fast. Mine is easily 12" long and it must have taken 8-10 months"
"I had 3 at one time in my tank...they GROW FAST. Mine is probably 12 inches or so also and has been about 7 months. "

I don't think anyone was attacking you, just answering the question and giving their opinion. I personally would wait for a bigger tank, because these guys are so active and dig up the tank anyway, just seems kind of a logistical challenge for a nano with its inherent size limitations and greater risk of unstable water parameters.

[Majority_Rules]

I'm not 100% confident a 100g would be enough. I had one in a 50g and I'm not sure if twice the space would be enough for it. They seriously will utilize the entire sand bed. I gave it away to someone with a 300g.

[Batts]

What was the actual reason you gave it away? Was it getting aggressive & territorial? How do I understand the space it utilizes is not big enough anymore?

Well if it grows that big and wont fit in a 100g, I would give it back to my LFS.
My 24g is wide n shallow so seems there is plenty to surface area for a juvenile one (for now). He is utilizing only the half of my tank.

[Batts]

Just a quick update on this one, the convict is doing great, he established his place in the tank and within the small community I have. looks very happy, week five and he has actually grown like 15-20% of his body size n looks much better compared to how he looked when I first got it, his fins look better (I ordered it online and he had bite marks on his fins) he still has the big stripe on the side of his body I wonder when he will start get the fancy patches. very interesting fish.

[goncharkina]

I just bought one for my 120 gallon tank, it is tine but I have seen them at LFS and they are a size of a small eel! Cool fish for large tank

[CaptainSlow]

the juvenile engineer goby i had in my last tank that would have outgrown OPs tank in 3 months. he was well over 12" within 6 months. his growth slowed down after that but this fish has no business in that tank except QT

[Batts]

Originally Posted by CaptainSlow

the juvenile engineer goby i had in my last tank that would have outgrown OPs tank in 3 months. he was well over 12" within 6 months. his growth slowed down after that but this fish has no business in that tank except QT

I think you may be right, the growth rate I am experiencing is fairly matching your comment. its been two months since I got it and I agree it is really fast growing fish he has already doubled up his juvenile size, last week he expanded his territory to the half of the tank. Started getting his white patches as well. I think it will be right time to move him to a bigger tank in march.

[cherubfish pair]

What about a convict blenny? Are they the same thing? They look the same in google images.

[Batts]

yep they are the same thing

[ReeferNoob4ever]

I have one of these in my 20 gallon. It is getting close to 12" now and eats anything I feed the tank but I direct it into its mouth with a turkey baster because it mostly stags under the rockwork. My gf named the fish Ursula and she has made a tunnel system under 100 percent of the tank (3" aragonite substrate). Although she only sleeps in the middle section. She is about as thick as a sharpie marker.

Hate all you want but I once kept an African cichlid in a 2.5 gallon tank for 3 yrs and it was fine. You just have to feed them and keep your tank clean.

[SurfCastinRI]

Originally Posted by ReeferNoob4ever

Hate all you want but I once kept an African cichlid in a 2.5 gallon tank for 3 yrs and it was fine. You just have to feed them and keep your tank clean.

I could keep my dog alive in my closet for 3 years, but that doesn't mean it would be fine...

[Majority_Rules]

Originally Posted by Batts

What was the actual reason you gave it away? Was it getting aggressive & territorial? How do I understand the space it utilizes is not big enough anymore?

Well if it grows that big and wont fit in a 100g, I would give it back to my LFS.
My 24g is wide n shallow so seems there is plenty to surface area for a juvenile one (for now). He is utilizing only the half of my tank.

I gave him away because he had outgrown the tank. He was at least a foot long by then. Sometimes he would come out from the burrows and swim in the water. He was just too big. I don't want to keep a fish that I know could be happier in another tank.

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