Engineer Gobies

Paul B · 11/10/2008, 06:31 AM

I once wrote that engineer gobies are kind of benign in the fact that they are reef safe and won't eat your fish. I need to re state that to they won't eat fish unless they fit into their mouth.
These eel looking fish are called "engineer gobi's" because they dig tunnels all over the place, sometimes causing the rocks to fall. They get quite large and go unnoticed because they are noctural and during the day they act like moray eels hiding most of their body with just their head sticking out of a rock.
They will eat anything and are very easy to keep.
My tank has over 25 small gobies of varying types and lately I have noticed that I am missing four of them. Two small clown gobies and a small butterfly that I collected which was a little smaller than a nickel and another fish.
The other fish was a pregnant sand sifting gobi which is a skinny fish about an inch or so long.
I was trying to take a picture of this fish and I moved a rock for the shot.
As soon as I did that, the engineer gobi darted out and grabbed the fish, head first and brought it into a tunnel.
I ran and got a large bucket and started to remove rock to find the gobi. I removed the rock on half of the tank and noticed that the engineer had a tunnel going the 6' length of the tank all the way to the bottom. It snaked under all the rocks. Eventually after about 15 minutes he let go of the pregnant fish.
The fish was too large for the engineer to swallow but 15 minutes with his head in another fishes mouth killed her.
I did a ciserian and collected the eggs but they were (of course)unfertile and will not hatch.
I am sure this engineer is the cause of the other missing fish as they were all smaller than this engineer gobi.
I had this problem before with an 18 year old cusk eel or brutlyd fish. I always wondered why I had a problem with small fish disappearing.
I will build a trap for this fish and give it away or keep it in my local water tank. If anyone wants him, let me know.
I just noticed while looking at the picture, that gobi to the right is the male partner of the pregnant fish that was killed by this engineer.

C. Friesen · 11/10/2008, 12:57 PM

Sorry for your loss. Thanks for the information. I have a small Rainford Goby and I would n't want to lose him if I pick up an Engineer Goby in the future.

Chris

Paul B · 11/10/2008, 01:25 PM

I also have a small rainsford gobi and as of today I still have him but I have set a trap and hopefully by tomorrow the engineer will be on his way to a new home.

Mappelbaum37 · 11/10/2008, 02:12 PM

Let us know how that trap works out.. Seems interesting..

Paul B · 11/10/2008, 03:11 PM

Right now he has been laying next to it trying to figure out how to get at the food inside. Hopefully when the lights go out he will try harder

Garage1217 · 11/10/2008, 09:31 PM

Fish eating fish... A sad thing

woodiecrafts · 11/10/2008, 09:39 PM

Sorry to hear about your SS Gobi Paul. Its always sad to lose a fish, much less one that you are trying to breed. I do appreciate learning the info on the engineer Goby. I have always thought about one, just never got around to getting it though, and now I am glad that I never did.

Aqua Keepers · 11/10/2008, 10:23 PM

This is the first time I've heard of this. Do you target feed him?

Paul B · 11/11/2008, 05:22 AM

Quote:

This is the first time I've heard of this. Do you target feed him?

He gets plenty to eat. I target feed everything and he gets the most to eat.
He has been there for a few years but now he is large enough to fit many of the gobies in his mouth and I guess he has taken a liking to them.

Happy Veterans Day

Paul B · 11/12/2008, 05:37 AM

So far my trap works great. I have caught almost all the fish in my tank except the engineer gobi.
He must have watched me build it.

rgulrich · 11/12/2008, 08:04 AM

In the fish world, by and large, the rule of mouth (vice "rule of thumb" for old adages) is that if it fits, it's food. And on occasion, even if it doesn't fit, sometimes it's food as well.
This applies to freshwater as well as marine fish.

Cheers,
Ray

watson_barrett · 11/12/2008, 08:44 AM

get some pistol shrimp, they will protect your gobies from the engineer....

Aqua Keepers · 11/12/2008, 08:51 AM

pistol shrimp=food for engineer

Paul B · 11/12/2008, 09:54 AM

Quote:

get some pistol shrimp, they will protect your gobies from the engineer....

Say what?

Aquarist007 · 11/12/2008, 07:21 PM

Sorry to hear that Paul--its tough when you have an unobserved predator in your tank.
I think I have one now--I've lost 20 snails in the last two weeks--just empty shells--so something is preying on them.

Paul B · 11/13/2008, 05:17 AM

Quote:

I think I have one now--I've lost 20 snails in the last two weeks

Thats usually hermit crabs. They don't usually get their homes at a real estate office so they have to evict the snails, (and eat them while they are at it) My crabs love snails so I dump a load of mud snails in there in the summer.
For some reason, some of them are still living.

Now it's a quest for catching that engineer. It gives new meaning to life and it will prove to me who is the smarter vertibrate, an electrician or an engineer

Aquarist007 · 11/13/2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul B
Thats usually hermit crabs. They don't usually get their homes at a real estate office so they have to evict the snails, (and eat them while they are at it) My crabs love snails so I dump a load of mud snails in there in the summer.
For some reason, some of them are still living.

Now it's a quest for catching that engineer. It gives new meaning to life and it will prove to me who is the smarter vertibrate, an electrician or an engineer

then there must a rogue hermit left in the DT--most of mine now inhabit the refugiums

good luck catching that goby

Paul B · 11/14/2008, 07:11 AM

OK I caught him, it took cunning, sneakiness, super intelligence,
fear, courage but most of all...............................................

Removing all the rock.
I also needed a reason to re-aquascape and had a few hours to kill

Paul B · 11/14/2008, 07:12 AM

Aquarist007 · 11/14/2008, 07:21 AM

so that's what a "quickie" is LOL

glad the wine bottle survived

Paul B · 11/14/2008, 07:26 AM

Capn, there are probably 12 bottles in there. Only the good stuff like Grand Marnier, no cheap booze in my tank.

I put the lights on a couple of hours early to see how it looks. I do like it as it is very open and has a lot less of the smaller rock.
The fish are not awake so I can't find most of them. I really hope the smaller blue stripped pipefish is in there somewhere as he is my favorite and easy to lose when you remove rock.
Mated pairs of them are not easy to find.
The mandarin is up early and giving me very dirty looks as the two diatom filters, I am sure desimated the pod population.
He just stares at the rock, then stares at me as if to say,
"if I was only 180 lbs heavier I would show you what to do with that diatom filter"
I guess I will put some corals back in there as there are only a few now that I am sure I made the water problem a thing of the past (I hope)
Then I can get into your posts as to if I should tumble chaeto or not tumble it.
Oh I guess I need a fuge or sump for that. Oh well, maybe in my next life.
Now I need some time to get to the sea to dump some mud in there. It is entirely too clean looking and I need some tiny life.
I have to go to the marina this week to cover my boat so I will bring a net and see what is growing on the docks.

Paul B · 11/14/2008, 02:04 PM

That engineer gobi is on his way to a new home even as we speak, or type.
A fine young serviceman came to pick him up.
There hasen't been anyone in my home in uniform since, well never. I diden't live here when I was in the service.
He is a really nice guy and I haven't been called Sir in I don't know how long. My wife almost died when he called her Maam which I am sure she hasen't been called in a long time either.
It's a real pleasure to see someone in uniform especially such a nice respectful person. It made my day.

Paul B · 11/14/2008, 02:04 PM

sorry double post

Aquarist007 · 11/14/2008, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul B
That engineer gobi is on his way to a new home even as we speak, or type.
A fine young serviceman came to pick him up.
There hasen't been anyone in my home in uniform since, well never. I diden't live here when I was in the service.
He is a really nice guy and I haven't been called Sir in I don't know how long. My wife almost died when he called her Maam which I am sure she hasen't been called in a long time either.
It's a real pleasure to see someone in uniform especially such a nice respectful person. It made my day.

hope you are replacing the engineer goby with an "electric"ian eel

I don't believe engineer gobies are on Peter thread of fish to avoid in the reef tank so I will add a link to this one

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...9#post13746959

Aquarist007 · 11/14/2008, 05:02 PM

I also add the information to this blog:

http://www.reefcentral.com/wp/?p=285

11/10/2008, 06:31 AM	#1
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Engineer Gobies I once wrote that engineer gobies are kind of benign in the fact that they are reef safe and won't eat your fish. I need to re state that to they won't eat fish unless they fit into their mouth. These eel looking fish are called "engineer gobi's" because they dig tunnels all over the place, sometimes causing the rocks to fall. They get quite large and go unnoticed because they are noctural and during the day they act like moray eels hiding most of their body with just their head sticking out of a rock. They will eat anything and are very easy to keep. My tank has over 25 small gobies of varying types and lately I have noticed that I am missing four of them. Two small clown gobies and a small butterfly that I collected which was a little smaller than a nickel and another fish. The other fish was a pregnant sand sifting gobi which is a skinny fish about an inch or so long. I was trying to take a picture of this fish and I moved a rock for the shot. As soon as I did that, the engineer gobi darted out and grabbed the fish, head first and brought it into a tunnel. I ran and got a large bucket and started to remove rock to find the gobi. I removed the rock on half of the tank and noticed that the engineer had a tunnel going the 6' length of the tank all the way to the bottom. It snaked under all the rocks. Eventually after about 15 minutes he let go of the pregnant fish. The fish was too large for the engineer to swallow but 15 minutes with his head in another fishes mouth killed her. I did a ciserian and collected the eggs but they were (of course)unfertile and will not hatch. I am sure this engineer is the cause of the other missing fish as they were all smaller than this engineer gobi. I had this problem before with an 18 year old cusk eel or brutlyd fish. I always wondered why I had a problem with small fish disappearing. I will build a trap for this fish and give it away or keep it in my local water tank. If anyone wants him, let me know. I just noticed while looking at the picture, that gobi to the right is the male partner of the pregnant fish that was killed by this engineer.

11/10/2008, 01:25 PM	#3
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	I also have a small rainsford gobi and as of today I still have him but I have set a trap and hopefully by tomorrow the engineer will be on his way to a new home. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/10/2008, 02:12 PM	#4
Mappelbaum37 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: New York Posts: 886	Let us know how that trap works out.. Seems interesting.. __________________ Matt Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef

11/10/2008, 03:11 PM	#5
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Right now he has been laying next to it trying to figure out how to get at the food inside. Hopefully when the lights go out he will try harder __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/10/2008, 09:31 PM	#6
Garage1217 GET OFF MY LAWN Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Globally Posts: 5,863	Fish eating fish... A sad thing __________________ No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness ~ Aristotle If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? ~ Albert Einstein I'm just as bent as ever. Hellishly so ~ Captain Jack Sparrow Current Tank Info: Systems and goodies by Lee-Mar / Coralvue / Neptune Systems / Jager / Spectrapure / Cree / Meanwell + more!

11/10/2008, 12:57 PM	#2
C. Friesen Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Posts: 50	Sorry for your loss. Thanks for the information. I have a small Rainford Goby and I would n't want to lose him if I pick up an Engineer Goby in the future. Chris

11/10/2008, 09:39 PM	#7
woodiecrafts Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Jonesboro, AR Posts: 414	Sorry to hear about your SS Gobi Paul. Its always sad to lose a fish, much less one that you are trying to breed. I do appreciate learning the info on the engineer Goby. I have always thought about one, just never got around to getting it though, and now I am glad that I never did. __________________ Always remember, no matter where you go, there you are. "Buckaroo Banzai" Current Tank Info: 2-75 Gal Mixed Reefs / with T-5 Nova Extremes // 1-10 gal nano reef w/ PC's

11/10/2008, 10:23 PM	#8
Aqua Keepers Moved On Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Clearwater,Fl Posts: 2,915	This is the first time I've heard of this. Do you target feed him?

11/12/2008, 05:37 AM	#10
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	So far my trap works great. I have caught almost all the fish in my tank except the engineer gobi. He must have watched me build it. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/12/2008, 08:04 AM	#11
rgulrich greybeard Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: MD Posts: 893	In the fish world, by and large, the rule of mouth (vice "rule of thumb" for old adages) is that if it fits, it's food. And on occasion, even if it doesn't fit, sometimes it's food as well. This applies to freshwater as well as marine fish. Cheers, Ray __________________ The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 360 degree walk around 300 DD island–4 300W & 2 165W ViparSpectra, 4 Kessil A350W, 2 A360WE, 3 XF150, 1 XF250, 1 XF350 Gyre along with 2 PP40 and 2 IceCap 3K gyre for robust current. Basement 150 gallon RubberMaid sump, SKIMZ skimmer, DCP18000

11/12/2008, 08:44 AM	#12
watson_barrett Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Waldorf, MD Posts: 283	get some pistol shrimp, they will protect your gobies from the engineer....

11/12/2008, 08:51 AM	#13
Aqua Keepers Moved On Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Clearwater,Fl Posts: 2,915	pistol shrimp=food for engineer

11/12/2008, 07:21 PM	#15
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	Sorry to hear that Paul--its tough when you have an unobserved predator in your tank. I think I have one now--I've lost 20 snails in the last two weeks--just empty shells--so something is preying on them. __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock

11/14/2008, 07:11 AM	#18
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	OK I caught him, it took cunning, sneakiness, super intelligence, fear, courage but most of all............................................... Removing all the rock. I also needed a reason to re-aquascape and had a few hours to kill

11/14/2008, 07:12 AM	#19
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	__________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/14/2008, 07:21 AM	#20
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	so that's what a "quickie" is LOL glad the wine bottle survived __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock

11/14/2008, 07:26 AM	#21
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Capn, there are probably 12 bottles in there. Only the good stuff like Grand Marnier, no cheap booze in my tank. I put the lights on a couple of hours early to see how it looks. I do like it as it is very open and has a lot less of the smaller rock. The fish are not awake so I can't find most of them. I really hope the smaller blue stripped pipefish is in there somewhere as he is my favorite and easy to lose when you remove rock. Mated pairs of them are not easy to find. The mandarin is up early and giving me very dirty looks as the two diatom filters, I am sure desimated the pod population. He just stares at the rock, then stares at me as if to say, "if I was only 180 lbs heavier I would show you what to do with that diatom filter" I guess I will put some corals back in there as there are only a few now that I am sure I made the water problem a thing of the past (I hope) Then I can get into your posts as to if I should tumble chaeto or not tumble it. Oh I guess I need a fuge or sump for that. Oh well, maybe in my next life. Now I need some time to get to the sea to dump some mud in there. It is entirely too clean looking and I need some tiny life. I have to go to the marina this week to cover my boat so I will bring a net and see what is growing on the docks.

11/14/2008, 02:04 PM	#22
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	That engineer gobi is on his way to a new home even as we speak, or type. A fine young serviceman came to pick him up. There hasen't been anyone in my home in uniform since, well never. I diden't live here when I was in the service. He is a really nice guy and I haven't been called Sir in I don't know how long. My wife almost died when he called her Maam which I am sure she hasen't been called in a long time either. It's a real pleasure to see someone in uniform especially such a nice respectful person. It made my day. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/14/2008, 02:04 PM	#23
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	sorry double post __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971 Last edited by Paul B; 11/14/2008 at 02:34 PM.

11/14/2008, 05:02 PM	#25
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	I also add the information to this blog: http://www.reefcentral.com/wp/?p=285 __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock