ID on fish

[joefitz]

Well, I finally ordered rock! Very cool stuff. Anyway, a little blenny/goby made the trip and I was hoping I could get a little help IDing this guy so I can figure out what he eats and whatnot...

Without further ado...and thanks to anyone who can help. I sure hope he makes it through the cycle.

[Keith Sheridan]

Wow, that is pretty cool. It is some sort of goby, they eat meaty foods, but will probably accept most any fish foods. Not sure on exact species, but shouldn't be too hard to find on fishbase.org. I would suggest having some one with a QT babysit it while your tank is cycling, so you can be sure of his health.

[Keith Sheridan]

Where is the rock from? That is so cool getting a goby hitch-hiker

[joefitz]

The rock was from Tampa Bay Saltwater. It is pretty cool stuff. I am a newbie, so I don't have a lot to compare it with, but it doesn't look anything like what I've seen locally. There are a lot of sponges, several bivalves, macro-algea, barnacles, a few crabs, worms, and a whole slew of stuff that I don't know what to call yet (again, I'm pretty new to this whole thing).

I'm pretty sure there is at least one mantis in there somewhere though as I've heard clicking. Uh oh! My plan is to figure out which rock he is in, take it out and hunt the sucker down with a syringe of fresh water.

And the best part is that this isn't even "the good stuff"...they have this thing called "the package". Basically, they send you the sand and half the rock (your 'base rock') and after that stuff has cycled they ship you the rest of the rock and a clean-up crew.

They ship everything submerged and there are direct flights from Tampa to Logan so my rock was boxed for a total of roughly 8 hours. :-)

Unfortunately, I didn't really take the time to brush off the dead stuff before I put the rock in (as a newbie, I'm not really sure what qualifies as dead after all) so I'm afraid I could be in for a fairly long cycle. They recommend aggressive water changes during the cycle to minimize die-off. People seem to have a lot of success with their instructions so I'm doing my best to follow them.

I'm very concerned about the goby. He seems fine; he is active and moderately friendly. I'm doing my best to keep ammonia, nitrate...at low levels with aggressive water changes but I really wish I had an establish tank to put him in temporarily. I do have a spare tank that I could try to put him in but again, I don't have anything to filter the water for that tank and all that jazz.

Anyway, I completely agree -- very cool that this guy showed up in the rock shipment. I can't wait for the tank to stablize and see what comes in the next shipment.

If interested I'll post more pics of the rock and stuff but I'm just getting familiar with tanking photographs of the tank -- that pic of him wasn't the best but I thought it was probably good enough to get some help with an ID.

Thanks for confirming it is a goby. He is very cool. Do you think he'd eat flake food? And do you think I need to feed him during this cycle or do you think there is enough stuff in there that he can fend for himself?


Originally posted by Keith Sheridan
Where is the rock from? That is so cool getting a goby hitch-hiker

[bdr127]

Wow! That is cool! I have never heard of someone getting a fish as a LR hitchhiker! Congrats! (Sorry I can't help with the ID)

[joefitz]

http://gobiidae.com/species_pages/tigrigobius_macrodon.htm

Thanks to someone in the Reef Fishes forum...

[reefnroll]

Nice hitchiker!

I don't know exactly where you live, but if you'd like
to put that guy up in his own Somerville condo for a while.
I have a well established frag tank he can hang out in, if you like
(with a few other clown gobies who can show him the ropes of
the home reef).
It would be a shame for him to have made it all this way and then croak during your tank cycling. If you're interested, PM me and we can work
out his temporary transfer.

bec

[Jake]

Does anyone remember the post from a lady who got a live Sea Krate(Posionous Sea Snake) in with her live rock?

Anyways very cool Goby!

[sherryq]

Cool goby. I would try to feed him some frozen mysis or brine shrimp or even try some flake. Just put a little food in.
I also ordered Tampa Bay live rock when I first set up my tank. I loved it. I spent hours just looking at the rock and all the wonderful things on it. Everyday it was something new. I also heard clicking noises at night with the rock. It was not a mantis though, it was a small clear pistol shrimp who I would see rarely during feeding time. I would recommend you test your water daily for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrate and do water changes as necessary to keep them as close to 0 as possible. Also, turn the skimmer on high.
Good luck!

[Keith Sheridan]

Originally posted by reefnroll

It would be a shame for him to have made it all this way and then croak during your tank cycling. If you're interested, PM me and we can work
out his temporary transfer.

bec

Just a reminder, I think this would really be the safest way.