GobiodonBehFAQ

FAQs on Clown Gobies Behavior

Related Articles: Genus Gobiodon Gobies,

Yellow clown goby - worried 9/16/14
Hi, I just added a yellow clown goby 2 days ago. And I'm concerned if he's fine because he's looking quite transparent and could see through him. See the pic (taken after feeding time).
<Looks fine to me... Gobiodons do "blanch out" when stressed... new to systems. Should be fine, darker in a few days>
He has been eating, though not a lot. Movement looks normal and swims about, occasionally perching from rock, plants and sometimes on the glass.
<Live in, amongst arborose stony corals; mainly "table top" Acroporas in the wild; are best, happiest with these live in captivity>
but today he seems to be moving up and down the corner a few times (as if chasing own reflection) and a little more erratic. I had the lights off past 2 days and just turned it on for few hours today. Not sure if it's cuz of that. anyway I saw him eating today too. Again not a lot. Fed
pellets and dried brine shrimp. He took a bit of the brine. Other than him, I also have a clownfish, a blue green Chromis and a yellow nose goby. They are all aggressive eaters and so yellow clown goby gets little (but I tried to target feed w a syringe). My tank is 20 gallon, about 6 months old. water parameters are all fine (ammonia zero) but nitrate has been a little on the high side (about 30ppm). I've added cheato and activated carbon hoping they would help. However I'm not sure if my little yellow clown goby is fine... please advise. Thanks.
<Am referring you to WWM to read re each of the fish species you list/have.
READ via the search tool re their systems, compatibility... You could do better by these animals. Bob Fenner>

Re: Yellow clown goby - worried 9/18/14
You're right! He did get darker today and looks fine. Will read more on WWM! Thanks!!!
<Ahh!~ good. Just saw an unusual Gobiodon sp. two days back here diving in Tulamben, Bali... and thought of you/r situation. BobF>

Black Clown Goby Changing Colors 7/12/13
Hello, dahlings! My question isn't a problem, I'm just curious ... this evening, my black clown goby suddenly turned white.
<?!>
He was swimming about when I noticed him, so I stealthily crept to my tank (so I wouldn't startle him anymore) and when I peered in, he was happily perched on his favorite rock, back to completely black. I know I wasn't imagining it because I've seen him turn 50 shades of grey - ha ha - and yet he is thriving, eating, all fat and happy. Is this common or do I have a
special magical fish?
<I've never encountered such a rapid color change in Gobiodon... could be light reflection somehow gave you the impression the fish was very light...
Otherwise, I don't know>
Love love love your website, btw!
Lisa in Florida
<Thank you. Bob Fenner in S. Ca.>

Yellow Clown Goby pair behaviors 05/30/2008 Hello, <<G'day.. Andrew here>> I have a BioCube 14 (10 gal.) and all is going well. Currently stocked with appr. 16 lbs of LR and several soft coral to include polyps and mushrooms. Anyways I bought a mated pair of yellow clown gobies. I am pretty sure they were mated because they would not leave each other in at the store or once placed in my tank. At appr. day five one of them ended up in the overflow overnight. I found it and rescued it back to the tank. During that time it was gone the other seemed to have "taken" to a Ricordea mushroom. <<Common for them to do this>> Now they do not get along like before. One has become less dominant and paled itself out. It hides and only comes out to feed. The dominant one tends to chase the less dom. but not to the point of hurting it. <<Pretty normal behaviour in my opinion of these>> I do have a Clarkii Clown with anemone and a pygmy angel as well. (I know, few too many but I am doing weekly WC and seems to be holding well). I have talked to several "experts" and they say this behavior is odd. Do they "break up" and is there a way to have them get along better? I may get rid of the less dominant one due to the other three getting along very well. <<Time, patience and observation are the key here. Please do read more here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/gobiodon.htm >> Please help. Ryan Hall (newbie) <<Hope this helps, thanks for the questions. A Nixon>>

Age of a citron goby? -02/20/08 Hi there. I have been trying to find the life span of the Citron clown goby Gobiodon citrinus. I work at the LFS and had a customer tell me that they only live for about a year. I have never heard of this but I also can't find anything that gives me an answer either way. <::sigh:: It seems like sometimes aquarists like to convince themselves that these animals have short life spans so that they can feel better about themselves when they die suddenly. But to answer your question, no, these fish should live significantly longer than a year. However, it's difficult to find conclusive evidence on just how long they do live in the wild and/or under ideal conditions (but they should live at least several years). In captivity, they might not always adjust/adapt well to captive life (and/or they might already be "old" when we get them). They do best when kept with branching corals in tanks with generous micro-crustacean populations. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/gobiodon.htm><<You can figure the longevity by species by reviewing length/age charts on Fishbase.org by species. RMF>> Allison Genevieve <Best, Sara M.>

Crocea Clam and Yellow Clown Goby... Goby Hosting in a Clam 8/26/07 Hello WWM, <Hi Jerry, Mich here.> You guys are the best, <Thank you for the kind words!> I don't even bother asking the LFS my questions anymore. <Know the feeling.> I tried to find the answer on the website but with no luck. <Didn't find an answer, but I did find a query describing similar behavior. You can read more here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/clamplcmtfaqs.htm Tridacnid placement and attachment - 4/15/04 > I have a Crocea Clam that has been with me for almost a year now. I Introduced a Citron Clown Goby to the tank and within the last 3 weeks, the Clown Goby has started to nestle down into the mouth of clam, then after a few minutes he viciously bites the clam and allows it to close around him. The Clown Goby then sits contented within the clam. <I would absolutely love to see video of this. Any chance you can take any?> He does this several times in a row and constantly throughout the day. <This has to be absolutely adorable to observe.> I looked for damage to the Crocea but there seems to be none. <A good sign.> Is this behavior normal? <I've never heard of it before today, but that doesn't mean too much. My fellow crew member Brenda just found this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/printthread.php?s=8b731f7485dc071e582beef3fc6dee0d&threadid=1139582 So it's doesn't seem like this behavior is all that rare. Typically these tiny fish hide out in Acropora and other "branchy" corals. Do you keep Acropora in this tank?> More importantly will this bizarre relationship harm my Crocea? <I don't know if it's harmfully to either for sure, If the clam is perpetually closed it would obviously interfere with the clams' ability to take in nutrition. But I suspect this isn't the case. Perhaps RMF will comment here.><<Not likely a problem. RMF>> Thanks for all you help, <Welcome! Would love to see this interaction. I do hope you might be able to send us a clip.> Jerry <Cheers, Mich>

Goby Behaviour in Nano 4/10/07 I have a 3g Nano w 2.5g sump tank set up for about 4 months now (wow has it been that long) with roughly 5lbs of live rock in it. About two weeks ago I had to rescue a Brown Clown goby (similar to Citron) from my larger tank since he was extremely emaciated, too much competition I assume. Well I received a Yellow Watchman Goby I had ordered online about a week later and wanted to see your opinion on this behaviour... <These two fish are too much for this tank for long.> I really doubted that they would get along at all, I made several separate caves and hiding nooks for each of them, however. They both sleep in the same cave. The sleep side-by-side and I believe the Watchman is eating just enough and leaving just enough for the shyer Clown to eat. I know Watchman's are pretty docile but they're practically attached at the hip. I've seen the Watchman leave, although only within 1" of the cave, only to retreat right back to his buddy. I was ready for a nuclear war in there. <May still be coming, as they mature they may require more space and be less tolerant of other fish.> I do have one question though, do Clown Gobies eat 'pods? <Not to any great extent.> I had originally purchased 2 and one died about 2 weeks later of starvation and this one has been hanging on. The fish in the large tank never leave scraps behind so that was my original assumption to his long life so far. There is tons of pods in the nano tank so I was guessing that he was also eating some of those. Crossing my fingers that he fattens up soon. <These feed off Acropora coral almost exclusively in the wild. Some have success feeding small meaty foods, although many have trouble getting them to eat at all. Please see here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/gobiodon.htm for more.> <Chris>

- Citron Goby Losing Color - I can't find an answer on your site, or anywhere else on the web. I have a yellow clown goby in a 20 gallon hex. Parameters are near perfect (nitrites-0,nitrates-10-15, ammonia-0, ph 8.2, temp 76, salinity 1.024). I run a magnum 350 at 100gph through a 9w U.V sterilizer. I'm feeding him frozen vitamin filled Mysis. He's in the tank with 2 seahorses, a green clown goby, 2 peppermint shrimp, and a cleaner crew of hermit crabs and snails. He seems to get along quite well with everyone and is eating well, so I don't understand why he would lose his color. Its happened over the past week. I've got a net in the tank now to try to catch him unaware, to get him to a qt tank, but he's very swift. Your help is greatly appreciated. <Think it could be a couple of things... 20 gallons is a small marine tank and as a result subject to pretty strong swings in any one of many directions; evaporation, overfeeding, water changes all will make changes to the water chemistry that the animals within will feel. If I could encourage you to do anything, it would be to at least double the size of this tank, if for no other reason that to stabilize the environment. Also, do try to sneak some other foods in there... I realize the seahorses will mostly eat Mysis, but the fish need a more balanced diet. Imagine eating your favorite food three times a day for the rest of your life... how long before you lose your color?> Jonah
<Cheers, J -- >

<before>

<after>

- Citron Goby Losing Color, Follow-up - Thanks! what would you suggest as variety for the goby? <I suggest perhaps some Formula One or Pygmy Angel Formula. Also the New Life Spectrum pellets are very good. Cheers, J -- >

Clown Goby question 7/7/05 I just purchased a green clown goby and added him to my tank. He hid under a rock right away and now I can't find him, he's not under the rock any longer. <Might still be there... perhaps died and dissolved... jumped out...> The other fish in my tank are 3 damsels, 2 clowns, and a mandarin dragonet. Is it possible for him to be burrowed in the sand? <Mmm, no... not burrowers> How long can he burrow? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jennifer <Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/gobiodon.htm and the linked files at top where you lead yourself. Bob Fenner>

Please visit our Sponsors