Gobiidae question
Dear Crew,
I had a goby hitchhiker in my (Florida) Gulf of Mexico live rock.  I have identified it as a tiger goby, Gobiosoma macrodon.  It is about 1" long, and I understand from Humann's Reef Fish that this about as big as this guy will get, which is just perfect for the 20 gallon mini-reef he's in.  Anyway, there is no info out there on his specific dietary and social habits, that I can find, anyway.  He seems to be quite a trooper, and smart enough to have evaded 2 mantis shrimp that came in with him (I got them out with a little ingenuity, if I do say so myself).  Do you have any leads I could follow, or do I just follow standard neon goby info?
<Yes... all members of the genus have similar husbandry>
Since they are different species, I didn't want to assume anything.  Does he like a same-species buddy, or a specific shrimp?
<Don't know. This from fishbase.org: "Inhabits rock faces and tidepools (often under red algae), pilings and surfaces of large sponges">
Any info you have would be greatly appreciated to keep this little guy happy and healthy.  (This goby has been in the tank for about  3 weeks now - tank is 5 weeks old.  I guess he hasn't starved so far.)
Thank so much!
Erin C.
<Bob Fenner>

Neon gobies into overflow
Bob, <Hi Lee, MacL here with you today, I believe Bob is in Hawaii and diving.  Sigh sigh sigh I really need a trip there ha ha ha .>
   I keep having a problem with my blue neon cleaner gobies going into my tank overflow. And if I put a screen there, then it will disrupt the water flow. Any other better ideas?? <Well, Lee, there are different types of screening with different hole sizes and that might help. Meaning if you get a larger screen size it shouldn't disrupt the flow quite as much.  My engineer gobies did this on a regular basis and I continually had to get them out of my canister filter. Amazingly enough they finally learned NOT to do it. The only other thing I can think of is to put some type of block in front of it so they have to go up and over and it might be enough to make them stop and not travel into it. Good luck, MacL>
Thanks Lee

Quarantine Tank Permanent Resident
Thank you for you fantastic site.
Recently I read one of the articles on the site about the great benefit of a cleaner goby (Elacatinus oceanops). So, I decided to add one to my FOWLR (had some problems with tangs and ick) tank, which I have had up and running for about 5 months now. I did the research and thought the goby would be compatible with the Niger trigger, well my research was faulty and I was completely wrong.
<Perhaps a meal instead...>
I have rescued the little guy and put him in my 20 gal. QT with my scopas tang who is almost completely cured of his ick problem. My question is, since the trigger wants him for a snack, can the goby become a permanent quarantine tank resident (if he eats flake food) or should I invest in something like a hang on refugium. The fish is very interesting and since I had to order him the LFS won't take him back. I refuse to allow him to become trigger food. And yes, I am using copper to treat the tangs ick.
<Mmm, such small gobies could live in twenty gallons... but not in continuous contact with copper. Your idea of adding a refugium is excellent... more volume, filtration, stability... a great home for the goby and more interesting possibilities for you as an aquarist. Bob Fenner>