Valenciennea strigata feeding habits.
Robert,
<Amy>
I have a 55 gallon fish only tank with a Valenciennea strigata, a blue damsel, a strawberry fish,
<Mmm, what is this?>
and a percula clown. I have about 80 pounds of reef sand and several coral replicas in the tank. I am feeding the fish Prime Reef flake food and all the fish are feeding well except the Valenciennea strigata. He usually stays hidden in the huge hole he dug under the edge of a coral replica during feeding time (anytime I open the canopy) and by the time he comes out, all the food is gone. I have only had him a week and he is spending more time out in the open, but should he come out and feed like the rest of the fish during feeding time? 
<Not on these food choices... this is a "sand-sifting" species, that derives the bulk of its nutrition from sieving out "interstitial fauna"... worms, crustaceans and more minute invertebrates found in and amongst the substrate... Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/valenciennea.htm>
Any time he spends out of the hole is spent sifting sand! Should I buy him some sinking pellet food or does he just eat what he finds in the sand?
<Ah, the latter... if there is enough to sustain him/her... These fishes need plenty of "live" substrate... a few square feet per individual of established live rock/sand system... best placed months after a system has been set-up>
I don't want to starve him but I also don't want to pollute the water by leaving food for whenever he decides to come out of his home.
I just purchased a copy of your book on Amazon.com this morning and am anxiously awaiting its arrival as I gain a lot through your website.
<Ahh, you will enjoy, gain by its reading>
Thanks again,
R McClain
<Do read over the materials on WWM for now. Bob Fenner>

Goby Going Hungry
Hello!
<Hi there! Scott F. here!>
I haven't written in a long time (that's a good thing!)  but a couple things have come up and so I thought I'd drop you guys a line (thanks ahead of time for your great advice).  
I currently have two tanks set up, one is a 55 gallon saltwater and the other is a 10 gallon freshwater.  First of all, my tanks are kept between 72 and 74 degrees and the SG in my salt is at a steady 1.024.  Both tanks have zeros straight across for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and have been set up for about three months.
Ok, the bad stuff...I have a Spotted Rafael in my 10 gallon and I recently noticed that he has blisters (?)  near his mouth, one is just back from the corner of his mouth and the second is underneath the crack of his mouth.  I see him everyday and I never noticed them before so I think they appeared suddenly.  They don't seem to have grown at all, and he still eats like normal, but I have never seen anything like this on a fish so I thought I'd see what you guys thought.  The blisters aren't discolored in any way, they seem to just be a bit of skin stretched out....Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated!
<Really tough to ascertain from here...could be some kind of Vibrio infection...could be some sort of tumorous growth. I'd look in the disease FAQs on the wetwebmedia.com site for some ideas. Keep an eye on this condition, make sure that your water conditions are of high quality>
Onward!  In the 55 gallon tank I have two silver-tipped sharks (one is about four inches on is less than 2, I know they will outgrow this tank quickly!), a Goldstripe maroon clownfish, a golden head goby, a sand shifting starfish, a red legged hermit and an Astrea snail.  All of the fish get along great, but the newest addition - the goby - has not been eating.  I have only had him for four days, the first two days he spent excavating hide holes and by the third day he seemed to have chosen his final location and he camps out there all day.  I will admit I have very little information on what exactly they eat, the LFS said they will sift through sand on the bottom and pick up "leftovers" but I'm getting the feeling he was horribly wrong, I have seen a little information that says they eat worms and other sand creatures and *that* is actually what they are searching for when they sift the sand, my tank is pretty low on live rock and the sand was not live when I got it, I can't imagine that there would be enough life in it to support a creature that only eats sand inhabitants...Is this little guy doomed in my tank?
<Well, to be quite honest...probably. Don't feel like it's all your fault, though. This fish, and for that matter, all of the so-called "sleeper gobies", are extremely difficult to keep fed for extended periods of time; most slowly starve to death in captivity. They will generally only survive in very well established aquariums with live sand beds and refugia to encourage the growth of infaunal invertebrates and worms, which form the basis of their diet.>
Should I put him in a friends more established tank or is there food I can feed him that will fatten him up again and keep him happy?
<I think his best bet is to be moved into a well-established aquarium>
I plan on getting some live sand culture in the future, but that isn't helping him now so any advice would be great!  Thank you so much for putting up with me!  Have a great week! Sincerely,     Rachael
<Well, Rachel- I think that you'd be doing the right thing by moving this guy to a more established system. Be sure to establish a very "live" sand bed and a refugium if you do try to keep these types of fishes in the future. Truth is, they really are not good choices for captive systems, IMO. I think that you've learned a lot from this experience, and you will certainly move on to more success in the future! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.>

Blue Cheek Goby
Hi,<Howdy, Cody here.>
When I feed my fish a mixture of flakes and brine shrimp, will a Blue Cheek Goby eat the remains of the food that fall onto the substrate?
And would one of these fishes live happily with a regal tang, Potter's angelfish, and a ocellaris clownfish, 2 cleaner shrimps, and 3 crabs?<I would target feed with a turkey baster to make sure he gets his fair share of food.  As far as compatibility please read here:  http://www.wetwebmedia.com/valenciennea.htm Cody.>
Many thanks Darrell

Hungry Goby?
I have a yellow headed sleeper Gobi (Valenciennea strigata) and he is acting fine and sifting like crazy, but he is loosing a lot of weight fast. I had this problem with a Kole tang about 4 months ago and 4 year old blue damsel. However, my mandarin, cleaner shrimp and Mustard Tang are fine and seem to be thriving.
Tank 55 gal
Wet dry
Skimmer
70 Lb LR
Can't seem to figure this thing out. Primary source of food is mysis and whatever they can scavenge. Mysis is feed every 2-3 days and water parameters are right on. Perhaps a parasite?
Peter
<Well, Peter- internal parasites are a definite possibility. Many fishes do harbor these organisms, and the problems can manifest in your tank. These fishes tend to waste away in captivity if high protein foods are not eaten regularly. My best suggestion here would be to see that food is placed where he can easily get to it (like on the bottom of the tank). This will help assure that he gets his fair share. In all likelihood, there is not enough infaunal life in the sand to sustain him, so keep the food coming his way. Hopefully, this should fatten him up a bit. Good luck! Regards, Scott F>

Starvin' Marvin the Bluebanded Goby
>Hi all,
>>Hi.
I have a Valenciennea strigata that has been in QT for a little over a month and it seems to be losing a lot of its girth. It has been eating the omega one flake I have been feeding it, it seems to love this stuff, really tears it up. I am wondering if that is all it is doing, with the amount of food (flake) it is consuming it should not be this skinny. Does this fish need another type of food, I thought omega one had sufficient protein for this fish, or does it just sift it thru its gills and break into tiny little pieces w/o digesting it. I had had exceptional luck with this fish accepting the flake food so I am assuming it would easily accept other types. Should I try something else to fatten it up, and if so what do you recommend?
>>Check out this site: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=6575&genusname=Valenciennea&speciesname=strigata
It outlines part of what this fish feeds on.  Another issue, unfortunately one that cannot be solved if such is the case, is possible exposure to cyanide.  This poison destroys the gut in such a way that any food eaten cannot be utilized.  I do hope it's more a matter of providing a better/different variety of foods that better mimic its natural diet, rather than cyanide exposure.  Best of luck to you, Marina
>Thanks, Ryan

Feeding Sand-Sifting Gobies (6/17/04)
Hello, <Hi! Steve Allen with you tonight.>
  As I was reading through your FAQS of sand sifting gobies, I noticed that many people's were getting thin and not getting enough food.  My friend has had a pair of them for 2 years in his 72 gallon, and to sustain feeding he has finely chopped up krill and buried it in the sand.  It seems to have worked could because the gobies are nice and fat. <Interesting. Obviously, one would have to be careful not to add too much and mess things up.> Scott. <thanks for the tip. I will post it for the edification of all readers.>

Cleaning Sand and Feeding Gobies 06/02/2008
Hello,
<<Good evening, Andrew today>>
My fiancé and I have had a 38 gallon tank for almost 2 years now and we have never had clean sand! We have tried everything from sand sifting stars that disintegrate in days, to a huge clean up crew that resulted in hermits eating all our snails, to our favorite the golden headed sleeper goby. But we were never properly educated by the store we bought him from. They told us as long as he has fine grain sand he'll be fine. WRONG!
<<Yikes...Very wrong>>
He starved in about a month. We have been reading up and we know about the copepods but do we really need a refuge tank? We are very limited with space and money and the refuge isn't really any option at all.
<<Not even one of the cheap hang on refugiums? They really are low cost and are of great benefit to your system, especially to promote copepod growth, nutrient export>>
We really want to get our sand clean again. We recently added 20 Nassarius snails but they aren't doing much either We would love to get another goby but we don't want another one to starve. Any suggestions?
<<Getting another goby is not really a good option, as your already aware, as it will starve also as there is obviously a lack of food in the substrate. I would suggest getting some low flow going over the sandbed. This will stop particles settling, and keep it in the water column to be removed via filtration. Maybe up the filtration level on the tank. Don't know what your tank system is, so, cannot really comment much more on that side of it>>
Thanks, The Tuggs
<<Thanks for the questions, hope this helps. A Nixon>>