Tropical Fish Hobbyist - September 2008

Feeding

Shrimp Gobies

Hello TFH First, I’d like to say that you guys and gals have

an excellent magazine! I have a 5-gallon reef tank with various corals and such, but as for fish, all I have is an orangespotted shrimp goby Amblyeleotris guttata, which I’ve had for about four months. My question is about what it eats. I spend most of the day staring at him (as opposed to working), but I’ve never seen him eat—yet, he’s still alive, apparently very healthy and active, not to mention plump. Thanks for the info.

Josh Tesina via email

Thanks for your kind comment about the magazine. Amblyeleotris guttata, one of the so-called shrimp gobies

(so named for the symbiotic burrow-sharing relationship these fishes form with alpheid shrimps), feeds primarily on zooplankton and small benthic invertebrates. It’s likely that your specimen has been sustaining itself on the small invertebrates inhabiting your live rock and sandbed—amphipods, copepods, etc. However, I would recommend that you continue offering food to your goby, as the supply of these tiny crustaceans will eventually become depleted as a result of the continual nibbling. This is especially true for a 5-gallon tank, which can hold only a small amount of live rock and live sand. Your goby might then begin to starve if it hasn’t learned to accept non-living foods in the meantime.

The key here is to offer very small amounts of meaty food items, such as frozen mysid Q

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QUESTION?

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shrimp, finely chopped clams or table shrimp, or a frozen commercial preparation for carnivores, two or three times a day. You don’t want to overdo it because a 5-gallon tank (pretty cramped quarters for this species, by the way) can become fouled very quickly if you feed too heavily. A schedule of frequent water changes, during which you siphon out any uneaten food, will also help in this regard. A. guttata usually takes to non-living meaty foods without too much trouble, and I suspect your specimen will do the same once its supply of live crustaceans plays out.

Poisonous Puffers

I think I’ve just made a very big mistake! As a family project, my kids and I set up

a 100-gallon saltwater tank. The kids were really excited about getting a pufferfish, so the first fish we bought for the tank was a dogface puffer. So far it’s doing great and the kids have really fallen in love with it; they’ve even named it Snoopy. Now that it’s settled into its new home and the kids have become attached to it, I’ve found out that pufferfishes are venomous. I’m really torn because the last thing I want is for one of the kids to get hurt, but at the same time, I hate to take away their beloved new pet. Are these fish really that dangerous?