Weird Firefish Goby's

[AC_Rhino]

So this week I ordered a bunch of inverts from a website. Instead of my order I received about $300 in fish. Long story short they said to keep the fish or donate them as they wouldn't survive a trip back ... so I did. I found all of the fish a home and kept a few.

So my question is about 2 of the fish I kept. They are Firefish Goby's. They spend all of their time hiding together some live rock ... they don't come out to feed ... and I've only seen them a few times. The only other fish I have in the tank are 1 yellow tang, 2 clowns (mated), 4 blue/green chromis, 2 cardinals (also part of the shipment but they are fine), court jester goby (also part of the shipment and it is doing fine), and a green mandarin (which I'm going to give to a friend as I don't know how well it will be able to feed in my tank).

Is hiding like this normal behavior? They have been in the tank since Wednesday ... should I do anything? I feed flake, pellet, misc ground up marine meats (shrimp, scallop, clam, etc.), frozen brine shrimp, and dried nori seaweed. Can I entice them out with something more to eat? Are they just chooches? Any suggestions? The rest of the tank is doing great.

The pics are from one of the few times they came out and about that I was able to see.

I can see their little heads in a cave that they built out of the sand ... can I drop any special food in there for them?

Any other tips on these weird little chooches?

 

[dilligaf29]

nice looking pair u got there .i have one .it behaves same way as yours hides all day in his cave with fire shrimp comes out a few times to eat and back in his cave great fish just shy

 

[aresangel]

Yeah they are very skittish.

I have one, at school. The thing hids if it sees any students or when I try to remove the lid to feed it.

Give it some time and they will come out more often. Try to feed with as little disturbance to the me canopy/ lid as possible


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[Chris A.]

If you don’t know yet, they think they can fly so some kind of a lid is a good idea

 

[AC_Rhino]

So the major problem is that I kept them until I found a place I could re-home them to since I didn't order them to begin with ... now to get them out of the tank I literally have to tear the tank apart. I can't scare them out of the hole ... they won't come out ... I wish they would jump out of the tank lol ... I have a feeling my hermits will be feasting on their corpses for months.

 

[Zirky]

I had a purple fire fish and he was one of my favorites, he was always front and center 23/7 waiting for food to float by, more aware than most fish he definitely had personally. If yours get over there shyness you might really enjoy them.

 

[KeeganDuBrown]

I got a pair of firefish gobies about a month ago and they are constantly out of the rocks swimming around grabbing food out of the water. They definitely rival my clownfish for who gets more excited at feeding time.

 

[Andy V]

They are either out a lot, or they hide. It all depends on the particular specimen and sometimes what is in your tank. But the ones that hide usually still eat enough. There's not much you can do to get them less skittish. They might become more comfortable over time. Good luck.