Anyone with a Court Jester/Rainsford goby? What do you think?

[Fish Fan]

Your tank should be all good to introduce them. They aren't the most voracious eaters like anthias but they eat many prepared diets offered to them. Many of the people above mirrored this sentiment but they do well with small consistent feeds and between feedings they're usually grazing on algae or rockwork.

Thank you so much for your reply and help! I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner!

As it happens, I was coming back to this thread to follow up and mention that after a lot more research and consideration, I decided to order a court jester goby. I ordered directly through @Biota_Marine in the hopes that I would get a truly tank bred specimen that is fully accustomed to frozen/prepared foods.

I received my new pup just this morning, and so far I am thrilled I followed Biota's instructions to acclimate the new arrival, most notably I DID NOT drip acclimate, and so far my new fish is doing very well. I added him to a bare observation tank that already has been home to his future tank mates - a yasha goby and a tail spot blenny. Biota said not to feed him right away, but after about two hours I added some flaked food for the other two fish, and the new court jester goby went right for the flaked! Flaked food!!! That's a huge positive for me. If he eats flaked food, I'm sure he will eat frozen and everything else. Out of my three fish, the court jester goby is already the most confident fish, easily more out-and-about than my tail spot or my yasha, both of which I think are doing well, just not yet fully adjusted.

I will post again with relevant updates, but as of now I'm very happy with my new little buddy from Biota. Thanks guys!

 

[Kiboshed]

Thank you so much for your reply and help! I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner!

As it happens, I was coming back to this thread to follow up and mention that after a lot more research and consideration, I decided to order a court jester goby. I ordered directly through @Biota_Marine in the hopes that I would get a truly tank bred specimen that is fully accustomed to frozen/prepared foods.

I received my new pup just this morning, and so far I am thrilled I followed Biota's instructions to acclimate the new arrival, most notably I DID NOT drip acclimate, and so far my new fish is doing very well. I added him to a bare observation tank that already has been home to his future tank mates - a yasha goby and a tail spot blenny. Biota said not to feed him right away, but after about two hours I added some flaked food for the other two fish, and the new court jester goby went right for the flaked! Flaked food!!! That's a huge positive for me. If he eats flaked food, I'm sure he will eat frozen and everything else. Out of my three fish, the court jester goby is already the most confident fish, easily more out-and-about than my tail spot or my yasha, both of which I think are doing well, just not yet fully adjusted.

I will post again with relevant updates, but as of now I'm very happy with my new little buddy from Biota. Thanks guys!

Good to hear.

Weirdly my Hectors has also started to eat small bits of flakes, but no pellets.

I wonder why you preferred the Court Jester VS the Hectors? If it's colors what about the Jester appealed to you more than the Hectors? Me personally I liked the deeper line contrast colors with the Hectors and they extra false eyes. Just curious what drew you to one over the other.

These fish are always out. In a small tank with peaceful tank mates they are not shy at all. Mine is always out hunting and pecking. The activity is fun to watch.

Hope you and your new pet get many years of enjoyment together.

 

[Paul B]

I have a bunch of them and like the bright colors and usually stay active in the front of the tank. But when I guy more, the breeding pair chase it until it isn't able to eat or I would have 20 of them. They are cheap here, like twelve bucks so not a big hardship.

 

[Fish Fan]

Good to hear.

Weirdly my Hectors has also started to eat small bits of flakes, but no pellets.

I wonder why you preferred the Court Jester VS the Hectors? If it's colors what about the Jester appealed to you more than the Hectors? Me personally I liked the deeper line contrast colors with the Hectors and they extra false eyes. Just curious what drew you to one over the other.

These fish are always out. In a small tank with peaceful tank mates they are not shy at all. Mine is always out hunting and pecking. The activity is fun to watch.

Hope you and your new pet get many years of enjoyment together.

Thank you for your reply! To be honest, I only very recently learned of the court jester goby, and from researching that fish I then learned about the very similar hector's goby. I chose the court jester largely out of availability. None of my local stores had either fish, and Biota had tank raised or bred court jesters, which was a big plus as I really wanted a fish that would eat prepare foods. So I ordered mine right through Biota. A little pricy with the shipping, but I felt it was worth it to get a captive bred fish.

So far he has already been more active and out than my other two fish, and I'm definitely liking his colors. I think he looks a little "wrasse-like" without the aggression some wrasses have. This is only a 15 gallon tank, and I wanted only very peaceful fish. I think I'm happy with what I have - a yasha goby, and tail spot blenny, and now the court jester goby. I think that's a nice group of peaceful fish for my small tank.

Thanks again!

I have a bunch of them and like the bright colors and usually stay active in the front of the tank. But when I guy more, the breeding pair chase it until it isn't able to eat or I would have 20 of them. They are cheap here, like twelve bucks so not a big hardship.

I paid just a little more than 12 bucks, but I thought it was worth it. From what I've read, I think those that said these were reclusive fish kept them with at least semi-aggressive tankmates. I think that when kept with totally peaceful tankmates they are much more confident, and my little dude is already acting more confident than his other two tank mates.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Fish Fan]

I'll add that part of my decision to get this fish now, which was against the advice of some other R2R members, was largely because the fish from Biota were said to take prepared foods. Additionally, if you read the info at Biota they say that while they do their best to adhere to strict biosecurity measures, they recommend quarantining new fish as best practice. With that in mind, I'm now going to do the full 76 day medicated protocol on this goby, and by the time that's over my tank will be running about 6 months. I started the tank with aquacultured live rock and sand from TBS, so even now at 3 months I already have a nice mix of algae, but nothing out of hand, I can see 'pods all over the glass, and I'm getting coralline algae on the glass. By the time the QT process is complete this tank should be plenty mature to support a court jest goby, especially one that's captive bred and eating prepared foods. That was my reasoning; here's hoping I'm right

 

[Paul B]

I hope he lives through quarantine because as I said, they don't really eat pods. I am not exactly sure what they eat but I know with the bunch I have, they constantly munch on anything growing and I have all sorts of algae and cyanobacteria. They eat all of it. But not really aquarium foods so I am not sure what you can feed it in quarantine

 

[Kiboshed]

I hope he lives through quarantine because as I said, they don't really eat pods. I am not exactly sure what they eat but I know with the bunch I have, they constantly munch on anything growing and I have all sorts of algae and cyanobacteria. They eat all of it. But not really aquarium foods so I am not sure what you can feed it in quarantine

He has already mentioned it is eating flake food.

 

[Paul B]

Thats great. I never feed flakes so I didn't realize that.

 

[Fish Fan]

Thats great. I never feed flakes so I didn't realize that.

Yeah! He’s a little porker, he’s eating everything from flakes to pellets to frozen. So I think it would be safe to do the full quarantine. He’s even learned to pick at pieces of food that accumulates on the sponge I have on the intake of the HOB filter. I think this picking is a very natural feeding behavior for this fish. So far, he’s already much more confident and out much more than either my Yasha or my tail spot. In fact, I think the court jester’s confidence is inspiring the tail spot, I’ve seen the tail spot out and about more today than ever before, and often he’s right with the court jester goby. Instant BFF’s or just coincidence, I don’t know, but it’s nice to be seeing more of the tail spot.

Thanks for your help!

 

[trmiv]

My biota court jester is a chonker. He eats literally anything I feed.

 

[Fish Fan]

My biota court jester is a chonker. He eats literally anything I feed.

Great looking fish! I hope mine colors up like yours.

 

[BAMslam93]

@Fish Fan Hi! I stumbled upon your thread and am considering getting a Court Jester for my 15-gallon with my baby clown pair. How's yours doing?

 

[Fish Fan]

@Fish Fan Hi! I stumbled upon your thread and am considering getting a Court Jester for my 15-gallon with my baby clown pair. How's yours doing?

Mine is doing great, had him almost 3 moths now, and he eats just about everything.

 

[tharbin]

I know this is an older thread but I thought I'd mention that I've had both Rainfords and Hectors. They are very similar in habits. I do not find them shy, they are peaceful and both ignore, and are largely ignored by, tankmates other than conspecifics and each other. But, Rainfords will usually take to regular tank food rather easily but I have never seen a Hectors eat any prepared food. They seem to eat mainly very short algae and snail eggs (they seem to prefer Cerith eggs) and little bits of something or other in the tank but I don't think it is pods.

They are really a wonderful addition to any tank but stay away from a Hectors unless your tank is mature. A Hector usually completely ignores feeding time in the tank.

 

[KC2020]

I know this is an older thread but I thought I'd mention that I've had both Rainfords and Hectors. They are very similar in habits. I do not find them shy, they are peaceful and both ignore, and are largely ignored by, tankmates other than conspecifics and each other. But, Rainfords will usually take to regular tank food rather easily but I have never seen a Hectors eat any prepared food. They seem to eat mainly very short algae and snail eggs (they seem to prefer Cerith eggs) and little bits of something or other in the tank but I don't think it is pods.

They are really a wonderful addition to any tank but stay away from a Hectors unless your tank is mature. A Hector usually completely ignores feeding time in the tank.

Were they captive bred or wild caught ?

 

[i cant think]

I know this is an older thread but I thought I'd mention that I've had both Rainfords and Hectors. They are very similar in habits. I do not find them shy, they are peaceful and both ignore, and are largely ignored by, tankmates other than conspecifics and each other. But, Rainfords will usually take to regular tank food rather easily but I have never seen a Hectors eat any prepared food. They seem to eat mainly very short algae and snail eggs (they seem to prefer Cerith eggs) and little bits of something or other in the tank but I don't think it is pods.

They are really a wonderful addition to any tank but stay away from a Hectors unless your tank is mature. A Hector usually completely ignores feeding time in the tank.

I’d like to contradict your comment on Hectors not eating prepared foods, albeit it’s hard I have managed it with my old one. I then had 2 rainfordis that just starved even with a mature sand bed and frozen food.

 

[tharbin]

Were they captive bred or wild caught ?

I don't think anyone is captive breeding Hectors yet but either way my current one is wild caught. I haven't had a Rainfords in about 16 years as I got out of the hobby for a long time but they were all wild caught as well.

In general the Rainfords seem a little more adventurous in their feeding habits. It usually took a while but the Rainfords would figure out that the pellets/flakes were food. On the other hand I've never seen a Hectors pay any attention to any prepared foods. In fact they usually totally ignore feeding time. I only keep since specimens in a tank though as I've never run across a mated pair for sale and I don't have big enough tanks for them to set up territories. It may be different if you have a large enough tank for a bunch of Rainfords/Hectors.

 

[KC2020]

I don't think anyone is captive breeding Hectors yet but either way my current one is wild caught. I haven't had a Rainfords in about 16 years as I got out of the hobby for a long time but they were all wild caught as well.

ORA and C-Quest have both been successful with Koumansetta hectori but they don't advertise them for direct sale because they have a very limited yield.

 

[Paul B]

I don't think anyone is captive breeding Hectors yet but either way my current one is wild caught.

I'm pretty sure mine are spawning, but I am not doing anything to raise them. Many of my fish spawn as they are supposed to do.

 

[tharbin]

I'm pretty sure mine are spawning, but I am not doing anything to raise them. Many of my fish spawn as they are supposed to do.

I love those shots. It shows what you can accomplish with a really mature tank and good husbandry. I've always wanted to have multiple Hectors in a tank but I've never had a tank that I thought was large enough or mature enough to support them. The shot of the three together amazes me as they don't look like juveniles and you obviously have at least one female in your tank.