Feeding Randall's Goby During Quarantine

[dangles]

Search didn't help me much... I have a couple of questions about Randall's goby w/ pistol shrimp feeding during quarantine.

I have a 20 gal QT setup (see my build thread). I do a 3-4 week QT for new additions. Next on my list is a Randall's goby and pistol shrimp pair. I plan to set up a dish of sand with some spare Marco rock in the tank during the QT process. I've read that feedings for the goby should consist of a variety of thawed shrimp twice per day. I've already read they do fine on "pods and scraps." The shrimp doesn't necessarily need target fed from my understanding.

I was considering using an auto-feeder with a (very) small carnivore pellet once in the evening, and Canadian mysis in the morning. I'm gone for 24 hours every 3rd day for my job so feeding thawed food twice a day is not an option.

Once they're in my main tank they'll be fine with "pods and scraps" but obviously in the QT tank that's not a thing.

Can somebody with experience quarantining these pairs suggest a decent feeding regimen for me? Will the one I outlined above be ok? Or do I need to reconsider getting this pair altogether?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Search didn't help me much... I have a couple of questions about Randall's goby w/ pistol shrimp feeding during quarantine.

I have a 20 gal QT setup (see my build thread). I do a 3-4 week QT for new additions. Next on my list is a Randall's goby and pistol shrimp pair. I plan to set up a dish of sand with some spare Marco rock in the tank during the QT process. I've read that feedings for the goby should consist of a variety of thawed shrimp twice per day. I've already read they do fine on "pods and scraps." The shrimp doesn't necessarily need target fed from my understanding.

I was considering using an auto-feeder with a (very) small carnivore pellet once in the evening, and Canadian mysis in the morning. I'm gone for 24 hours every 3rd day for my job so feeding thawed food twice a day is not an option.

Once they're in my main tank they'll be fine with "pods and scraps" but obviously in the QT tank that's not a thing.

Can somebody with experience quarantining these pairs suggest a decent feeding regimen for me? Will the one I outlined above be ok? Or do I need to reconsider getting this pair altogether?

Thanks in advance.

Quarantine for these gobies is tough because the shrimp won’t tolerate the process. A lot of people just roll the dice and add them directly to their tank.
Jay

 

[dangles]

Quarantine for these gobies is tough because the shrimp won’t tolerate the process. A lot of people just roll the dice and add them directly to their tank.
Jay

Thanks Jay. I should clarify, I'm not doing a medicated QT. Just a basic "observation" QT. Is it the medicated QTs that the shrimp don't tolerate? Or something else?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay. I should clarify, I'm not doing a medicated QT. Just a standard "observation" QT. Is it the medicated QTs that the shrimp don't tolerate? Or something else?

Observational quarantine is not very effective, they don’t screen out chronic issues and those can be carried over into your display. I think if you go that route, just set up a good habitat for the pair, skip the fish of sand.
To your original question - auto feeders on new tanks are risky, you need the finesse of feeding yourself to avoid over feeding which can cause ammonia issues in new tanks.
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

I personally would add them to display and begin the feeding with pellets such as TDO brand and gradually incorporate brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, fish eggs and chopped krill to the diet

 

[dangles]

Observational quarantine is not very effective, they don’t screen out chronic issues and those can be carried over into your display. I think if you go that route, just set up a good habitat for the pair, skip the fish of sand.
To your original question - auto feeders on new tanks are risky, you need the finesse of feeding yourself to avoid over feeding which can cause ammonia issues in new tanks.
Jay

Thanks again.

I wish I had the option to exclusively manually feed but I'm gone for 24 hours at a time with work every 3rd day. I've already had to write off a few fish I REALLY wanted simply because I won't be around to feed 3-4 times per day when I'm at work. Such is life...

I'm already (conservatively) running an auto-feeder for my clowns. Right now I have the drum rotating once a day and set to the smallest setting (I made it even smaller actually). It consistently drops about 10-12 pellets on a single rotation. I've verified that my 2 clowns eat it all consistently. For variety I manually feed different foods in the evenings when I'm not at work. I'm still monitoring ammonia. Pegged at zero so far

 

[dangles]

I personally would add them to display and begin the feeding with pellets such as TDO brand and gradually incorporate brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, fish eggs and chopped krill to the diet

TDO is already on my list! And I already have Canadian mysis in my freezer

Where do you source fish eggs and krill? Can you suggest a specific brand or does that matter?

 

[vetteguy53081]

TDO is already on my list! And I already have Canadian mysis in my freezer

Where do you source fish eggs and krill? Can you suggest a specific brand or does that matter?

I use Rods fish eggs and krill- Either Hikari or ocean nutrition brand