Green Mandarin Goby Jumped Out of Tank

[BurtMacklin]

I was gone for the day working a 15 hr shift and when I cam home I found my new 1 week old pre-quarantined goby on the floor in front of the tank. He was very dry, but twitched when I picked him up, so I got him in a bowl of the DT water immediately. He had cat hair stuck to him, so I pulled it off, but some of his slime came with. His slime is VERY tattered and he is not moving much...but still moving. I am setting up a hospital tank right now and have him in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater, air stone, and 2 gallons of DT water. I'm afraid he isn't going to make it, but is there anything else I can do? I didn't know they jump! I would have added a screen lid if I knew!!

 

[susan ingram]

Hope he makes it! Hospital tank is what I would do. And keep little dude warm Good luck

 

[BurtMacklin]

Spooked by the car?

He is not moving much and having trouble righting himself.

 

[susan ingram]

Sorry meant the cat. Make sure he’s not under any bright light.. kinda like acclimation routine..
@ReefSquad

 

[Hermie]

He might do better in your main tank and not a hospital tank because a hospital tank is not "cycled" etc. I'd put him in the main tank IMO, in an isolation box/breeder box.

 

[Tamberav]

Mandarins are actually very prone to jumping. I think the best thing is to put him in a breeder box with a lid inside the tank and hope for the best. methylene blue dip won’t hurt.

 

[mdb_talon]

All fish may jump. Some more likely that others, but a mesh top is a good idea no matter what fish

 

[jmichaelh7]

What kind of tank?

 

[BurtMacklin]

He might do better in your main tank and not a hospital tank because a hospital tank is not "cycled" etc. I'd put him in the main tank IMO, in an isolation box/breeder box.

I don't have a breeder box, but I have a sponge in my sump I can move to the QT. I put him in the DT freely at first and he drifted sideways with the current, so I pulled him.

All fish may jump. Some more likely that others, but a mesh top is a good idea no matter what fish

I was going to get a DIY screen kit this weekend actually, so poor timing.

What kind of tank?

65 gallon DT with a 20 gallon sump. Planning for mixed reef, but currently just 60lb reincarnated and cycled rock, 60lb live sand, 2 black phantom clowns, 3 Banggai Cardinals, the Mandarin and a CUC.

 

[BurtMacklin]

He just passed. Thanks for the advice anyway. RIP goby.

 

[jmichaelh7]

He just passed. Thanks for the advice anyway. RIP goby.

I was going to say, if he pulls through one heck of a champ.

 

[susan ingram]

He just passed. Thanks for the advice anyway. RIP goby.

Man I am so sorry.. my heart hurts for you a little guy. RIP.

 

[jser388]

FWIW
at the 1 min mark, he described how he makes an eggcrate acclimation box, might of helped might not of

 

[gigaset]

I just also want to concur, I've had 3 Mandarin juveniles jump, 2 male, 1 female, only one at any one time in a 2 year established Fluval 13.5 as a species-specific tank, outside of snails and LPS corals. The 2 males 1" inch length is from biota and the 1.5" inch female was unknown. In both sexes, when the light shuts off immediately at night, they have a darting behavior, not as if being chased, but as if they are looking for some escape. It was very apparent, one minute they are slow moving hunt and peck observers, and when the light is out, they are in beast mode scanning and mapping out the light from the dark stock hood. The first male exhibited the behavior, and I was rookie and had a Finnex hang on back refugium in the back that cracked the lid open the lid a smidge. I watched this odd behavior for about an hour, and went to bed only to find the fish chip in the morning. The second male, I had left the lid closed, including covering the feeding hole. I did however removed the filter covering off, leaving a little thin exit close the first chamber entrance. As the light went off, the first week, I noticed the same darting behavior, and turned on the light and entice it to spot feed live baby brine, but there was no way of getting his attention. Eventually, by the end of two weeks, he found the hole by the first chamber even though I laid a filter pad to cover it. Next day, filter floss was flipped into the first chamber and fish chip on the floor. The third female also exhibited the same behavior, and I closed all holes. I did hear at night, an odd knocking from the room, which later on I pieced together was probably the failed jumps. But during cleaning one day, lights out, I had the hood propped open, I went to get a drink. When I came back I couldn't find her, and there was no water droplet trace that she jumped. It wasn't until next day I found her in one of my cleaning buckets that I swear was 3-4 feet away from the tank, dried up.

I was guessing it was the angle of incidence that specifically this tank was exhibiting when the stock light was off. They all behaved aggressively to their mirror images from the glass, and it might be because of the many incidences that it would occur in this small tank, the higher likely triggering the behavior. Overall, I'm glad someone else can speak about the same observation, because I thought it was just me. It couldn't have been just bad luck.