My New Goby.

I have purchased my Tang collection and a few other fish from Live Aquaria. Besides having my awesome Green mandarin die I have had great luck an top customer service from them.

It has been a month since I had my new collection of fish and my at the time current fish put into my new 220Gal.

I decided to purchase the 2 Cardinal Fish I originally wanted but were out of stock. At the same time I made the decision to get myself a sand sifting Goby because I thought it was better than buying more Hermits that I already hate.

So I ordered 2 Cardinals, 1 Sleeper Gold Head Goby, 2 feather dusters, a bad arse Green Doughnut Coral and topping the list is an Aussie Worm Open Brain Coral that is Purple and Green and it about the size of my hand from the Divers Den.

Ok so if anyone has bought fish there they know they come in nicely sealed bags with black inserts to block the fish from light and when you open them it can be difficult if not impossible to see them until the are fully acclimated.

So with other fish on the past I have seen them loose their color when stressed or get dark so when I first saw the Goby it looked plaid. I thought wow it sure lost a lot of color over stress. So I didn't see it for a day and the next day I come to the tank and don't see it but I see sand on a few corals.

I was like WTF is this. Then I see sand on my rocks. I then thought it has to be the Goby. I leave and come back a few hours later and there is the fish just dead center in the tank, swimming in place. I keep and eye on him but his quickly hides. I come back again but this time he seems settled in and stays out and I see him eat the sand and then swim upwards about 3-4 inches while dumping the sand out of his gills.

The main thing I noticed is that this fish looked nothing like Sleeper Gold Head Goby and never colored up. I was looking at it for a while and went on my laptop to compare it with the others and found it. It is a Sleeper Banded Goby.

I immediately called up Live Aquaria to get an explanation and just like they always do, they quickly offered to refund me the cost of the fish. Like I said great customer service can trump saving a few dollars elsewhere.

I made the decision not to get my money back because during the call I came to a few conclusions.

1) I will never catch this fish
2) It is frikin awesome looking in person as the photo on the site does nothing for how this fish looks in the tank, especially against all the colors
3) It is still a sand sifter which I what I was getting it for in the first place
4) I just don't think it is the worst thing to happen.

I will say it again, this Goby is absolutely beautiful and the stock photo reveals nothing of this. It looks like a small whale shark in a way as it is wider than I imagined and is already becoming one of my faves.

The conclusion I came to on the error on Live Aquaria comes down to the name of the fish. One is Sleeper Gold Head and one is Sleeper Banded. TOtally understandable. I do advertising and book making and these things remind me of the simple errors I have made in the past with similar items.

So in the end I am not asking for a refund or a credit, I am happy and I wanted to share the story and show how awesome Live Aquaria is and always has been for me from when I ordered my lights a long time ago, and the dead Mandarin and then this fish and also with this other thing when I ordered a Marble Star Fish and after I ordered it they found out it is out of stock and will ship my next order free with the starfish even if I do not hit the $225 needed to get free shipping because of the fact my order was suspended due to the starfish being out of stock after I placed the order.

Common that is great service in my opinion. They alway try to make it right and always have for me even when it is not their fault.

Great to hear positive stuff about them, isn't it awesome to find places that have such amazing customer service. And it sounds like their mistake actually turned out pretty cool for you. Do you have any pics of your new "mistake" fish?? We'd love to see!

pics?

Yeah I will post them as soon as I can.

I had a huge problem with my tank, mechanically so I will be busy for a bit with it.

A huge mechanical problem sounds like a fun Saturday project.

Good luck with your issues

No problems. I found it was just because of the new sump socks. Nothing a good old pre wash can't fix.

Oh yeah here are the pix of the Goby and the Cardinals. Oh and a pic of the right side of my tank for some reason.

I took them with my phone so they are not the best.

Glad to hear the good news!!!

looks good. maybe take one with the day lights on.

That IS a fun little goby! And, it looks a bit like the one that Little Fish was trying to identify yesterday in a different thread....
Glad your mechanical problem was an easy resolution :)
Love those cardinals too, they look nice and majestic...

JustinsReefTank said:

looks good. maybe take one with the day lights on.

Click to expand...

Yeah the 14K MH bulbs were not on yet. I mean they were off already.

Gotcha will u take one with them on... Iwould like too see it!!
Thanks

How do you Iike your powder blue tang? I was looking at one, but little fish said they are difficult to keep how is yours doing?

Here are the photos with the MH bulbs on. I had to use my phone again.

Can't find the tripod mount for my good camera.

So I posted a few different shots of the Goby. One shows my Powder Blue Tang. I will post below my thought so far about it.

One is just the Goby and the other shows it eating the sand and the last you can see the sand coming out. Probably won't show up on these photos but the big originals it does.

There is also another photo of one of the cardinals.

mbrew said:

How do you Iike your powder blue tang? I was looking at one, but little fish said they are difficult to keep how is yours doing?

Click to expand...

The Powder Blue Tang has been nothing short of amazing. It has done well and was shy in the beginning.

I can tell you this though. It is 110% scared somewhat of the Yellow Tang. It doesn't dart from it and they hang out at times. I still feel it may get stress from it just a little here and there.

Sometimes I see things on the fish that looks like Ich but now even more with the Goby there can be sand particles in the water that stick to the fish so things are there and then gone later or the next day. You have to look at the fish from straight on to see if it is poking out of the skin like a pimple. At least that is my opinion.

Overall it seems no more work than anything else but yes they do have a reputation for being tough to keep. If you don't stay on your tank don't get it. If you have a crowded tank don't get it.

My tank is open yet still has plenty of hiding spots for them all. I think that plays an important role in keeping this fish happy and all the other Tangs as well. I will probably keep them as the only big fish I keep and only have other small fish that should never compete in size with them.

Other things I have started doing to keep the Powder Blue happy is when I put in Dried Seaweed sheets I make sure there is more than one meaning I break it into 3 parts so it isn't having to dodge the Yellow Tang to eat or anyone else. I just notice that every time the Yellow Tang comes to nibble the Powder Blue floats away.

I also soak my food and make sure there are 3 pieces made out of the large cube I feed them, again to make sure all the fish are not fighting over one piece.

Little things like that that are just an easy thing for us to do can make a big difference to the fish in my opinion. I am sure many people throw in a cube that may not be defrosted and they all battle of it and some don't get to eat much. I know I have before and no longer do it.

The Goby seems to love to dump sand on the Brain Coral the most but you can see it float away into the water column. I wonder if in time it will remove enough sand to see a difference. It has made some hills already but I smooth them out every few days.

I guess the Goby is doing a great job keeping the sand in good shape.

Overall I am happy with the Powder Blue and most people I have talked to have been happy with theirs but there are many people who had problems but I do not know their practices.

phastroh said:

Here are the photos with the MH bulbs on. I had to use my phone again.

Can't find the tripod mount for my good camera.

So I posted a few different shots of the Goby. One shows my Powder Blue Tang. I will post below my thought so far about it.

One is just the Goby and the other shows it eating the sand and the last you can see the sand coming out. Probably won't show up on these photos but the big originals it does.

There is also another photo of one of the cardinals.

Click to expand...

Awesome!

Phastroh, AWESOME!! Where did u get it? Will u send me the link to where or did u get at LFS....

I got it from Live Aquaria. They actually sent it to me by mistake.

I ordered a Sleeper Gold Head Goby and they sent me a Sleeper Banded Goby which at first I was mad but I am actually happy because this fish is very nice.

Here is the link Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Sleeper Banded Goby

Just read my first post and you will see all about how I got it even though I basically just told you haha.

My only issue with the fish is that the sand has tons of little pock marks from it eating everywhere and it is a messy sifter. It feels like it targets the brain coral and any coral on the substrate and kind of sands up the rock work a little.

Also sometimes it releases the sand near a small current and up and away it goes into the water.

I know it does the sand really good because trust me there is not a place I can't see where it has been. It actually seems it is most interested in the areas outlining the live rock the most. It is also funny how the sand up against the glass has dents all down the front.

Wow sounds pretty cool. I am gonna have to check it out. Thanks for the info!!