Stiphodons feeding on Daphnia

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EdwardN
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:24 pm
Location: Deltona, Florida

Stiphodons feeding on Daphnia

Post by EdwardN » Tue May 01, 2012 1:16 pm

For several weeks now I'm managing somehow to maintain a large culture of Daphnia moina and I noticed that my Gobies are very fond of them. A few days ago I obtained two pairs of S. percnopterogionus and four pairs of S.semoni. S.percnopterogionus are very small, hardly exceeding an inch in length, but males are already aggressive towads each other and protecting their territories. To my amazement I noticed that S. percnopterogionus are actively but somehow awkwardly hunting individual Daphnia all the way up to the water table when a few are left and congregating close to the lights. Other Stiphodons, i.e. Semoni; Gold spot; Rainbow and some other rasembling 'Orange fin', are gobbling up Daphnia voraciously. Same situation with Syciopus Jongklassi.

shuwae
Posts: 105
Joined: Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:13 pm
Location: Ca, USA

Re: Stiphodons feeding on Daphnia

Post by shuwae » Tue May 01, 2012 8:00 pm

It's great you observed this as I found I have a bunch of daphnia in my river tank now and was wondering how I did not see them sooner. I use to have stiphodons and did not notice any daphnia but once the stiphodons were gone, the daphnia popped up. Good to know that something was eating the daphnia :)

starsplitter7
Posts: 5054
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:04 pm
Location: Tampa, Florida

Re: Stiphodons feeding on Daphnia

Post by starsplitter7 » Thu May 17, 2012 9:40 am

Where do you find gobies in Florida? Do you have a really good LFS or are you ordering online? I never see gobies. I do have two wild caught sleeper gobies, and I do see Dragon, bumblebee and knight gobies on occasion and Peacock gudgeons. But the ones you are talking about are entirely different.

EdwardN
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:24 pm
Location: Deltona, Florida

Re: Stiphodons feeding on Daphnia

Post by EdwardN » Thu May 17, 2012 11:22 am

[quote="starsplitter7"]Where do you find gobies in Florida? Do you have a really good LFS or are you ordering online? I never see gobies. I do have two wild caught sleeper gobies, and I do see Dragon, bumblebee and knight gobies on occasion and Peacock gudgeons. But the ones you are talking about are entirely different.[/quote]

Ask your LFS to keep checking availability list of Segrest Farms ( close to Tampa) -I bought a couple of dozen this way, mostly S.sp.'Gold spot', S.sp. 'Rainbow' ( tends to walk out of the tank...) and S. 'red', which turned out to be Sicyopus Jongclassi ( they take live food only). Unfortunately around here the only 'LFS" are the chain ones and there's no way to establish any relation with them as a hobbyist. Also check AquaBid, I have just received three pairs of Stiphodons sp. 'Rainbow' ( bluish like, sold as a 'elegant algae eating goby', in reality omnivorous but ignoring any algae....)), which are different from my other 'Rainbows' ( group of S. not classified all the way...).
S.percnopterogionus and S.semoni I received lately from msjinkzt ( you'll find her on ''The planted tank' forum. I'm waiting for S. atropurpureus which she expected to have by now.

This fish are pricey!

When it comes to Daphnia, all my Stiphodons are crazy about them and keep gobbling them along the bottom of the tank and some swim all the way to the top hunting remining Daphnia. Unfortunately Gobies are not agile enough to catch mosquito larvae, for my Daphnia containers serve as an excellent breeding 'pond' for them. My Green Neons and a few other fish ( dwarf loaches included) are gorging on them.

smolek
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:13 am

Re: Stiphodons feeding on Daphnia

Post by smolek » Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:15 am

shuwae wrote:It's great you observed this as I found I have a bunch of daphnia in my river tank now and was wondering how I did not see them sooner. I use to have stiphodons and did not notice any daphnia but once the stiphodons were gone, the daphnia popped up. Good to know that something was eating the daphnia :)

Thats sad,i love daphnia :(
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