Yellow Watchmen Goby Help?

[MarbleShark]

I have a yellow watchmen goby that was bright yellow.. I had to move and left my aquarium in the care of a friend of mine for the past year and when I come back I find that he is not yellow anymore but a tan color with brown bands on him. Is something seriously wrong with him? He eats fine and looks other than the color change to be in perfect health. He was the only fish in a 5g nano tank. The only thing irregular that my friend said is that he did not keep the best care of him in that the water was hardly changed and his feeding schedule was irregular. This friend will never fish sit again.

Any feedback?

 

[QuentinB]

I know they change to a more gray color as they age, but it doesn't quite sound like what you're describing... Pics would help.

 

[Snelly40]

he might j ust be malnourished, i would add some vita-chem to his food and let it soak in, also my goby will eat pellets that have spirulina in them and this can help them retain the bright colors you like

 

[PSU4ME]

I thought they were mre greyish when they were younger and not older? I also 'heard" that females are not as bright.

 

[astiesi]

I've watched enough sitcoms to know what's going on here. Tell your friend next time to take the dead fish with him to the store to ensure he finds one that looks like the original! J/K

I've seen yellow watchmen have their color dull a bit, from yellow to almost brown, but never with stripes. You may want to try varying up his diet if you aren't already, there are some very good frozen food mixtures you can find at the LFS. (i.e. Rogger's Food).

 

[QuentinB]

I thought they were mre greyish when they were younger and not older? I also 'heard" that females are not as bright.

Shoot, I thought I had it bookmarked, but there's a site that talks about the breeding of YWG's and their aging. And I believe you're right about the females.

Actually, check out the "Watching fish age" thread that was running around before, I believe it was PaulB's thread. He had some pics of his YWG pair.

 

[astiesi]

Here's an article that talks about color differences in YWGs. Very interesting and I learned a few things from reading through it.

Spawning and Rearing the Yellow Watchman Goby (Cryptocentrus cinctus) by Amy Drehmel - Reefkeeping.com

 

[QuentinB]

That's one of the ones I was thinking of, thanks Anthony!