Matt's 64 Litre Tank

It could be the male chasing her. Any chance of getting another female or two? When I had just one female, the males all chased her but now I have 2 females, they don't seem to bother.
I did lose one of the original two females, I found her dead one day during a water change.

But I did notice that a lot of the gobies in the shop tank looked very thin; I wouldn't buy any that were thin and waited till they got more in. Some of them looked like just a head with a bit of string attached. I wonder if it's like otos, they starve between being caught and us buying them.
Did the shop worker catch them easily? The ones I have buried themselves in the gravel on the bottom of the tank as soon as the net went in the tank and I can imagine it would be very easy to cause internal damage during netting.

Oh and I think I might be getting a 220l aquaoak for Xmas!

It's finally happening... 220ltr aquaoak purchased today (theres a sale on!)!

 

Its a three month waiting list apparently though...    Still... plenty of time for some planning! I'll start a new thread to cover this!

At some point I'll need to decide what I'm going to do with this tank. I'll likely keep it going in one form or another. Possibly temperate river manifold, possibly planted with gobies, possibly shrimp only... who knows! Open to suggestions 

Goby is holding in there for the time being - unfortunately I dont have the stocking capacity at the moment to add another female.  Theres plenty of hiding spaces in the tank so I'm hoping that as she builds her strength I'll see more of her.

It's finally happening... 220ltr aquaoak purchased today (theres a sale on!)!

Very pleased for you and not at all jealous! Especially with the pictures of your 64l tank already, I'm sure the new one will be a sight to behold.

Unfortunately the goby passed this evening. Hardly ever saw it then there is was in the in middle of the tank the wrong way up...

 I'm putting it down to internal dammage/stress of the move. My wife has told me that the guy in the shop was extremely rough with catching her. (I got distracted by the other fish!!)  The fish didn't look in bad condition externally. I dont think the other goby bullied it to death as there is plenty of algae and stuff in the tank for it to feed on qnd plenty of hiding places for the two to keep apart. Having had a think about how a fish behaves when poorly ('sulking' and hiding/resting in plants etc) this very much fitted with the behaviour of the goby be it all based at floor level. It barely moved when I moved a rock the other day to find it for example and if scared of the male it would have darted. I also believe it was also thin when we bought it as it looked so thin a few days after so may have been hurt during previous purchases at he store...

I'll be adding more in the 220 ltr as i still think they are real cuties 

I'm sorry to hear that. But they are very tricky to catch, and internal damage is a possibility.

And yes they are cute 

Whilst I am not quite yet ready to start doing my 220litre tank as the festivities are not yet over, to allow me reliably complete water testing, water changes and tank monitoring... I did however promise an update on my plans for the 64litre tank. I am hoping to go as different as possible with this and create a contrasting aquascape. I am planning a low maintenance tank with sparkling gourami and scarlet badis - I also quite fancy pygmy cory, though I'm concerned this will push the stocking on a supposedly low maintenance tank!. I am very fond of the behaviour of these species which are both shy but interesting characters which are known to cohabit well.

The aquascape would have rocks and wood though the wood would be 'falling' from the top rather than 'branching' from the bottom (if I can get this to look right!).  This would be on a mixed gravel and sand substrate filled with leaf litter ( which will also stain the water with tannins - though not deeply as I'm thinking of using beech).  There would not be many plants apart from floating plants and maybe a couple of plants tied to the rocks or nested in the wood.  The tank will have a dark and moody appearance and would be vaguely a south asian biotope (if a biotope can be vague... ).

That's the plan at the moment anyway, though this is a way off yet, with the 220 litre still to do 

Perhaps you should give it a name and create a new style of aquascaping. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of tiny adorableness. 

I have had my little guys for nearly 2 years, they are great characters, and are a nightmare for how cute they look all at the front of the tank begging for food.

Mine are in a species only tank, so I can't advise you on mixing with otos and loaches, but I'm fairly certain someone else had a couple in a community tank without problem.

 

Ok, it was a fairly safe bet. 
You are also correct that Fiona was the other keeper, with hers in a community tank.

I have 11 in a 140L/100cm tank. I mainly feed them live bloodworms and small pest snails, but they also take frozen foods quite happily. I feed them what seems to be quite a small amount (a pinch with the aquascaping forceps) 2 or 3 times a day. I'd read that little and often was the way to go. If feeding them a cube of frozen I would estimate I give up to half a cube a day, but split over several meals. I think it's always good to supplement with a variety of foods, and I'm lucky that an LFS has quite good range of live foods.

I also keep mine at the cooler end of the range, 23-24C. They seem fine with this.

I got all of mine as juveniles, and there is a roughly equal split of males and females. 2 of the males are much larger than the others, and their chosen territories are at opposite ends of the tank. They are quite dominant, but the group is very good natured, and everyone comes together without trouble at feeding times.

Even when the fish were in the shop, it was possible to spot if there were any males as some already had the line along the belly, but any without the line couldn't be guaranteed female.

I can completely understand why Mrs Matt would struggle not to purchase them immediately. Their cute little faces, and the way they swim, described in one article I read as being that of an inebriated cow in comparison to the grace with which most other fish swim, an the looks of utter wonder on their faces when they are investigating plants and decor...the little buggers will steal your heart as you watch them. 

This is such an exciting development - I've been so envious, reading the update. Those fish are adorable (although sadly not suitable for my own water, so I just have to enjoy them via reading of others' experiences with them, so keep us fully posted once you get them and of their antics ).