poor yellow watchman

so i added a yellow watchman goby to my tank a week ago because i had no bottom dwellers.. well once i added him he darted off to a rock id hope he would make his burrow in, sure enough he dug himself right in and hide there for about 3 days, coming out at night and from time to time to peak around.. which seemed normal while he got used to everything, but now all of a sudden he will not go near the rocks and just continues to float around the swimming zone of my clown pair, which are pretty aggressive and have been fin nipping him

he is all beaten up, stressed and hiding around the overflow all day avoiding the clowns.

what changed his mind about living in the burrow/rocks? there is PLENTY of hiding spaces in my aquascape.

any ideas?

 

heres a picture of the guy, his lower fin is all nipped up and he is very skittish.

 

He definitely should be in the sand. I wonder if you have something in the sand that came from your live rock and it scared the watchman out. The clowns may not have liked its choice of home either.

 

the area he choose was very isolated from any fish territory, thats why i dont understand. unless i have one nasty hitchhiker that may have spooked him.

he no longer leaves the side or back of the overflow now.

 

I was worried about a hitchhiker. Hopefully it can settle down and find a new home. Hopefully it is eating.

 

I've witnessed him eat a few times, not as much as he should be.

 

Hopefully it will start eating more. Best of luck getting the watchman acclimated and finding the hitchhiker if necessary.

 

Wow. I would say it is either one nasty worm or too many copipods in the sand. How long have you had the tank established? Since you said you haven't had a "bottom dweller" I assume that there hasnt been a fish to eat whatever is growing in the sands.

 

the tank was born jun 2009, what kind of worm could scare a fish out of its burrow? i dont think its to many copepods, my sixline wrasse keeps those in check. i do have a cleaner shrimp, wonder if he may be the culprit at night.

 

There are alot of different worms that could have gotten into the tank through liverock. It may be a bristle worm. I suggest that you get a flashlight and search the sand bottom at night for the bristle worm. Try 3-4 days in a row at various times during the night. Once you spot it you may or may not want to take it out of the tank. What fish are in the tank besides the Goby and the Clowns? You may want to add a smaller Wrasse to the tank, like a Six Line, it looks big enough for another fish. They eat alot of "pests" that you may not want in the tank.