gobies!

[LGR]

So I bought two "eel gobies" after my tank was cured along with two hermit crabs. The crabs are doing well..walking all over and doing there thing. The Gobies however wiggled under a rock, dug out alot of sand and pretty much never come out, I can see that they are alive by looking under the tank you can see them in the nook they cleared out. Is this normal for Gobies? will they ever swim around. I see one pop out every now and then, then wiggles back under the rock. I ask cause in the store i bought them from they swam around and wasn't hiding.

[Frag Hag]

LGR,

Your engineer gobies are pretty much going to stay under, or very close to the rocks. I can count the times my goby has been swimming around in the water column on my left hand. Despite this, they can be very entertaining to watch when they pop out every now and then, and swim backwards under the rock.

The good news is... they are great tankmates. Depending on the size of your tank, and when it is ready to handle the bio load of another fish, there are a lot of fish that are more visible. I have my gobi in with a clownfish (which probably contributes to the gobi staying close to home; the brat) and dottyback. The clownfish and dottyback are always in sight, but guess
which fish is my favorite?

Shay

[zhenya]

I ask cause in the store i bought them from they swam around and wasn't hiding.

Well, was there a whole lot of rock in that tank in the store? If not then this could be the reason why they were out and about in that tank. Fish hardly ever behaves "natural" in the store where most tanks are bare bottom and have very little interms of decorations. It is understandable and I have no problem with it, personally.
What you see with your gobies is their natural behavior, and that is making a burrow where they can seek safety and come out just a little to forage for food. I have watchman goby that I only see at feeding time, otherwise I can only make out it's head stiking out from his burrow under the rock, quite entertaining, as Shay pointed out, to watch it interact with it's habitat.

[Ninong]

So I bought two "eel gobies" after my tank was cured along with two hermit crabs.

Probably not a good idea for a 45-gal tank. These fish are fast growers and can easily reach 10"-12" in length. They have several common names (convict blenny, engineer goby, eel goby, white-striped eel goby, etc.) but their scientific name is Pholidichthys leucotaenia. Some people call them gobies and other people call them blennies. They're neither.

The Gobies however wiggled under a rock, dug out alot of sand and pretty much never come out...

They live in caverns and caves. The reason they are called "engineer gobies" is because they like to re-engineer the architecture of your live rock structure. It is very important that you use heavy live rock that is firmly on the bottom of the tank and not on top of a sand bed. If the live rock rests on top of the sand bed, there is the risk that the digging these fish do will destabilize your live rock structure, causing it to come tumbling down.

...will they ever swim around.

Not very much. They'll stay inside their caves most of the time.

I see one pop out every now and then, then wiggles back under the rock. I ask cause in the store i bought them from they swam around and wasn't hiding.

Did the store bother to tell you anything about their behavior or ask if your tank was large enough for these fish? Probably not. Very few stores operate that way. It's bad for sales.

Caveat emptor!