Gobiidae… a commonly seen family yet one of the most intricate.

[Peace River]

Thanks for the tag and thank you @i cant think for the informative thread! This is great stuff!!!

 

[Rjramos]

Let’s not forget the neon gobie(oceanops). A common friendly species that can be easily raised at home. These 2, were caught by me here in south Fla. They spawn frequently inside the sea biscuit mushroom.

 

[jaso]

This is why I didn’t add Valenciennea, I was going to but they really aren’t good for a tank unless they’re in a 5-6 year old tank.
Most of the time Valenciennea will wither away and die - I have been debating one in my 2 year old 4’ tank but still don’t know if I’m willing to. The reason why many Valenciennea species wither away and die is due to what they use the sand bed for. These gobies could be worse than dragonets to keep, they use the sand bed to sift through and find microfauna like amphipods and copepods. The young (<2 year old) tanks can’t sustain these long term because they don’t have the micro fauna to forage in. Valenciennea gobies are known as the “sleeper” gobies, so I’d recommend avoiding them unless you have a 2 year old or older tank. These also need rather large tanks, they’re more active than the average goby and get 4 inch, in many cases 5-6 inch. I’d probably say a 3’ tank is pushing it for the minimum tank size, 4’-6’ would be best IMO.

I always have one or two (if I can get a small enough second) Diamond Watchman goby in my tanks. In my experience they take to frozen and pellet food pretty easily. But I feed pretty heavily.

 

[i cant think]

I always have one or two (if I can get a small enough second) Diamond Watchman goby in my tanks. In my experience they take to frozen and pellet food pretty easily. But I feed pretty heavily.

How often do you feed? I have found the more often you feed, the more likely you will be to have success with them. But if you have one that doesn’t take to frozen then you will most likely need the deeper substrate, and older tank.

 

[i cant think]

Let’s not forget the neon gobie(oceanops). A common friendly species that can be easily raised at home. These 2, were caught by me here in south Fla. They spawn frequently inside the sea biscuit mushroom.

Cant believe I missed Elecantinus!
Elacantinus oceanops lives 1-45 meters down, more commonly seen 1-40 meters deep. They inhabit coral heads and set up cleaning stations, eating ectoparasites off of skin and fins in the mouth and gills of larger fish such as groupers and tangs, this very same behaviour is often seen in captivity.

Elacantinus evelynae is found at 1-53 meters, more often 1-50 meters deep, and inhabits coral heads, usually in pairs and these also set up cleaning stations for larger fish.

Elacantinus figaro is found over coral and rocky bottoms on the mainland coast and at or off coastal islands, usually solitary or in groups of 6. Inhabiting coral heads, crustose algae and encrusting sponges. They can also be found near urchins seeking the protection and shelter the spines can give. These also set up cleaning stations and eat the ectoparasites off of larger fish.


Seems like your oceanops have really taken a liking to the setup as it really does replicate what they’d be like in the wild!

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Great article! I wish that I could keep a goby or two, but my Red Sea Max Nano is probably already overstocked, having three fish and some inverts.

 

[i cant think]

Great article! I wish that I could keep a goby or two, but my Red Sea Max Nano is probably already overstocked, having three fish and some inverts.

That would be nice - I have 9 fish in mine, 4 being gobies. They’re highly personable, and actually they don’t care about different genera being in the same tank.

Something else I’ve seen with griessinger gobies is how they crawl around the shadows of the rockwork/sand bed during the day and come all the way out in the night. I assume this is due to it being safer at night then it is in the day.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

That would be nice - I have 9 fish in mine, 4 being gobies. They’re highly personable, and actually they don’t care about different genera being in the same tank.

Something else I’ve seen with griessinger gobies is how they crawl around the shadows of the rockwork/sand bed during the day and come all the way out in the night. I assume this is due to it being safer at night then it is in the day.

Maybe I'll try a neon goby, or perhaps a yasha goby. Out of curiosity, how do you keep your nitrates down with nine fish? I have an adult royal gramma and two juvenile clownfish, and even with 35% percent water changes every two weeks, nitrates somehow always get to 20. Maybe I should start doing water changes every week.

 

[i cant think]

Maybe I'll try a neon goby, or perhaps a yasha goby. Out of curiosity, how do you keep your nitrates down with nine fish? I have an adult royal gramma and two juvenile clownfish, and even with 35% percent water changes every two weeks, nitrates somehow always get to 20. Maybe I should start doing water changes every week.

I’m actually struggling to get nitrates up. I think it’s one of the things with having fish and actually 4 of them have extremely low bioloads. I also have 6 corals, 3 being rather large that are absorbing the nitrates.
I also do about 15% water changes every week, sometimes I’ll leave it a week to see if nitrates rise but they still don’t.

Just realised I keep thinking I have 9 when I have 8 haha, not really a big difference anyway.

 

[i cant think]

Something interesting that you guys may like is about how Coral Gobies, the gobies in gobiodon seem to protect their chosen coral to perch in from being predated on.
cant wait to get an LPS coral that this guy can perch on and call home!

 

[Tjm23slo]

I just started adding blennies and gobies to an 80G tank. Keeping it mainly blenny/goby oriented. What others would you all suggest. Tank is 24”x48”x16”. Mainly softies or lower light lower flow corals.

so far I have :
1 Tail Spot Blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura)
2 snarknose gobies.(Elacatinus evelynae)
3<now 1> Wheeler Goby (Amblyeleotris wheeleri)
2<now 1> Hector Gobies(Koumansetta hectori)
3 yellow clown gobies (okinawae)
2 clown fish

I want to add a dragonet, blue gudgeon dart (Ptereleotris heteroptera), court Jester goby(Koumansetta rainfordi)

 

[i cant think]

I just started adding blennies and gobies to an 80G tank. Keeping it mainly blenny/goby oriented. What others would you all suggest. Tank is 24”x48”x16”. Mainly softies or lower light lower flow corals.

so far I have :
1 Tail Spot Blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura)
2 snarknose gobies.(Elacatinus evelynae)
3<now 1> Wheeler Goby (Amblyeleotris wheeleri)
2<now 1> Hector Gobies(Koumansetta hectori)
3 yellow clown gobies (okinawae)
2 clown fish

I want to add a dragonet, blue gudgeon dart (Ptereleotris heteroptera), court Jester goby(Koumansetta rainfordi)

The Court Jester may fight it out with the Hectori however in your tank it seems you have plenty of hiding spots and blind spots. The blue gudgeon would be great, I’d recommend getting two as they will do best in pairs or small groups

 

[Paul B]

I love it I can't think. Great thread and beautiful pictures.

 

[i cant think]

I love it I can't think. Great thread and beautiful pictures.

You have some beautiful species! Love the A. randalli, truly a beautiful species and I would've had one but went the yasha route instead.