Empire Gudgeon

[zugwang]

my lfs has some of these and I was contemplating buy some. I can't find much information on them, can anyone here help?

 

[nmonks]

Hypseleotris compressa are medium sized freshwater sleepers that inhabit both freshwater and slightly brackish conditions. Spawning takes place in freshwater, the very small fry drifting down into estuaries. Juveniles apparently more common in brackish water, so the addition of salt might be useful if you have very small specimens. Lovely colours in breeding condition, less so when immature or quiescent. Eats the usual things sleeper gobies go for: insect larvae, smaller fish, bits of algae, etc.

Cheers, Neale

my lfs has some of these and I was contemplating buy some. I can't find much information on them, can anyone here help?

 

[zugwang]

Hypseleotris compressa are medium sized freshwater sleepers that inhabit both freshwater and slightly brackish conditions. Spawning takes place in freshwater, the very small fry drifting down into estuaries. Juveniles apparently more common in brackish water, so the addition of salt might be useful if you have very small specimens. Lovely colours in breeding condition, less so when immature or quiescent. Eats the usual things sleeper gobies go for: insect larvae, smaller fish, bits of algae, etc.

Cheers, Neale

my lfs has some of these and I was contemplating buy some. I can't find much information on them, can anyone here help?

Yeah I read the fishbase entry, unfortunately it makes no mention of temperament. I had a purple spotted gudgeon which the lfs assured me would be peaceful but ended up eating most of my smaller fishing a harassing the larger ones until they died, are empire gudgeons anything like that?

 

[nmonks]

Eleotrids are all remarkably similar in terms of temperament. They are territorial, but not psychotically so; give the enough space and a cave, and you should be fine. They are all predatory to some degree, and males guard their nests and so can be expected to become aggressive towards tankmates at that time.

Purple-spotted gudgeons (Mogurnda spp.) are towards the higher end of the territoriality range, and this is well known, so why your LFS said otherwise I cannot say. Hypseleotris spp are much less aggressive. They do get to about 10 cm, so you're probably going to need to set aside 100-150 litres or so for each territory holding male. Females can be slotted in a little more easily since they're not so territorial beyond wanting to maintain their particular cave. I'd aim to keep a fair sized group, say 5 or more, to minimise bullying.

This species is quite widely kept and you'll find it, for example, in Baensch volume 2. It's also in my brackish book. Overall it is one of the better community tank eleotrids.

Cheers, Neale