Goby

[lilacamy931]

We have four of these gobies, we bought them under the impression that they were peacock gobies, we cant find much info on them and think someone else said that they arent these? Need help IDing and hoping still still suitable for the community tank? They arent really totallly bottom dwellers, they range all over the tank and we really like them. The reason for asking is we have hhad two small lamps disappear and the suspects are these or the fat gourami (suspect the fat smug gourami) but would feel better knowing about these.

other pic

 

[nmonks]

Look more like some type of Dormitator to me. If you can find out where they're from, that narrows it down.

The two most likely candidates are Dormitator maculatus and Dormitator lebretonis. Both are brackish water fish that do well at around SG 1.005. They are omnivores that eat (and should be offered) both animal and plant foods. The major difference between them is size. Dormitator maculatus reaches 70 cm, though 30-45 cm is usual under aquarium conditions; Dormitator lebretonis gets to about 10 cm.

They are essentially identical when small.

Neither is suitable for the usual freshwater community tank.

Cheers, Neale

PS. Both species are predatory, and will eat any fish or shrimp they can swallow.

 

[lilacamy931]

Oh great! We found these through Ebay and they are apparently homebred...also stated they were good with other fish on different levels. Paid via payapl, going to contact the seller but unsure what position we are in Thanks Neale for identifying, someone else thought they might be blue shields??

p.s. they look more like the secodn link with markings if stretching to an adult fish. I have now contacted the seller but unsure if will be protected as we paid with paypal but not within Ebay.

 

[nmonks]

I suppose they could be Mogurnda species, such as Mogurnda mogurnda. These have been bred in captivity, and they are freshwater fish.

Cheers, Neale

 

[lilacamy931]

Those look absolutely spot on. Though reading...not ideal for what we want, thanks Neale for taking the time out.

 

[nmonks]

Happy to help. Mogurnda are nice fish, a bit more aggressive than gouramis, but less disruptive than most cichlids.

Cheers, Neale.

Those look absolutely spot on. Though reading...not ideal for what we want, thanks Neale for taking the time out.

 

[lilacamy931]

We have corys, lamps and other shoaling fish and wont eb able to keep them simply due to the large size they get..shame as we really like these/