Small Freshwater Goby

[Miss Wiggle]

well, i'm not liking just having one tank set up. I'm thinking about setting up my little 10 gal tank again. was thinking of something a little bit unusual for it. Had a browse of the anti tankbusting oddballs post and saw there's a few gobies in there that stay small. I really like goby behaviour so I think that's a strong possibility, however most of the small ones look pretty bland and I like something pretty colourful. Not mad keen on bumblebee gobies though which are the obvious choice (i think).

Got to be freshwater not marine or brackish. anyone make any suggestions for a species of goby that would be good?

happy to hear other suggestions of something a bit different for a 10 gal as well

 

[Colin_T]

desert gobies Chlamydogobius eremius
peacock gudgeons Taturndina occulicorda
Purple spottd gudgeons mogurnda sp.

not sure on the spelling but they should be pretty close. The first one is a goby the other two are gudgeons. The peacock gudgeon is from New Guinea, there are also mogurnda sp from there as well.
The desert goby and most of the other mogurndas are from Australia. They should be available over there. There are also a bunch of new gobies (Stiphodon sp) that have been found in New Guinea over the last few years and some of them are really specky to look at.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks Colin I like all of them, are gudgeons a type of goby then? (i'm hopeless with my genuses )

are you sure about the gudgeons? just did a v quick bit of research in the fish species profile, say's they get to 6"..... surley that's a bit big for a 10 gal tank!

 

[Colin_T]

Gudgeons and gobies are different. Gobies have fused pelvic fins that act as a single fin. Gudgeons have separate pelvic fins and use them independently of each other.
Besides that they are pretty similar. Some gudgeons will grow to over a foot long but most of the mogurnda sp only get to about 4 or 5 inches. They are also sedentary fishes that don't need much swimming space. A 10g tank would be fine for a pr of mogurndas or 6-8 peacock gudgeons or 4-6 desert gobies.

The gudgeons and gobies lay their eggs in a cave and the males guard them. Once the eggs hatch the fry are on their own and the parents usually lay another batch of eggs a few days later.
They are predatory and will eat anything that fits in their mouth. I usually feed them on marine mix (prawn, fish, squid, etc).

There are also carp gudgeons (Hypseleotris sp) that are smaller but not quite as colourful.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok cool thanks. some food for thought there.

need to get the big tank sold though so i can re-arrange the living room and hopefully (miraculously) find a space for the little tank.

 

[Colin_T]

put the little tank on the stand under the big tank
get a double or triple tier stand for the 10gallon tanks, note the plural, tankS

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lol, nah the only tank we have running is a rena, no space for a tank underneath and it'd also be hidden behind the sofa. i reckon there will be room when we re-arrange the living room, measured up the furniture and such like and it should fit. just sometimes it's only when you've got the furniture built and in place you can see if it'd be too cluttered or anything like that.

 

[Esfa]

peacock gobies!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well i broached the idea of setting up the little tank again with Ian last night, he was pretty receptive to my plan. i'm definatley allowed to keep the tank until we've sold the trigon and re-arranged the living room and he likes the idea of a little goby tank or something along those lines.



just got to keep my fingers crossed that there's a suitable place to put it.

 

[Colin_T]

just got to keep my fingers crossed that there's a suitable place to put it.

it's a fish tank and you're a fish nut. You will find a spot

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah, we have a very very small house though. we'll see.

 

[Colin_T]

you live in the UK, get rid of your fridge and stick everything outside

 

[Miss Wiggle]

lol, no we live in a back to back terrace, so we've got houses on three sides of ours and our front door opens onto the pavement. we have no outside space to put things.