amblygobius phalaena - barred goby?

[fishfanv]

anyone have one of these? what kind of experiences with it? i read it eats algae but will also take prepared foods too.

[Jerry W]

I kept one a few years back. It never seemed to eat much and wasted away after a month or so.

[karid]

I've had one for about a year now. He's awesome.

-He's never had any problems with any tankmates (fairy wrasse, clown goby, chalk bass, blackbar chromis, false percs, firefish, lawnmower blenny)

-He eats prepared foods really well (emerald food, marine cuisine, brine shrimp). Recently we've had a green hair algae problem (we have no snails) and I see him nipping algae off the back of my tank too. So he does both prepared and natrual algae for food. He doesn't do well with flake food because he keeps "missing it". He'd go to get a big piece of flake food, miss it, go to get it again, miss it again, and by that time another fish got to it. So if you only feed flake, that might be a problem. I'm not sure about pellet.

-He sifts sand all day long, but no snowstorms or anything and no tunneling. It took him a few days to settle in and make his home, but that was it. The sifting is just cool to watch. Everyone likes him.

[perky]

i have one of those as well. brilliant fish. higly recomended. eats everything i give him.

mike

[fishfanv]

they look to be rather large. would 1 be too big for my 30g?

[Shadow Tempter]

fishfanv, they do get real big. I would suggest a rainsford's goby...they do the same this as this big guy.

[fishfanv]

ok, thanks shadow. i will look into a rainsford goby.

[Billybeau1]

I suppose my book could be wrong but it says the rainsford and the palaena get about the same size. 3-4 inches tops. Maybe double check with another source.

[fishfanv]

karid's photo in this thread looks bigger than 3-4 inches, but it could just be my perspective.

[karid]

Oh no - mine is only about 3.5". It is just a close up photo :-)

My book says they get to be 5-6", but he's not nearly that big. I've had him a year and I guess he could still get bigger - but he has been this size for a long long time.

I had him in a 55g for about 10 months and then just upgraded to a 90g a couple months ago. He would probably be fine in a 30g, but that would be the smallest I would go for this fish.

[willjeff]

Sorry to jump in but I was planning on buying a sand sifting goby. My question is does the goby only sift in one area or does it go throughout the tank?

[fishfanv]

Originally posted by karid
Oh no - mine is only about 3.5". It is just a close up photo :-)

My book says they get to be 5-6", but he's not nearly that big. I've had him a year and I guess he could still get bigger - but he has been this size for a long long time.

I had him in a 55g for about 10 months and then just upgraded to a 90g a couple months ago. He would probably be fine in a 30g, but that would be the smallest I would go for this fish.

hm, i think i'll research more before i decide. thanks for your response. i'd love to have one, they look & sound really nice!

[karid]

>Sorry to jump in but I was planning on buying a sand sifting
>goby. My question is does the goby only sift in one area or
>does it go throughout the tank?

My goby sifts sand all throughout the tank (not just one area).