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Companions for a Knight Goby – 06/26/07
Hello,
<Greetings.>
A few years ago I made a mistake by purchasing a fish before doing my homework
on it (I've learned my lesson). I purchased a knight goby from my LFS. They
claimed he would do well in my 65gal freshwater tank, and well, he definitely
has. He's the most aggressive eater in the entire tank, and he has a nice round
belly. I've since learned that he would do much better in a brackish tank, but
I'm unfortunately unable to convert the tank over due to his tank mates. We do
have very hard water though, and I've read they can do very well in freshwater
as long as the water is fairly hard.
<Knight gobies are unambiguously better in brackish water. Success in freshwater
aquaria is variable. pH and hardness are certainly factors. Water quality is
probably also important: brackish water fish are super-sensitive to things like
nitrate and nitrite in freshwater conditions despite being hard as nails when
kept in brackish water conditions. But the bottom line is when kept in
freshwater they just don't last as long as when kept in brackish water. The
required amount of salt is not great: SG 1.003-1.005 will do.>
Anyway, my problem is, he keeps eating the majority of his tank mates. He seems
to enjoy the company of the clown loaches, but he's eaten all my neon tetras,
danios and all but one white cloud. The rasboras and the clown pleco are
apparently too big for him to eat, so he doesn't bother them much. He even ate
the fins off a sailfin molly, and eventually killed it. No one around here will
take the goby, not that I really want to get rid of him anyway, because he is
very beautiful. What other fish can I put in with him?
<Knight gobies are piscivores, pure and simple. Small fish are food. They mix
well with sturdy brackish water species such as Figure-8 puffers, Orange
Chromides, sleeper gobies of various types, scats, monos, and so on. If I was
keeping him with freshwater fish, I'd be choosing fast-moving salt-tolerant
species such as olive and ticto barbs, Australian rainbowfish, Madagascar
rainbowfish, glassfish and so on. These at least would allow you to add a little
salt if the goby comes down with finrot and fungus (both very common when
brackish fish are kept in freshwater). Best of all they are kept with their own
kind so that you can see their interesting social behaviour. They also spawn
quite readily, though rearing the fry is not easy (and probably impossible in
freshwater).
Thank you for your assistance.
-Jill
<Hope this helps. Neale>
Post-mortem on new knight goby
Hi guys,
<hello, dear... Anthony Calfo still duct taped to a chair answering e-mail. Bob won't let us visit the forum or any other page on the WWM site <wink>>
I got a new male knight goby last Thursday. I picked the male that
looked the best of a not-so-great lot. He went into a 5.5g QT tank, with
new water and an old/active sponge filter. He didn't eat, despite being
offered all of the usual goby favorites (bloodworms, blackworms, mysis
shrimp, squid, etc). His belly became sunken after a couple of days. His
breathing became more very rapid and labored. Then last night I noticed
red spots under his eyes. He was also darting around the tank. I did a
50% water change but did not see any improvement. This morning he was
gone...as in jumped out. (I couldn't find him. I'd planned on putting a
cover on the tank last night, but forgot. Doh!)
My thoughts are that his symptoms may have been signs of cyanide
poisoning.
The few bits that I found on WWM mentioned not eating and
good color. And knight gobies are found in the Philippines and
Indonesia, places where they still use cyanide.
Any thoughts?
<unlikely cyanide... at least with this species IMO. More likely the culmination
of duress from a long and perhaps mishandled chain of custody on importation. I'm thinking the little fellow was indeed close to death before you even bought him. Many such fish suffer more than a week of fasting on import>
(In the silver lining department, this has me more determined to figure
out how to raise knight goby fry. The female in the 30g spawned last
week, but they didn't like the shells in the tank so the eggs became a
fish treat. I've put a small barnacle shell in the tank, so maybe next
time they'll take that.)--Ananda
<outstanding! best regards in this endeavor. We have a local grand master breeder who favors blennies and gobies if you ever want to look her up. Her name is Sallie Boggs and one way you can reach her is through our society mailer at
members@pmas.org Anthony>
Knight Gobies
I have been keeping tropical fish for 7 years. My local pet shop has just
received a stock of Knight/Night (I am not sure of the spelling) Gobies. I was
just wondering how difficult it is to keep these fish? Some questions that come
to mind are:
1. What sort of temperament are they, aggressive, peaceful etc.?
2. What do they feed on?
3. Are they fussy about pH and water temperature?
I have currently got a 50Lt tank, with the following fish:
1. 1 x pair of swords
2. 1 x Redtail shark
3. 1 x Plecostomus
4. 4 x Corys
5. 2 x Dwarf Gouramis
6. 2 x Guppies
7. 2 x Sunset platies
Please let me know whether getting a pair of Gobies would be a good idea,
indicating the answers to the above questions and any other items of importance.
Thanks a million, Ronald.
<Hey Ronald, these Gobies would be better placed in peaceful or dedicated
brackish water system. There is some more information available here
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracgobioids.htm
and on fishbase.org, you will want to search for Stigmatogobius sadanundio. A
search on Google.com should also provide some good information. Best
Regards, Gage>
Knight Goby article
Hi Bob,
<Ananda>
After a couple of false starts, I'm finally actually getting somewhere with this
article. I found the "automagic breeder report article writer" on the
Greater Chicago Cichlid Assoc. web page (http://www.gcca.net/infochest/auto-magic-writer.htm),
started with that, and now I'm adding text to the "outline" it
generated. I'm wondering if I'm taking the right sort of tone for this sort of
article... this is *so* different from technical writing. Would you mind reading
over my first page (of the first draft) and letting me know if I'm on track or
headed off into the weeds?
thanks,
Ananda
<Looks good to me. Bob>
Breeding the Knight Goby
(Stigmatogobius sadanundio)
by Ananda Stevens
I remember the first time I saw a knight goby. I had recently started a brackish
tank, and was looking for my first fish. There were several tanks in the office,
and while I'd wanted a tank of my own, I had to do something different. I was
bewildered by the variety of freshwater fish. But the variety of brackish fish
available is much smaller, even in the Chicago area. I'd decided to do a
brackish tank both to do something different from the crowd and to narrow my
fish choices. Then I saw the knight goby, and knew I had to have one in my
tank.
The knight goby, also called the fan-dancer goby, is a small fish, attaining
perhaps 3.5" in its native habitat. It has a mostly-beige body, with black
spots on the body and some of the fins. Perhaps the most striking feature is the
first dorsal fin, with its spiky rays and iridescent blue dot. The pectoral fins
are clear, and, as a true goby, the pelvic fins are fused and form a cup-shape.
This fused fin enables the goby to perch on surfaces that are nearly vertical,
from which it watches its surroundings. That, coupled with the fish's swimming
habit of short spurts, make this a fun fish to watch.
The knight goby, whose Latin name is Stigmatogobius sadanundio, is an egg layer
native to the India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Fishbase.org.
The fish has also been reported in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The climate in
these locations is tropical, with water temperatures in the 70s (20 – 26°C).
The native waters for this fish have a pH of 7-8, and a dH of 9 to 19. The fish
is freshwater to brackish, and is found in both freshwater and brackish tanks in
stores in the Chicago area. I believe that the fish is commonly kept in brackish
tanks partly because of the hardness range the fish prefers. I have kept the
fish in freshwater for many months with out any apparent ill effects; however,
the water where I live is very hard, with a dH of around 12 and a pH of 7.6-7.8
out of the tap. However, in an area with soft water, or in an office with
softened water, I would definitely keep this fish in a brackish setup.
I later bought a second goby from a different fish store. I picked out the one
with the darkest fins, not realizing at the time that the fish was showing off
its breeding dress. This is one of the few ways to distinguish the males from
the nearly-identical looking females. Both males and females achieve a size of
around 3.5" (9cm) and are beige with numerous black spots, with several
spiky rays and an iridescent blue spot on the first dorsal. The males have a
longer second dorsal than the females, though this can be difficult to spot in
immature specimens. In a mature male, the second dorsal will very nearly touch
the caudal (tail) fin; in a mature female, the fin is somewhat shorter. Another
certain way to determine the gender of the fish is when the female is egg-bound.
The female develops a shape reminiscent of a tadpole, with a protruding
ovipositor that has a rounded end. While the gonopodia of the males are reported
to be less rounded, I have never seen the two to compare them side by side. The
male may also get a slight occipital lump while in breeding dress, though this
may be so slight as to be useless as a gender differentiator.
Night Gobies? Actually "Knight" Gobies - Stigmatogobius sadanundio - 11/09/2005
Hi. I was directed to your website during my search for night gobies.
<Mm, actually, it's knight gobies.... as in soldier, not as in after dark. This is the trouble with common names. Try Stigmatogobius sadanundio .>
I have a pair of night gobies, and they have just recently laid eggs. Is there anything that I should know about the gobies?
<Oh, sure.... I would recommend browsing through our FAQs http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracgobifaqs.htm and posting in our forums
http://www.wetwebfotos.com/talk - past Crewmember/forum member Ananda has bred these, and may have some pointers for you.>
I have separated the gobies from the eggs,
<Mm, I do believe Daddy is useful to the eggs (prior to hatching).... without him, some form of circulation will be necessary.... You might try coupling the "correct" common name (if ever there were such a thing) with "breeding" in a
Google search.>
along with the other fish that were in the tank. If you could throw me some pointers I would REALLY appreciate it! It seems that no one knows about night gobies, and there seems to be nothing online about them.
<No, but you'll find much on knight gobies (grin).>
Thanks so much for your time. -Lindsey
<Wishing you well, -Sabrina> | |
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