# New Goby for my tank* edit Prolific algae eater!



## andyh (6 Oct 2009)

Just a got a couple of new rather cool new algae eaters for my tank.

Stiphodon Goby's

Couple of different species: 

This is the Red one, and is not photo shy:







However the blue ones are very photo shy so i borrowed this pic off a forum.






They are great, no threat to my shrimps and small fish despite looking very snake like. Anybody wants anymore info give me a shout as i am slowly becoming a guru on these fish.


----------



## Themuleous (6 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

Cool, those are pretty cool  how big do they get?

Sam


----------



## andyh (7 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				Themuleous said:
			
		

> Cool, those are pretty cool  how big do they get?
> 
> Sam




Sam

According to what i have read they grow to 5cm/2 inches and recommend no more than four in a 60cm tank. The red one is fully grow in my opinion as it was the biggest one they had.

Andy


----------



## vauxhallmark (7 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

Gorgeous!!

I've never seen them before. Where do they come from, and what type of habitat?

Mark


----------



## andyh (7 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				vauxhallmark said:
			
		

> Gorgeous!!
> 
> I've never seen them before. Where do they come from, and what type of habitat?
> 
> Mark



hey mark

From what i have managed to find out they come from Asia: Indonesia Philippines and New Guinea. They live in rivers and like moderate flow. They especially like rocky and planted sandy substrates. They are algae eaters. I have seen set-ups just designed for growing algae which they keep and breed these guys in! (madness i hear you say)  

I am feeding mine algae tabs and spirulina algae flakes. They seem to be doing well. They are digging little caves under the rocks and all you see sometimes is a little head sticking out. They quite frequently perch themselves on the top of plants and the rocks and there colours are amazing. They seem to rasp at the algae on the rocks. 

Hoping to get a video of one of these guys soon.


----------



## Steve Smith (7 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

Gorgeous fish   I've had a soft spot for gobies for a while, but I've never owned any.  I like the red guy, with his snake skin pattern


----------



## afroturf (8 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

I'm a big fan of gobies and own both the types you have and although I would surgest they're ideal candidates for a planted tank, I've found them quite hardy, especially the red ones, probably S. rutilaureus. They are mainly algae eaters but over time will eat bloodworm and brineshrimp. The most important thing is too keep them well fed as like you say I have tanks set up to grow algae and still found they can take a while to get well conditioned and fat.


----------



## JamesM (8 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

They're cool little fish... but I think you'd be better off getting the co2 right before adding any more livestock, as co2 will be far better for your tank than any algae crew 

The extra food doesn't help either...


----------



## andyh (8 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				afroturf said:
			
		

> I'm a big fan of gobies and own both the types you have and although I would surgest they're ideal candidates for a planted tank, I've found them quite hardy, especially the red ones, probably S. rutilaureus. They are mainly algae eaters but over time will eat bloodworm and brineshrimp. The most important thing is too keep them well fed as like you say I have tanks set up to grow algae and still found they can take a while to get well conditioned and fat.



Mine seem to love the Hinari Algae wafers, they are quite reclusive but often when i sneak into the room they will be eating the wafers.
What others do you have then?


----------



## andyh (11 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				JamesM said:
			
		

> They're cool little fish... but I think you'd be better off getting the co2 right before adding any more livestock, as co2 will be far better for your tank than any algae crew
> 
> The extra food doesn't help either...




Noted,   seeming to winning that battle now!


----------



## andyh (11 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

Here is one of the Blue Gobies.






and the red one again, as he appears not be camera shy:


----------



## afroturf (14 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				andyh said:
			
		

> Mine seem to love the Hinari Algae wafers, they are quite reclusive but often when i sneak into the room they will be eating the wafers.
> What others do you have then?



Yeah mine also eat Hikari algae wafers too, more so the red one. At the moment I only keep these two species  of stiphodon, but have owned a couple of other types in the past. But I also have variouse other gobies too, they are by far my favorite type of fish.

My 'red' one when I first brought it looked just like yours but its colour changed over time, the ones I have are around 18-24 months old now, which I delieve to be towards the later half of a stiphodons life span and now look a little less impressive than he did 6 months ago. Heres a couple of photos of the male (taken around 6-8 months back)









Here also Is a pic of one of my male S. atropurpureus.





Do you have any females?


----------



## chilled84 (14 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

Thats a wicked looking fish, I agree that the red one looks much better. they remind me of kuhli loaches.


----------



## Garuf (14 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*

Those blue gobies are beautiful! Do you have any details on them? Size, if they're predatory, cost etc etc. They've charmed me!


----------



## andyh (14 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				Garuf said:
			
		

> Those blue gobies are beautiful! Do you have any details on them? Size, if they're predatory, cost etc etc. They've charmed me!






			
				andyh said:
			
		

> vauxhallmark said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Garuf this should answer most of questions above.
With ref to the size they are about fully grown in these pics. They dont get much bigger.

They are v cool!


----------



## andyh (26 Oct 2009)

Well they have settled into my tank and are eating algae like mad from on the rocks, i am on a couple of forums for gobys now and one guy sent me a link to a video on youtube showing just how much algae they can eat!

Check this! My new best friends!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhYiTxoX_vo


----------



## andyh (26 Oct 2009)

*Re: New Goby for my tank*



			
				afroturf said:
			
		

> andyh said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Steven,
Firstly let me say excellent pictures!

Your Gobies look very healthy indeed, i particularly like the ones with the green face!

the one you identify as S. atropurpureus, i have but thought it was called a S.semoni which i believe are very similar to yours? Not sure though.

I see you live over in Notts, where do you source yours from? I have only seen them in one shop locally. 

With ref to the females not sure how to sex them yet? Any pointers?

Also have you found this site its excellent, i read the thread from start to finish and there is some amazing pics.
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=15686&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0


----------



## Bobtastic (27 Oct 2009)

Wow!  They are amazingly interesting fish! I wonder how they'ed do in a tank with Angels in...


----------



## hipknoteyes (27 Oct 2009)

Can you confirm that they are safe with baby shrimp?


----------



## andyh (27 Oct 2009)

hipknoteyes said:
			
		

> Can you confirm that they are safe with baby shrimp?



At this stage from my own experiences can't say either way. Currently have pregnant CRS and Cherry Shrimps in my tank so only time will tell.

Andy


----------



## wbaguesty (27 Oct 2009)

If you have any Shrimp going in the next month or so Andy then please let me know.


----------



## afroturf (27 Oct 2009)

andyh said:
			
		

> Steven,
> Firstly let me say excellent pictures!
> 
> Your Gobies look very healthy indeed, i particularly like the ones with the green face!
> ...



Andy you may well be right with it being S. semoni, S. semoni and S. atropurpureus are very similar in appearance and ID'ing any goby to species level is usually very difficult. When I brought this one it was labelled as S. atropurpures but may well be S. semoli, I've not really looked into the differences between the two species.

I got the S. atropurpureus from tall trees a couple of months back the other ones I got from a great shop near a friends in Manchester. Where did you find yours?

Females a generally very easy to sex most species having a humbug pattern, there are a few species where male and female look more alike, a few pics to help, 

Female S. atropurpureus grazing





Female of the other species




I have come across that guys thread, I'm very envious of his collection.


----------



## andyh (27 Oct 2009)

afroturf said:
			
		

> Andy you may well be right with it being S. semoni, S. semoni and S. atropurpureus are very similar in appearance and ID'ing any goby to species level is usually very difficult. When I brought this one it was labelled as S. atropurpures but may well be S. semoli, I've not really looked into the differences between the two species.
> 
> I got the S. atropurpureus from tall trees a couple of months back the other ones I got from a great shop near a friends in Manchester. Where did you find yours?
> 
> ...



Steven,

I have never been to tall trees, is it any good? Do they regularly stock the gobies?

I got mine from maidenhead aquatics Shirley (Birmingham) they had three types, red, blue neon and gold. To be honest they had no clue about them and struggled to give me any background. I ended up not buying them and going away doing my research and then going back a few days later to get them. Once i identified they would suit the environment i had. (i.e a planted tank.)

If you do see anymore let me know! 

The guy with the thread on loaches.com is amazing some many cool gobies!


----------



## andyh (27 Oct 2009)

hipknoteyes said:
			
		

> Can you confirm that they are safe with baby shrimp?



Further to my response earlier, i have just been doing tank maintenance, and found 6 or so baby shrimp in the tank with the gobies, they can only be a few days old. But the gobies are showing no interest. But my tank is heavily planted.


----------



## stephanie (8 Mar 2010)

Do they eat thread algae?


----------



## andyh (11 Mar 2010)

stephanie said:
			
		

> Do they eat thread algae?



Hi Stephanie, Don't think they would


----------



## Garuf (11 Mar 2010)

The more I see your gobies the more impressed I am. Provided I can get some I'll be deffinately adding some to my new tank.


----------



## andyh (11 Mar 2010)

Do it! you wont regret it!

My current favourite pic!


----------



## alzak (13 Mar 2010)

Hi 

I just visited a maidenheads aquatics in Shirley and bought some of the red gobies but when I get back home I realise that I get 2 of the neons gobies but paid just for red one good one for me 

any advice from gobies keepers ??


----------



## alzak (17 Mar 2010)

I have my gobies for 5 days and do not know if they fine looks like they a bit "lazy" and do not care if I try to touch them or so 

don't know if it should be like that?? or is something wrong


----------



## andyh (18 Mar 2010)

alzak said:
			
		

> I have my gobies for 5 days and do not know if they fine looks like they a bit "lazy" and do not care if I try to touch them or so
> 
> don't know if it should be like that?? or is something wrong




Mine wouldnt let me touch them, and to be honest i wouldn't advise you should touch them not good for the fish  

Are your water parameters good?
Do you have CO2? if so check its not to high, as they can kill.


----------



## alzak (18 Mar 2010)

I just try to touch them to check if they let me to do this 

I do not check water parameters but rest of my fish looks fine do not have any problems at all 

co2 is not to high as this is not high planted tank 

temp about 24c


----------



## Krishs Bettas (6 Apr 2010)

Hi Andy.

I was just wondering if you know how to make the "colour up more" i had mine for about a week.
Does yours seem to gasp slowly? 

C02 is 1 bubble every 3 seconds
Temp - 25
Hard water and PH 7.

Thanks


----------



## afroturf (9 Apr 2010)

Krish's Bettas said:
			
		

> Hi Andy.
> 
> I was just wondering if you know how to make the "colour up more" i had mine for about a week.
> Does yours seem to gasp slowly?
> ...



In my opinion Stiphodon arn't ideal tank mates in hi-tech planted setups, although it is possible as andy has shown, A fish gasping slowly is usually not a good sign, and this maybe down to the dosing of co2 as high levels of co2 do effect a fishes ability to use oxygen efficiently so for a fish that live naturally in areas of high oxygen content this isn't good. 

Your temp and ph are ok, temp could be a little lower they do prefere medium soft water but is not essential. How are they feeding? do you suppliment their diet?


----------



## Krishs Bettas (9 Apr 2010)

hi i have lowered the c02 and they are doing better now.
They ear well.
They eat algae, i feed them algea wafers and sometimes feed them brine shrimp.
I'll lower the temp and see how they get on.


----------



## andyh (9 Apr 2010)

I have high flow in my tanks and make sure that the co2 is not a problem, my dont gasp. What you have done sounds the right thing as Afroturf suggested, dont have the Co2 to high.

With regards to colouring up, that should happen naturally once you get the conditions right. 
Mine like to eat the JBL spriulina, which just basically algae, the shrimps love it to.

Andyh


----------



## catxx (10 Apr 2010)

I got a Stiphodon Goby myself a couple of weeks ago, it's now in a 30L very low-tech planted tank that had some serious algae growth. It has since got quite a bit more portly than it was in the shop, where it had virtually nothing to graze on, and seems a happy healthy little thing. I think mine is a female Stiphodon atropurpureus, but I could be wrong. It ignored completely an algae wafer I put in though, too busy with real algae!



(note gross algae, yeah I've got a bit lazy with this tank!)


----------



## afroturf (12 Apr 2010)

looks like a male S. semoni


----------

