April is here and everyone (including us at Centreville Aquarium!) has spring cleaning on their minds, but our Fish of the Month keeps your sand bed looking pristine all year long! The Diamond Goby (Valenciennea puellaris), also know as the Maiden Goby or Orange Spotted Sleeper Goby, is a bottom dwelling saltwater fish native to the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. With vibrant orange dots and dashes along its body, iridescent cyan markings on its face, and yellow eyes, the Diamond Goby is a striking addition to home aquaria; especially when kept on dark backgrounds or substrate.
Diamond Gobies use their powerful mouths to sift through the sand, digging burrows and creating small piles of sand as they do so. Growing up to six inches long, the Diamond Goby should be kept in at least 30 gallons of water with a live sand bed. These fish can be kept singly or in pairs thought to be monogamous. When introducing a pair, it is wise to have one goby that is larger than the other, as these fish will change sexes once dominance in the pairing has been established. At Centreville Aquarium, we feed our Diamond Gobies a variety of live and frozen foods such as mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, blackworms, and other meaty items from the sand bed, all available for you to take home from our live and frozen food sections. They do stay very active, sifting sand and looking for food all day, so snacks hidden near their burrows twice a day are appreciated. These are very hardy fish that thrive in typical saltwater tank temperatures of 72-78 degrees with specific gravity of 1.020-1.025, making them fantastic choices for community tanks.
Diamond Gobies Shine when kept on Carib Sea’s black substrate.
Diamond Gobies thrive on Piscene Mysis, Blood Worms, and blended foods like LRS Reef Renzy.
Diamond Gobies may become territorial with other similar-looking sand sifting gobies, but will happily cohabitate with jawfish. Highly aggressive fish such as fish-eating eels, large angelfish, and triggerfish may find the Diamond Goby to be easy prey, so cohabitation is not recommended. As a peaceful bottom dweller, the Diamond Goby can be housed with a plethora of tank mates that are not members of the aforementioned special cases; good tankmates include clownfish, jawfish, shrimp, dwarf angels, wrasse, and many others. If you demand both beauty and utility in your saltwater tank, than you can do no better than a Diamond Goby (or maybe even two!).
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