The yellow coralgoby is an excellent species for a nano tank because of its small size and locally staying swimming behavior. Most of the time it can be found on Acropora (SPS) corals. In fact, their territory in the wild is extremely small.
The yellow goby is a nicely tempered fish that is peaceful and calm and will spend most of its time on a rock, monitoring its neighborhood closely, looking for prey. In the wild you can sometimes find up to 20 goby’s hanging on and around the same Acropora coral.
Males are more color intense than females. They are bi-directional hermaphrodites, which means they can switch gender if the circumstances require, also known as gender bending. They can go from male to female and vice versa, potentially more than once in their lifetime. They are known to be finicky eaters, but are carnivorous and planktivorous. Best is to start them on live artemia, slowly transitioning to frozen enriched artemia and Mysis and then offering the most wide variety of food as possible. These goby’s are slow eaters and therefore tend not to do well in an aquarium with quick, aggressive eaters, such as wrasses.
Just like Acropora coral this fish loves an abundance of bright light. When properly taken care of they can live up to 5 years in the aquarium. Provide them with a natural like biotope, including as many as SPS coral you can place, to truly enjoy its interesting behavior. You will see that what they lack in size, they make up for in personality, becoming true pets over time.
| LATIN NAME | SIZE |
| Gobiodon okinawae | Up to 4 cm. |
| REGION | WATER CONDITIONS |
| Found on the coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean, from Australia to Indonesia and all the way to the south of Japan. | Temperature: 23 – 26 °C pH: 7,5 – 8,5 Sg: 1.021 – 1.025 |
| FUN FACT | |
| A fun but deadly fact is that the yellow goby can release toxin from its skin as a deterrent against predators. Perhaps its yellow color has the purpose to send a clear message to other fish: watch out, I am poisonous! |
