Please try and ID this goby...pics inside...

[Anonymous]

Well, I finally snapped a few pics of one of my mystery gobies, and though blurry, will give you an idea of their appearance. If anyone can ID them, please let me know.

Coming out of his cave under the zoanthids :

Spitting out some sand :

And retreating back into the cave :

Someone who previously bought three of these at the LFS where I work told me they change color from the black w/ white stripes to black with an undulating thick yellow line on their bodies.

Again, if anyone can give me some info, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Xphixer2]

Cool Fish, I have no idea what it might be...

but this is my 100th post! yea!!!
anyway, here is a link that might help.
Search FishBase

 

[Xphixer2]

Did I mention that it was my 100th Post?

Yea Baby!!!!

 

[newreefman1]

Rats,

Your pic is quite blurry which makes any id really hard. It could be a carribean neon goby, a convict blenny
but it oculd even be a coral catfish Plotosus luneatus ...are there barbs in the front by the mouth(if so..its probably the catfish if not, then its not). Ps. if there are barba..they are venomous.

Jason

 

[tazdevil]

Not sure this is a goby, last close up looked like some tentacles on mouth, which makes him a "coral catfish" or Plotosus lineatus try this link:
http://www.petwarehouse.com/webstore/webstore.nsf/psd?OpenForm&5FFA2BA402342AE685256A7300322FA8
hope it works. If not, chucker can you help?

 

[SPC]

Looks like a Coral Cat to me too.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

It's definitely not a coral catfish...it's a goby. No barbs by the mouth, and the head shape is just like most gobies. It's not a neon goby, either, simply due to the finnage being different. I'll have to find a picture of it as an adult to really get the appearance across to everyone, but if I find that I'll probably find info to ID it as well.

Thanks to all who replied so far.

Peace,

Chip

 

[tazdevil]

As long as there is any "tentacles" on the front of his mouth, but sure looks like in last pic, here's another poss.:
http://www.petwarehouse.com/webstore/webstore.nsf/psd?OpenForm&659DB5284FCF501985256A700031B093.

 

[JeremyR]

Looks like a convict worm goby/blenny/engineer goby. They get fairly large, and dig constantly making a total mess of your sandbed and reef structure.

 

[31-2c]

Looks like a worm blenny to me. They will destroy a tank. The LFS here tried to sell me theirs, even offered a great deal. I wouldn't take them if they paid me! They had 3 in their tank, they had destroyed the DSB. Nobody would take them.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'destroy'...

They make burrows, but that's it. They have their individual caves, and don't disturb other parts of the bed.

Peace,

Chip

 

[bensenvill]

its not a coral cat, they are very similar though. You are correct it is a goby and its frustrating me because our store has 3 of them in right now. I'll post back tomorrow when I can double check, otherwise I'm just making a bad guess.

~Terrence

 

[FishDaddy]

Chip,
Here is an excellent site for Goby ID:
http://uri.sakura.ne.jp/~dd/g/einfn2.htm
Maybe your guy is in there.
HTH,
Dick

 

[SPC]

Dick, thanks for the link.

Steve

 

[JeremyR]

<<I'm not sure what you mean by 'destroy'...
They make burrows, but that's it. They have their individual caves, and don't disturb other parts of the bed.
>>

Chip,

They are small. Wait till you see what they can do when they are 6+ inches.

 

[Mac1]

Marillion, I'm with Jeremy, I think you got a convict goby. I don't know the latin name, but that's what they sell them as at the LFS's around here. Which isn't too far from you... ever get to Rochester to do your shopping?

- Mac

 

[airbear77]

I think everyone should take the time and look at the link fishdaddy posted. It has alot of great pictures.

 

[davelin315]

Get him out of your tank before it's too late. I had 3 that were bought from a store that lost it's lease for $5 along with a bucket full of snails, crabs, gorgonians, and half dead corals. They all did fairly well, but one started growing like mad and ate the other 2 or killed the other 2, not sure which. Anyway, they started off innocuously enough, tunneling a bit here and there, but when it got bigger, it started collapsing the rock structures. It's an engineer goby (that's what I was told before) and for a good reason. They are really neat, but they get large (I think when mine went to a friend's tank, it was probably close to 8", although it's hard to tell exactly how long as it was constantly squirming around and it was over 5 years ago that I had one).

 

[danmhippo]

I would bet $5 that its a convict goby (hehe, too bad, I don't have a paypal account....

) As a juvenile, it has a horizontal line running along the body. As it grows older, the line blurs and becomes vertical bars from top to bottom, there may be up to 5-6 bars, and it ain't cute at all. The full size, if I remembered right, is about 6-7". Convict goby digs and digs. Live on pretty much anything that floats by. Flake, frozen bits, pods, anything.

The problem lies that if you do not have a good stable rock works, as it digs its tunnel (which they are very good at), your rockwork could tumble down. I hope you have a sturdy rock arrangement and have a plexiglass tank!

When fully mature 5"+, its body can be 1 1/2"+ diameter, unless you have a 10" DSB, I doubt whatever arrangement you have for your rocks now, you will not recognize it a year from now.

(what's the abbrev.for good luck? and happy reefing?

GL, HTH, HR?

[ November 05, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]</p>