Anyone have experience with hectors or rainfords gobies?

[Meloco14]

They seem like they would be good reef inhabitants, small, attractive, inexpensive. Yet no one I know has them. Is there a reason for this? Are they hard to keep or do they cause problems?

 

[Anonymous]

I had a rainfords goby, he was a lovely and peaceful fish, kept to himself. I could see them not doing well if bullied

He was not so keen on prepared foods at first, but took to frozen brine and then other types of food eventually. I would love to have another if I ever saw one for sale.

Mine seemed to be very hardy, but did succumb to the dreaded "stuck on" heater.

 

[Meloco14]

I am sorry to hear of the unfortunate fate of yours. Thank you for sharing your experience with them, though. I was at Jeff's Exotic Fish a month or so ago and they had a bunch of rainfords in stock. They were very fun to watch.

 

[Len]

I could never get my Rainfordi to eat prepared foods. Very docile fish, not really all that shy (stays out in the open) but really passive.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a rainford's goby - a beautiful, peaceful fish. I also think that they wouldn't handle bullying - fortunately my other tank inhabs left it alone. It would pick at Nori but ignored all other prepared foods. I saw it pick at my sand bed and pick at tank algae - I have seen it hypothesized that they eat microcrustaceans in the sand/algae, and thus are like a mandarinfish in that they are more likely to survive in a larger tank with an infauna population that will sustain them.

They are gorgeous little guys and you will see it - they are shy, but will hang out where you can see them often.

Here's a pic of it with the Nori.

jayo

 

[Meloco14]

Thanks Len and Jayo...that's a great picture! They really are quite attractive. It sounds like I may have to choose between one of them and a mandarin to give it the best chance of finding enough food to eat. Thanks again.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, I feel lucky I eventually got mine to eat some frozen foods, I do recall being concerned about it before he came around. He was certainly big on picking around in algae and sand.