Sixspot Goby

Geographical Origin and Habitat: Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to the Line and Tuamotu Islands, north to southern Japan. Commonly inhabits sandy bottoms adjacent to reefs.

Taxonomy and Morphology: Member of the family Gobiidae. Grows to a maximum length of 14 cm. Cylindrical white body, large head, with distinct sensory pores and six bright blue dots on the cheeks.

Social Behavior: Peaceful sand-sifter that lives in pairs or singly. Constantly processes sand through its mouth and gills to extract worms, copepods, and organic matter.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Chalk-white or silver-gray body with a dark spot sometimes present on the first dorsal fin. Features six electric-blue spots on the opercular region. Male is slightly larger with longer fins.

Aquarium Setup: Provide at least 120 liters with a deep, fine-grained sand bed (5-8 cm). Rock structures must be secured to the tank floor to avoid collapse from burrowing activities.

Diet and Feeding: Omnivore. Feeds on organisms in the sand. Must be fed multiple times a day with mysis, brine shrimp, and sinking pellets as they have a high metabolism and can starve easily.

Water Quality: Stable parameters: temperature 22-28°C, pH 8.0-8.5, salinity 1.020-1.025. Adequate mechanical filtration is required to manage turbidity caused by sand-sifting.

Compatibility and Cohabitation: Peaceful. Compatible with other reef fish. Territorial towards other Valenciennea species unless they are a mated pair.

Aquarium Breeding: Cave spawner. Spawns underneath rocks in a burrow. Male and female guard the demersal eggs. Rearing larvae in home aquariums is extremely difficult due to their small size.

Risks and Diseases: High jumping risk; requires a tight lid. Very susceptible to starvation in clean, newly established sand beds. Prone to internal parasites.