Ward's goby

Geographical Origin and Habitat: Indo-West Pacific: from the Red Sea and East Africa to Indonesia and the Great Barrier Reef. Inhabits deep sandy substrates in protected bays.

Taxonomy and Morphology: Member of the Gobiidae family. Cylindrical body shape with a broad mouth for scooping and sifting sand. Grows to 12 cm (4.7 inches).

Social Behavior: Peaceful sand-sifter. Lives in pairs and builds burrows. Shows territorial defense against conspecifics and similar-looking gobies.

Coloration and Sexual Dimorphism: Greyish-white body with 3-4 broad vertical dark brown bands. First dorsal fin is decorated with a black ocellus. Blue iridescent cheek stripes. No sexual dimorphism.

Aquarium Setup: Minimum tank size of 150 liters (40 gallons). Requires a 5-8 cm deep bed of fine sand. Ensure live rocks are seated directly on the glass to prevent cave-ins. Cover the tank.

Diet and Feeding: Carnivorous sand-sifter. Requires target feedings of frozen copepods, mysis, and brine shrimp several times daily to maintain body weight.

Water Quality: Keep standard marine parameters stable: temperature 22-27°C (72-81°F), pH 8.1-8.4, specific gravity 1.020-1.025, and KH 8-12.

Compatibility and Cohabitation: Peaceful. Do not mix with other Valenciennea gobies unless they are a mated pair. Reef safe, but may drop sand on low corals.

Aquarium Breeding: Spawns in pairs inside sandy burrows. Raising pelagic larvae in home aquariums is highly challenging due to micro-food requirements.

Risks and Diseases: Starvation risk in new tanks with sterile sand. High jumping risk when startled.