It’s time for the second installment of “Tips For Beginner Breeders”! Last time, we covered seahorses, and I hope you took my tips into consideration and tried your hand at breeding and rearing some of these great animals. This time, we are going to talk about goby breeding!
One of ORA’s newest captive bred gobies, Transparent Cave Goby (Fusigobius pallidus)
With around 28 species that have been bred in captivity, we as an industry haven’t even begun to crack open the family Gobiidae. There are over 2,000 species of known gobies; just about every hobbyist with a tank could be the first to breed a new species! Now I know how much everyone loves their clownfish – believe me, I love clowns as much as the next guy…but for the love of aquaculture, get out of your comfort zone and try something different! Before you can get your gobies to spawn, you will need to pair them up, but pairing up gobies can be difficult, since most species have no external dimorphism. However, these fish can change their sex, giving you a better chance of making a successful pair. Gobies mainly change sex from female to male in a process called protogyny, which often follows the death of the male from a pair. The most dominant female in the area turns into a male, the opposite of what happens with clownfish. There are also a few species that can exhibit bi-directional changes, meaning they can switch back and forth as the need arises, but this doesn’t occur very often. I recommend getting the largest and the smallest gobies to pair together, which will give you a better chance of obtaining a bonded pair.
Paragobiodon xanthosomus nesting a clutch of eggs. Photo Credit: Maluku Divers Resort
Gobies are demersal spawners that will attach their eggs to substrate. This substrate can be rocks, sand, shells, coral, or PVC. They can lay anywhere from five to a few thousand eggs, depending on the species. After a pair of gobies have spawned, the male guards the eggs from predation, clean them, and fan the eggs to keep them oxygenated. Depending on the species of goby, the eggs will hatch between a few days and a few weeks after they have been fertilized.
The Catalina Goby (Lythrypnus dalli). Photo Credit: Aquarium Domain.com
Some species, like the Catilina goby pictured below, are very easy to raise; only a few weeks after they settle, they will begin to breed!… More:
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