TankBud

Barsnout cleaner goby

Elacatinus illecebrosus

Also known as Barsnout Goby

SaltwaterFish

Barsnout cleaner goby (Elacatinus illecebrosus)
(c) A H, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY

Care at a glance

Temperature
72–79°F
22–26°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
1.6 in
4 cm
Minimum tank
11 gal
40 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Social
Swim level
Bottom
Difficulty
Easy
Breeding
Medium
Rarity
Rare
Reef safe
Reef safe
Family
Gobiidae
Origin
Western Caribbean, Yucatan to Panama

Overview

The barsnout cleaner goby is a small, peaceful cleaner from the western Caribbean for a reef tank. It is a good choice for a beginner.

Did you know

The barsnout cleaner goby's stripes work like a uniform. Predators generally recognize the pattern and leave it alone. That lets it spend its day in the open, where most fish its size would be eaten.

Caring for the barsnout cleaner goby

Barsnout cleaner gobies do well in a tank of 11 gal (40 L) or more. Keep the water at 72 to 79°F (22 to 26°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. Captive-bred stock settles quickly, perches in the open and takes pellets and frozen foods.

The barsnout cleaner goby is peaceful and reef safe, and it mixes with other community fish. Males can be territorial with one another, so keep a single fish or a bonded pair. Breeding them is a moderate challenge.

Good to know

The barsnout cleaner goby was described in 1968. The color of its lateral stripe shifts from yellow toward blue and white in different parts of its range. A pale bar across the snout interrupts the usual straight cleaner stripe and gives the species its common name. It is also known as the barsnout goby.

In the wild

The barsnout cleaner goby lives in the western Caribbean, from the Yucatan coast south to Panama. It is usually found in small groups near coral heads, anywhere from 2 to 45 m down. It holds station on prominent coral or rock, where larger fish pause to be cleaned.

Symbiotic relationships

Cleaner shrimp, cleaner gobies and their clients

A cleaner holds a station on the reef and advertises it: cleaner shrimp wave their long white antennae and rock from side to side, cleaner wrasses swim a bobbing dance. Fish arrive and pose, head up or head down with fins spread, and hold still while the cleaner picks off parasitic isopods, dead skin and loose scales, working into the mouth and under the gill covers of fish that could swallow it in one bite. The client leaves with fewer parasites and the cleaner eats a meal it never had to hunt. Reef fish queue for it, and a busy station is visited hundreds of times a day.

The skunk cleaner shrimp is the one that does this reliably in an aquarium: it sets up on a rock ledge, and tank fish, tangs and wrasses especially, learn to stop by within days. The fire shrimp cleans too but hides more and works at dusk. Pederson's cleaner shrimp does the same job from the tentacles of its anemone. The neon goby and its relatives are small, hardy cleaners for tanks that cannot take a shrimp. The cleaner wrasses are the difficult ones: many never take prepared food, and both are marked difficult here. None of them will cure an outbreak of ich; they pick off some parasites and keep a healthy fish tidier, and that is the honest claim. Keep every cleaner away from predators such as large hawkfish, triggers, lionfish and big wrasses.

Every symbiotic relationship in the catalog

Weekly picks

Tank mates

The barsnout cleaner goby is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

What size tank does a barsnout cleaner goby need?

A barsnout cleaner goby needs at least 11 gal (40 L). It spends most of its time in the bottom.

What temperature and pH does a barsnout cleaner goby need?

A barsnout cleaner goby is comfortable at 72–79°F (22–26°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

What does a barsnout cleaner goby eat?

A captive-bred barsnout cleaner goby takes pellets and frozen foods.

How big does a barsnout cleaner goby get?

An adult barsnout cleaner goby reaches about 1.6 in (4 cm).

Related species