Golden Head Sleeper Goby

Care at a glance

Overview

Peaceful toward tankmates and considered reef safe in that it never touches corals, but it constantly showers sand onto anything sitting low in the tank, so clams and bottom corals get buried. The real challenge is feeding: many specimens deplete the sand-bed fauna and slowly starve because they will not always switch to prepared food. It is a determined jumper, so a tight lid is essential.

In the wild

Widespread across the Indo-Pacific over sandy patches next to reef, where it digs burrows under rock and rubble. It needs a deep, fine live sand bed to survive, since it spends the whole day taking mouthfuls of sand and sifting out tiny invertebrates. A productive sand bed or a refugium feeding the tank keeps its food source replenished.

Good to know

A member of the family Gobiidae, genus Valenciennea, the sand-sifting sleeper gobies. It is a monogamous pair-forming species that excavates and defends a burrow with its mate. It feeds by processing substrate through its gill openings, which slowly depletes the microfauna in an aquarium sand bed.

Did you know

Golden head sleeper gobies pair for life and can often be bought as an established male-female pair, digging and maintaining a shared burrow that they take turns guarding while the other sifts the surrounding sand.

Related species

• 

  Diamond Sleeper Goby

  Valenciennea puellaris

  5.9 in (15 cm)55 gal (208 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Sixspot Sleeper Goby

  Valenciennea sexguttata

  5.5 in (14 cm)40 gal (150 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Dragon Sleeper Goby

  Amblygobius phalaena

  5.9 in (15 cm)30 gal (115 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Orange-Spot Prawn Goby

  Amblyeleotris guttata

  4.3 in (11 cm)30 gal (114 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Pinkbar Goby

  Amblyeleotris aurora

  4.3 in (11 cm)30 gal (115 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Pink-Spotted Watchman Goby

  Cryptocentrus leptocephalus

  3.9 in (10 cm)30 gal (115 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)