Golden striped goby

Stiphodon aureofuscus

Also known as Aureofuscus neon goby

FreshwaterFish

Golden striped goby (Stiphodon aureofuscus) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–81°F (23–27°C)
pH: 6.5–7.8
Adult size: 1.4 in (3.5 cm)
Minimum tank: 14 gal (54 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Java, Bali and Lombok, Indonesia
Family: Oxudercidae

Overview

This is a small algae-grazing river goby, a peaceful bottom dweller that scrapes biofilm from stone all day. A sociable grazer, it wants a small group over rounded, film-covered cobbles, with males left a little more room to hold grazing patches and show their gold and dusky striping. It needs a mature, well-lit tank so algae and biofilm can grow, since it will not live on flake food; offer algae wafers and a little frozen cyclops as extras. Pair it with steady flow, high oxygen, and only small, gentle tankmates that leave it room to feed. Give it a 54 liter tank grown in long enough to carry a green film.

In the wild

In the wild it lives in clear, high-gradient, rocky streams on Java, Bali, and Lombok in Indonesia, grazing stone in warm, oxygen-rich, current-swept water at low to moderate elevations. Recreate that with a shallow, stony tank, steady flow, strong light to grow the algae film, and clean water changed often. Keep it between 23 and 27 C and hold the pH from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline, about 6.5 to 7.8.

Good to know

Stiphodon aureofuscus is a member of the family Oxudercidae, described only in 2015 by Keith and colleagues. It is a small goby, up to about 3.5 centimeters, and its name means gold and dusky, matching the male's colors. Like all Stiphodon it grazes algae with spatula-shaped teeth and is amphidromous, with marine larvae and no practical record of aquarium breeding.

Did you know

It is a recent find, described by science only in 2015. The name aureofuscus reads as gold and dusky, the two tones a displaying male sets side by side along his body.