Lachdebere's Dwarfgoby

Eviota lachdeberei

Also known as Cosmic Nano Goby, Cosmic Goby, Lachdebere's Pygmy Goby, Redlight Eviota Goby

SaltwaterFish

Lachdebere's Dwarfgoby (Eviota lachdeberei) — Biota · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–79°F (22–26°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 0.8 in (2.1 cm)
Minimum tank: 5 gal (19 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Western Pacific (Indonesia to Micronesia)
Family: Gobiidae

Overview

It is gentle even by dwarfgoby standards and is one of the few fish that mixes easily with other nano goby species. Keep it singly or in a small group and feed small pellets, Calanus, and baby brine shrimp a couple of times a day. As with all its relatives, skip any tankmate large enough to swallow it.

In the wild

In the wild it favors sheltered and often silty reefs from about 3 to 20 meters, and it is a regular lodger in Heliofungia plate corals, resting among the long tentacles. In a tank it wants calm water and small holes it can claim, and a pico or nano reef suits it well. It spends the day darting between holds and checking the rock for food.

Good to know

Louis Giltay described it in 1933 from the Banda Islands, in the same paper as Eviota nigriventris, and the name honors Philip Lach de Bere, a Dutch colonial officer born in Sumatra. A Philippine survey of 118 Heliofungia coral polyps found this goby and its relative Eviota rubriceps among the most common fishes sheltering inside them. Biota added it to the captive-bred list in 2022.

Did you know

The trade name Cosmic Nano Goby comes from its pattern, a dark body dusted with white spots and two deep red blotches at the tail base, which reads like a small scene of stars and nebulae.

Tank mates

Lachdebere's Dwarfgoby is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.