Queensland Dwarfgoby

Eviota queenslandica

Also known as Queensland Dwarf Goby, Queensland Eviota

SaltwaterFish

Queensland Dwarfgoby (Eviota queenslandica) — Biota · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–79°F (22–26°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 0.9 in (2.4 cm)
Minimum tank: 10 gal (38 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Common
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Indo-West Pacific (Andaman Sea to Queensland)
Family: Gobiidae

Overview

Kept as a group it spreads out across the rock and pulls back together when startled, which makes a small colony more engaging than a single fish. It takes small pellets and finely chopped frozen foods and grazes the substrate between meals. Calm, small tankmates are the rule, as with every dwarfgoby.

In the wild

This is a fish of shallow rubble, at home on algae-covered patches of dead reef in roughly the top six meters of water. It sits right on the bottom in loose groups, working over the rubble rather than hovering above it. A tank with a rubble patch or low rockwork gives it the same ground to pick through.

Good to know

Gilbert Whitley described it in 1932 from Batt Reef material collected by the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928 to 1929, originally as a subspecies of Eviota viridis. Diet studies show it eats small crustaceans along with a large share of detritus. It reaches about 2.4 centimeters and rarely moves far from its home patch.

Did you know

Researchers credit detritus-eating dwarfgobies like this one with running a major trophic pathway on coral reefs, converting debris into fish flesh the rest of the reef can use.