Rainford's goby

Care at a glance

Overview

The Rainford's goby is a timid, peaceful grazer for a mature reef tank. It is best kept by someone with a little experience.

Caring for the Rainford's goby

The Rainford's goby needs a mature tank of at least 20 gal (75 L) with established live rock and a sand bed. It grazes all day, so the tank must hold a steady supply of filamentous algae, diatoms and pods. Give it plenty of rockwork and hiding spots to retreat into. It does not need a burrow partner.

Keep the water at 72 to 79°F (22 to 26°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. Offer frozen mysis and brine shrimp on top of what it grazes. Wild-caught fish can be hard to keep feeding, since they hold out for the filamentous algae they graze on in nature. They are prone to starving in a tank without enough natural algae growth.

The Rainford's goby is timid and peaceful, and it rarely bothers other fish. It is reef safe around corals and invertebrates. It can be territorial with its own kind, so keep one alone unless the tank is large and has multiple hiding spots. Choose its tank mates with care.

Captive-bred stock, raised on prepared foods from birth, is the safer route. Biota runs a commercial breeding program, and its tank-raised fish adapt to prepared foods far more readily than wild-caught ones. Breeding it is moderately difficult.

Good to know

The Rainford's goby belongs to the family Gobiidae and was formerly placed in the genus Amblygobius. It was first collected in 1924 and described by Whitley in 1940. The species name honors E. H. Rainford, a collector from Queensland. In the trade it is also sold as the court jester goby.

In the wild

The Rainford's goby lives on western Pacific reefs, from the Great Barrier Reef to Palau and the Philippines. It grazes over sandy and rubble-strewn reef flats down to about 30 meters. It picks algae and tiny invertebrates off the rock and sand.

Common questions

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