TankBud

Yellow clown goby

Gobiodon okinawae

Also known as Okinawa Goby, Yellow Coral Goby, Yellow Clown Fish Goby

SaltwaterFish

Yellow clown goby (Gobiodon okinawae)
Jenny · CC BY 2.0

Care at a glance

Temperature
73–81°F
23–27°C
pH
8.1–8.4
Adult size
1.6 in
4 cm
Minimum tank
11 gal
40 L
Temperament
Peaceful
Social behavior
Social
Swim level
Bottom
Difficulty
Easy
Breeding
Substrate spawner · Medium
Rarity
Common
Reef safe
Reef safe with caution
Family
Gobiidae
Origin
Western Pacific (southern Japan to the Great Barrier Reef)

Overview

The yellow clown goby is a peaceful goby that perches on branching corals in a reef tank. It is an easy fish to keep.

Did you know

The yellow clown goby often sits right out in the open on top of a bright coral head. Instead of a hiding place, it relies on a bitter, toxic slime coat that makes it distasteful to would-be predators.

Caring for the yellow clown goby

The yellow clown goby is tiny and undemanding, so a nano tank of 11 gal (40 L) is enough. Give it branching structure to perch on, such as an SPS colony or a branchy rock. It will adopt one as its home base and dart out to grab passing food.

Keep the water at 73 to 81°F (23 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4. Feed small meaty foods and finely prepared fare.

It is reef safe with caution rather than a clear yes. It will not eat corals as food, but it perches directly on SPS colonies and can nip small polyps. Its habit of laying eggs on Acropora branches can also cause localized tissue recession.

Keepers of prized SPS often see it as a risk. In an LPS or soft coral tank with fewer tempting branches, it is essentially harmless. It is peaceful toward other fish and does fine alone or in a group, but it can scrap with its own kind.

The species is a protogynous hermaphrodite, so a pair will sort out male and female roles between themselves. The female lays eggs in bands wrapped around a coral branch, and the male guards them until they hatch. Breeding it is moderately difficult.

Good to know

The yellow clown goby, Gobiodon okinawae, belongs to the goby family Gobiidae. Unlike most gobies, it does not sift sand or dig a burrow.

In the wild

The yellow clown goby lives in the western Pacific, from southern Japan to the Great Barrier Reef. It perches among the outer branches of Acropora and other branching stony corals in sheltered lagoons, usually in small groups.

Symbiotic relationships

Clown gobies and their Acropora

Clown gobies spend their lives wedged in the branches of Acropora corals, eating the coral's mucus and the small animals that live on it. Their skin carries a toxin that puts off predators, so the coral becomes a safe house. The coral is paid back in a way nobody expected: when a toxic seaweed touches an Acropora, the coral releases a chemical signal within minutes, and the gobies swim out and trim the seaweed back. Corals with gobies lose far less tissue to seaweed than corals without them.

A clown goby wants a branching coral to sit in, and Acropora is the natural choice, though it will settle for other branching stony corals. It is tiny, peaceful and needs small food several times a day. The one caution is the coral itself: a pair may nip a patch of Acropora or Montipora bare to lay eggs on the skeleton, and a small colony can lose a branch that way. Keep one, or a pair, per tank; two males fight.

Every symbiotic relationship in the catalog

Weekly picks

Tank mates

The yellow clown goby is a peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks share a community profile with it, are safe together in both directions, and overlap on water type, temperature and pH.

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

What size tank does a yellow clown goby need?

A yellow clown goby needs at least 11 gal (40 L). It spends most of its time in the bottom.

What temperature and pH does a yellow clown goby need?

A yellow clown goby is comfortable at 73–81°F (23–27°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.

What does a yellow clown goby eat?

A yellow clown goby eats small meaty foods and finely prepared fare. It darts out from its perch to grab passing food.

How big does a yellow clown goby get?

An adult yellow clown goby reaches about 1.6 in (4 cm).

How does a yellow clown goby breed?

Yellow clown gobies are protogynous hermaphrodites, so a pair sorts out male and female roles themselves. The female lays eggs in bands around a coral branch, and the male guards them until they hatch. Breeding them is moderately difficult.

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