Neon gobies of the genus Stiphodon are really wonderful aquarium fish. They have an interesting behavior, remain small, are not particularly demanding and the males are often beautifully colored. From an aquarium point of view, they have only one disadvantage: as the larvae develop exclusively in the sea, raising them presents the same difficulties as in breeding coral fish. As far as we know, there have been no successful attempts to raise Stiphodon under aquarium conditions. However, they will spawn willingly, especially on the underside of flat stone slabs that lie on sand and are tunneled under by the gobies.
Red fish are popular fish. This applies across all aquarium fish groups. There are 5 known species of Stiphodon in which the males turn a magnificent red color during courtship: Stiphodon annieae, S. rubromaculatus, S. birdsong, S. surrufus and S. mele. The latter three are very closely related to each other, S. birdsong is even considered by some scientists to be a synonym of S. surrufus. All three lack the neon-colored snout stripe. This is present in S. annieae and S. rubromaculatus, but both species can be easily distinguished by the remaining coloration characteristics (e.g. head coloration black below the neon stripe in S. annieae, red/white in S. rubromaculatus, fins red in S. annieae males in splendor, transparent in S. rubromaculatus).
With a total length of only 2.5-3 cm, Stiphodon annieae is a tiny fish species. So far, no reliable female coloration has been found for this species. The females of the other species mentioned are more or less monochrome gray-brown. We have imported a comparatively large number of specimens of S. annieae and have not been able to make out any obvious differences between the sexes. Perhaps the females of this species are exceptionally as colorful as the males, or perhaps the local fishermen only catch the colorful animals. So far, S. annieae has only been known from the Moluccan island of Halmahera (politically part of Indonesia) (which of course does not mean that they do not exist elsewhere, as we said, the larvae develop in the sea and can drift elsewhere).
Keeping these beautiful little creatures is easy. Create a stream in the aquarium with a sandy bottom and large stone slabs on top. Good lighting ensures algae growth on the stones, which is an important additional food source for the gobies.They appreciate a good current and like to lie in a group with their peers with their heads facing the current. They are very peaceful with each other and with other species, but the gobies should be spared annoying roommates. The water values are irrelevant, it should just be clean and rich in oxygen, temperature around 24°C. They will eat anything that fits in their little mouths.
For our customers: the animals have code 456032 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer