Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Reef Compatible: Yes
General Description: The Aurora Goby, also known as the Pinkbar Goby, is found on sandy bottom lagoons and reefs in the Western Indian Ocean. A beautiful fish with unparalleled personality to match, the Aurora goby has a slender and long pearly-white body with several broad, vertical orange-red bands. This patterning extends in to the tail, with either a stand alone orange triangular shape, orange spots or a combination of the two. This tail pattern can help to identify this species from other similarly looking Amblyeleotris gobies. This goby has a symbiotic relationship with the Candy Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus randalli) in the wild, in which the shrimp maintains the burrow they live in and the goby alerts the nearly blind shrimp of potential threats. We recommend replicating this bond in the home aquarium. An Aurora goby can reach an adult size of approximately 4″.
Diet Requirements: The Aurora goby is primarily carnivorous, feeding on small organisms and zooplankton. A diet largely consisting of high quality, vitamin enriched frozen preparations is absolutely necessary to maintain optimal health, coloration, and immune function. Such foods can include, but are not limited to, brine shrimp, calanus, cyclopeeze and rotifers. We highly encourage soaking frozen foods in vitamin and fatty acid supplements. Multiple, small feedings per day rather than one large feeding will also create more of a natural environment for this goby as it would feed in the wild. An Aurora goby may accept high quality flake and micro-pellet foods.
Care Requirements: An established minimum 15 to 20 gallon aquarium is ideal to house an Aurora goby. A tight fitting lid is recommended because these gobies are known to be spooked easily until they settle in, and this prevents your goby from jumping out of the aquarium by accident. Spending most of its time on the bottom of the aquarium, the Aurora goby will appreciate some rock work to build a small burrow under where it will peak out of through the day. Do not house an Aurora goby with overly aggressive tank mates, or it will stay mostly hidden. Keep only one goby of this behavior-type per aquarium, unless it is very large to accomodate territories of more than one individual of different species. We would not recommend having more than one Aurora goby per aquarium, however. Recommended water conditions, 72-78° F, KH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, salinity 1.020-1.025.
Purchase Size: Medium: 2″ to 3″
Note: Your item may not look identical to the image provided due to variation within species. Purchase sizes are approximate.
