Desert Gobies
By Joseph Gardner
Issue 21
Desert Gobies or Chlamydogobius eremius as they are also known is one of the neater gobies. Mine are about 2-1/2” long. The males are much darker than the females. Their bodies turn almost black when they are ready to spawn. The heads are a golden color. The dorsal fins are almost black but the males have a fairly large neon blue patch on the front dorsal. The males also have larger mouths than the females.
As far as tank set-up, I have a sponge filter and when I remember to turn it on, an inside the tank power filter. (These look like a power head with a small canister containing a sponge.) The bottom of the tank is filled with saltwater shells including some small conch shells. The temperature is about 70F. I have no real idea of the water conditions because 1) I don’t have any testing kits and 2) because most fish I have will spawn given good maintenance and good food (personal belief). Some fish take special conditions and those I generally take care of by using peat moss or dolomite, crushed shells depending upon whether I need to lower or raise the pH.
The gobies are easy to tell when they have spawned. If you don’t catch them spawning, the male’s behavior changes dramatically. Ordinarily, they are out swimming around and chasing each other. After they have spawned, the male takes over guarding the nest. The female leaves the area. Though I have heard of them spawning in the open and did have one spawning about 6 months ago, this time, they spawned in one of the conch shells. The male guarded the entrance of the shell and fanned the eggs with his fins.
The eggs are interesting as well. They look like two balloons – a smaller round balloon blown up inside a longer balloon. The eggs are about ¼” long and clear. It is easy to see both parts of the egg. As the fry develop, you can begin to see the eyes. The newly hatched fry are smaller than their eggs.
One other interesting thing with this species is that they will have multiple spawnings at the same site. The dominant male in my tank spawned at least twice probably three times with different females in his favorite shell. I know this because the eggs are at a wide range of development. Some are hatched out, some show eyes and some only show the two parts with no sign of the fry yet. I had heard of this with some species but not with this one. Maybe this is common, I do not know.
The fry are pale colored with a couple of spots. They are very fast moving. There have been times when I was looking at a particular fry, blinked and it was gone. Don’t forget that these fish do not have a swim bladder and look like they are all belly swimmers. This is not a disease, they are belly swimmers. I am feeding them microworms. It must be working because their bellies are full and cream colored. The end