Common names: Candy stripe goby, Striated river goby, Banded goby

Scientific name: Awaous strigatus

Family: Gobidae

Origin: South america

Max size: 4"

Care: I kept 3 of these wonderful gobies in a 29g high with a neutral pH and a temp of around 80F (27C) They are bottom dwelling fish, needing caves and plants (Be they real or fake) to hide under. They are a great community fish, but very small bottom dwellers wouldn't do well with them.

Feeding: Not very picky, any sinking meaty food will be snatched up by these active gobies.

Sexing: I am pretty sure that males are more colorful and have larger mouths (The males use their large mouths to fight), but there is little information on these fish so I am not positive.

Breeding: n/a

Comments: A great FW goby, very active and entertaining. If you see them, grab them, they fit into most small community setups.

I have found very little info on these fish, so if anyone else would like to add to this profile, feel free to.







This post has been edited by Dwarfs: Apr 12 2006, 03:44 PM

some great info there I have a pair in a light brackish setup and theyre doing great in these conditions - fishbase describes them as occuring in estuaries and deltas, within both fresh and brackish waters. heres a link to a page i found about breeding awaous strigatus/flavus http://gobiidae.com/breeding_awaous.htm


This post has been edited by chris_1127: Jun 9 2005, 08:36 AM

this is a pic of my pair of candy stripes in my brackish (sg 1.005) setup. Note the male on the left is much more slender and has more distinct and brighter colouration. His dorsal fin is also taller, and his mouth wider than the females. The female in comparason (right) is "fuller" around the middle, and has a much shorter dorsal fin. I don't know if it is aggressive or courting behaviour, but i have seen them circling each other with their mouths wide open. The female is also keen on digging "burrows" in the sand under the rocks in the tank.

More a warning than anything else. I've discovered that my candy stripe goby was being continually attacked by Otocinclus catfish. I had at first thought that it had a rash, perhaps from a skin infection or just because it was getting old. But a week or two ago I caught the catfish grazing away. Not pretty. It's been moved to another tank.

So, whatever else you keep with these gobies, I'd recommend against Otocinclus catfish.

Cheers,

Neale

Male at back, female at front (with smaller head, thinner vertical bands, and paler colours)



This post has been edited by nmonks: Feb 18 2006, 05:45 PM