Hi-Fin Red Banded Goby Help/Advice

ScottyD36 · Jun 30, 2020

I am looking into getting a Hi-Fin Red Banded Goby. I wanted to gain some more advice and tips on them before I purchase. What are some tips to keep them happy and healthy. What is the go to food you guys use to feed them. My set up is currently a 13.5 gallon nano tank with just a clown fish, turbo snail and peppermint shrimp. Thanks for any tips or advice in advance.

ichthyogeek · Jun 30, 2020

They're rather small and thin. They really like baby brine shrimp, and like caves near the bottom of the setup. They don't necessarily need a snapping shrimp partner (but they're found with Alpheus randalli in nature). Oh, try to give them a bit of a target feeding, as they won't get into the water column, especially if there are more aggressive fish around.

ScottyD36 · Jun 30, 2020

ichthyogeek said:
They're rather small and thin. They really like baby brine shrimp, and like caves near the bottom of the setup. They don't necessarily need a snapping shrimp partner (but they're found with Alpheus randalli in nature). Oh, try to give them a bit of a target feeding, as they won't get into the water column, especially if there are more aggressive fish around.

Awesome thank you.

Pbh-reef · Jun 30, 2020

The biggest thing with these fish is that they are tiny and very prone to jump and also prone to going to the back chambers of AIO tanks if they can squeeze through the grating of the overflow. So you need a lid with no cracks (and I mean literally 0 cracks) and you may need a fish guard to prevent then getting into the back chambers. If your lid is mesh you need to make sure the mesh of the lid is smaller than the often 1/4 inch mesh usually sold for tank lids. These fish want to jump and they often do and it is sad.

Hifin gobies aren't that hard to care for in terms of feeding. They don't need target feeding in my experience because they spend a lot of time hovering in the water column in comparison to most shrimp gobies. That's because they (and the rest of their genus) have swim bladders, unlike most gobies. IME they take pellets flakes, frozen, live foods, all of it. Just not veggies.

I would be slightly worried about them being bullied by the clowns in a 13.5 gallon tank, I personally think clowns need a bigger thank (closer to 30) than that. But it may be ok.

A Randal's pistol shrimp makes a lovely pair, and the behavior is amazing to watch. They will go on 'walks' along the tank floor as the shrimp gathers building material and food. The pistol shrimp may kill the peppermint shrimp, personally I'd choose the Randal's with the goby and rehome the pep. That said if you get the shrimp you need sand for it to burrow.

Finally, if you QT I highly recommend feeding food bound that has general cure bound with focus (a quick search on r2r should show you an article on it) because gobies often come with internal parasites that can be fatal.