Valenciennea puellaris

[teevee]

I enjoyed this months article a great deal. It is the first time I have owned one of the columns subject animals.



I agree with everything you mentioned. He hasn't buried anything as of yet, but that is only because the only coral on the sandbed is a clump of green star polyps. He maintains two seperate burrows, each quite small, however. He doesn't seem to have any desire to create a tunnel or anything to that effect.

He is housed in a 150 gal tank with 17 gal refugium. He eats OSI and HBH flakes, OSI pellets, and mysis shrimp. I am wondering if there is anything else I should be providing for him.

Also, I would be interested in introducing a mate for him. I have been referring to him as a he, of course, he may well be a she. Is it possible to introduce a second, smaller goby and be fairly certain that they will pair up?

[Sloeber]

oops, sorry for the delay.

I am wondering if there is anything else I should be providing for him.

sounds like a rather nice diet. this should be good, but you can always add some additional carnivore foods for variety should you wish.

Is it possible to introduce a second, smaller goby and be fairly certain that they will pair up?

should they? yes. will they? only one way to find out

if you do mix a second in there, be sure to post back your experience.

HTH

henry

[JPMagyar]

I had a pair of Puellaris that died during the power outage, and have since purchased a new but single specimen. I would like to provide a possible mate. Are they hermaphrodites or is there any known means to properly sex these critters?


And oh by the way the article was a great and fun read!!

Thanks,

Joe

[Sloeber]

hi joe,

thanks for the compliment!

Are they hermaphrodites

this is something i always try to research and explain in my columns. for this species, i was unable to locate any information regaring sex changes.

there any known means to properly sex these critters?

assuming you mean a live fish in your aquarium, yes, but it is very difficult, if possible at all. in your case (V. puellaris) the answer is probably closer to "no" rather than "yes." you can note differences between adults and juveniles, but that may or may not help your since we don't know if they are hermaphroditic. in addition, these differences vary greatly depending on the local of which they were collected.

males of most gobioid fishes can be distinguished by their relatively long and pointed genital papilla. however, this is very hard to see on a such a small fish, especially while in an aquarium.

HTH

henry