Species Spotlight - The Peacock Gudgeon

It wasn't until the lead up to our first ever table top sale that I discovered the peacock gudgeon. David & Jacki from Riverside were bringing them along to sell and when I seen a photo,I just had to get some.

When I kept marine fish, some of my favour species were the Gobies and Blennies. There is something funny about there grumpy looking faces. The peacock Gudgeon which is also know as the Peacock Goby is no different.

With their light neon blue bodies is covered with red stripes, stunning yellow tipped fins and distinctive eye spot on there tail, they make an interesting addition to any planted tank. Almost everyone that looks at my aquarium single out my big male.

Both male and females look similar with the only real difference being that the male develops a rounded head where as the females head remains pointy. Females are also suppose to have yellow patch on there stomachs. Although I have males with the yellow patches too so I'm not sure how accurate that description is.

These fish do prefer heavily planted tanks. They will swim at all levels of the water column too and are very curious when I approach the tank to feed them. The ideal water conditions are;

• 22-26 degrees celsius 
• 6.5 - 7.5 pH level
• 5 - 10KH hardness

An aquarium of a minimum size of 60l for an adult pair on their own. Planted with lots of coverage too. I personally find the denser the greenery the better. The colours pop out more and it seems that the more hiding places the more you see them.

Ideal tank mates should be of similar size and temperament such as;

• Dwarf Gouramis
• Thread fin rainbows
• Glass fish
• Dwarf Cichlids
• Praecox Rainbows
• Cherry Shrimp and other smaller shrimps

Breeding these fish is fairly simple (although I've never attempted it to date) The addition of a 1/2 inch wide plastic tube blocked off at one end will result in the male tempting (or sometimes nudging) a female inside to spawn. After spawning, the female is chased off and the male would stay with the eggs. However its best to remove the eggs or the male at this stage as the male will attempt to eat the newly hatched larvae. Opting to remove the eggs and letting them hatch in a bare bottom tank is the best method and feeding them micro worms until they are big enough to take daphnia or other small live foods.

These bright active little fish from Papua New Guinea are an excellent choice for anyone looking for something a little different. They are entertaining, especially when the males start to show to each other. They remind me of the Siamese Fighter males when they show.

If you have these in your tank, share a photo in the Facebook comments.

Thanks for reading.