Catalina Goby tank raised?

[corey01]

so I went to my LFS yesterday to see what arrived new this week and was surprised to find a pair of Catalina gobies. now I am familiar with them as I have wanted one for quite a while however their need for cooler waters always deterred me from purchasing one.

 

I asked the owner if perhaps I was mistaken about the temperatures they need to thrive, and was told these were tank raised and therefore much more tolerant and would be just fine long term with the 79 degrees I keep my reef tank at.

 

I have tried to do some researching and googling but have come up empty handed. so I was hoping i could get some feedback from you. I am in no hurry to purchase one of these fish off him as if it died simply because of my putting an un researched fish in my tank I would feel incredibly guilty.

 

any thoughts on this?

[jedimasterben]

You're unfortunately not going to find them for sale anywhere, and I am not aware of any data to back up the claims that the captive bred fish live longer in higher temperatures than their wild counterparts.

[Sancho]

When I bought mine I was told the same thing from the LFS. It only lived about a year in a half in my tank. If they are still being captive bred I would assume they are being bred in cool water setups. From what I was told by someone much smarter than me. The warmer water increases the fishes heart / and metabolic rate and that's why they don't live long in warmer water.

 

A friend of mine also bought one at the same time from the same LFS. His almost lived for 2 years. I have seen a few in tanks here and other forums that all had a post reporting the premature death or disappearance of the Catalina goby.

 

I do raise an eyebrow when the 16 year old kid at the LFS says its tank raised and therefore it will be more hardy.

[corey01]

I was under the same impression about warm waters increasing metabolism and basically being an unresolved stress issue for the duration of the fishes lifespan in the tank. I still dont think I would be ok with myself subjecting the fish to that. I still have guilt about the time I took rock out of the tank to scrub it, and unknowingly must have brought out my flaming prawn goby with it. well needless to say I never saw "her" again after that episode.

 

not really a 16yo its just the owner, a late middle age guy. but I was very skeptical about being told basically "it will be fine" as I assume he was told, he knew it was a cooler water fish right away when I asked him but think he was simply assured from his wholesaler is all.

 

I have a very large soft spot for tiny fish, gobies especially and just wondered what others thought.

think it might just wait until one day when I do a cold/cool water setup.

[jedimasterben]

greenbanded gobies, while not as pretty, are still very nice looking and are awesome little fish.

[Tamberav]

+1 above. I have catalinas in my cold water and greenbanded gobies in my reef. I will tell you right now, green bandeds are very outgoing. The catalinas are timid in comparison.

 

My catalinas are wild caught so can't comment on the hardiness of a tank bred version, but they do show stress the few times I have lost power and the tank got to low 70's.

[SantaMonicaHelp]

I live near Catalina so I was drawn to this thread. I think Diamond Gobies look the best.

 

- C. Smith