Taking on projects with the goal of raising new species of ornamental marine fish is a vital component of the daily operations at ORA. Recently we have focused our efforts on the Masked Goby, a species with a reputation for being hardy, peaceful, showy and a great choice for today’s popular nano tanks. The Masked Goby may be new to us, but they were first raised by Todd Gardner in the late 1990’s.
Like Todd, our initial trials with C. personatus larvae were unsuccessful. They simply would not accept rotifers as a first food. It wasn’t until Todd started to offer a small ciliate that he succeeded with this species. Here at ORA we offered the larvae cultured copepod nauplii under 75(!) microns and we were pleased to see them settle out around 30 days post hatch. While small, these fish are pretty quick to mature, we were amazed to see fertile spawns produced by individuals of this species that are barely 100 days old!
We are continuing to fine tune the rearing protocols for this species, but we expect 100% Aquacultured Masked Gobies to become a regular on our price list. Good news for the environmentally conscious aquarist looking to add a splash of color and some mid-water swimming activity to their nano reef!
You can read more about how Todd Gardner raised this species at C-Quest here:
Check them out on the species profile page here:
