The
genus Schismatogobius contents currently 10 described species. All are
small, only 3-5 cm long pure freshwater inhabitants. As no species is of
commercial value and the tiny fish burry themselves extremely fast in
the sand when disturbed the whole genus is only very unsatisfyingly
researched so far. Two species have been reported fromTaiwan:
Schismatogobius ampluvinculus (see http://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archive/miscellaneous-en/Schismatogobius_ampluvinculus_en/),
which has been described scientifically only in 1995, and S. roxasi.
Both species are vey similar to each other, but only S. ampluviculus
exhibits in some moods the strange, very contrasting black-and-white
banding. We were able to import both species currently in small numbers.
The S. roxasi are the first ones that reached us.
In
this goby the females are more colorful than the males. Females have a
broad orange saddle on the back. The males can be recognized by the
enormous mouth cleft. One should keep these extremely rare gobies in an
unheated tank with sandy bottom, pebbles and a good current.
For
our customers: the fish have code 454832 on our stocklist. Please note
that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade. Only very few specimens
available!
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer