# How do I take care of Butterfly Gobies?



## litesky (Feb 9, 2004)

I went to my local lfs today and saw what seems to be a rare/exotic fish called butterfly goby. It was beautiful! The only thing that stopped me from buying this little fella was because when puffed up, this goby looked like a ocean lionfish. So i was afraid that it might be very hard to take care of. Has anyone ever dealt with this fish? How do I take care of it and what kind of environment does it like?

Does anybody else know of a person/forum that you can refer me to so that I may ask questions about these guys?


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Here's what I found on the net:

The venomous spines -- the three spines on the first fin, I believe, having been stung once -- should be sufficient to keep them relatively safe from larger fish. You should use a fine-mesh net or plastic container to net these fish, since the spines can get caught in a typical loose mesh net. I got stung trying to get one fish out of a standard green-mesh net. After freeing the fish, I immediately soaked my hand in hot water for several minutes. The hand continued to itch/burn slightly for a few hours afterward, but no visible redness or inflammation appeared.

Mine have been in salinity from 1.000 to 1.008. The tank they're in now is at 1.002 -- a planted tank, where I'm slowly raising the s.g. to a target of 1.006. My fish were more active at an s.g. of 2.006. According to fishbase, they can handle everything from freshwater to marine...


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## litesky (Feb 9, 2004)

Crazy. Are they also called WASP fish? How does yours look like? They remind me of a saltwater lionfish.


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