Seeing as how I’ve been mulling over the idea of starting up one (or several) small aquariums to spruce up the house and office, I’ve been really giving a lot of thought as to what the potential livestock for the tanks would be and keeping en eye our for nano-friendly fish during my random fish store visits. During my most recent visit to the LFS, I spotted this tiny ORA Tiger Goby (Elacatinus macrodon) darting among the branches of large gorgonians and decided to take a much closer look.
This fish is tiny to say the least. It’s well under an inch long and would quickly disappear in a large aquarium. Therefore, it’s best suited for aquariums of the nano size or smaller, but pico sized tanks would probably be best. They apparently do well in small groups too, as many of these gobies were darting around the tank and didn’t show any aggression, at least while I was watching. There is a good chance that these fish would be aggressive toward conspecifics if the aquarium were smaller.
According to ORA, who breeds these tiny fish, the Tiger Goby is actually found in local waters. It’s commonly found in Florida waters and various other places in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Their retail price is right around $20, which may seem a bit high given their small size. However, the tiger goby is captive bred and isn’t exactly a common fish at the local fish store.
