Flaming Prawn Goby Care: Diet, Tank, & With Pistol Shrimp
Flaming prawn goby fish is one of the two recognized species belonging to the genus Discordipinna. The species name is griessingeri.
This makes up its scientific name Discordipinna griessingeri which is the concern of taxonomists and not the common non-scientific people.
Size of Flaming Prawn Goby
Do not get deceived by this long name, “The flaming prawn goby fish.” This is a tiny fish and grows the only up-to adult size of 1 inch in length.
However, Their small body is supplemented with the glimmering pectoral, dorsal, and tail fins.
These fins are regarded as their jewels because they add a lot to their beauty. Their tail fins have smeared patterns of colors that look so beautiful.
Flaming Prawn Goby Care
Caring for flaming prawn goby requires not much effort to put in. It is a tiny fish with an adult size of merely an inch long.
As we have discussed previously, this fish is in its den almost all of the time and sparingly come out of its shelter, mostly during feeding. Why not? If I were only an inch in size, I would do the same.
Simply the flaming prawn requires some crevices in the form of live rockwork for shelter. So, the most important part of caring for them is providing them a sense of being secured.
As they are native to tropical waters, the temperature requirements are the same as for other tropical fishes. The most suitable temperature for this fish would be 25 degrees Celsius.
- A salinity level of 1.023-1.025 would be preferable.
- You should maintain the water pH from 8.1 to 8.4.
Feeding Flaming Prawn Goby
You can feed finely chopped Mysis shrimps and vitamin-enriched brine shrimps to flaming prawn goby.
They love newly hatched brines shrimps in the aquariums, as per the observations in many aquariums. You can see them demonstrating their preying skills.
They will slow down or stop their fin’s flashing movements in pursuit of their small floating prey and go after them.
This is very fascinating to watch. You can also condition them to eat good quality flakes.
However, the flaming prawn gobies have no specific requirements for the food.
If you don’t properly manage to feed them, the live rocks may naturally have amphipods or copepods to support them, which is what these gobies usually love to eat in the wild.
What Do Guppies Eat? ( Diet Guide)
Tank Size & Setup
You can keep this fish singly in a very small tank. The minimum tank size for Flaming prawn goby is 10 gallons.
The tank must be provided with live rocks forming a network of crevices or caves. As we have discussed already, this fish is very shy and spends most of the time hiding and comes out only at the time of feeding.
So the need for rockwork is essential. As far as the bottom of the tank is concerned, they prefer a sandy substrate.
Flaming Prawn Goby With Pistol Shrimp
Even though the common name “flaming prawn goby fish” is attributed to this fish. There hasn’t been any interaction with the pistol shrimp.
Different types of prawn gobies like to live with the shrimps in burrows in the sand bed.
While the flaming prawn goby fish is more likely to be perching on a substrate that is not very much exposed to the surroundings or hiding inside the caves formed by the live rocks.
Summary
Flaming prawn goby is distributed mainly in the coastal areas of the Indian and western Pacific oceans. This is a tiny and fascinating fish and is getting popular in the aquarium business.
Its uniqueness and eye-catching attraction make it the most expensive among other pico as well as nano fishes. Beginner level aquarists should not start their fishkeeping journey with this tiny fish.
This is because it is a shy fish and spends most of the time hiding in its den, which can be a matter of concern for the beginner, and he may get confused with what to do and what not to.
However, the experts and the ones having some experience in maintaining saltwater aquariums can go with this.
