The Pink Partner

The Pink Bar Goby is often actually kind of a pastel orange barred goby, though it can be vertically striped in soft pink as well. The binomial nomenclature (scientific name) for the Pink Bar Goby is Amblyeleotris aurora, which leads to another, much less common, common name: Aurora Goby. It allegedly got this name because the pink (or orange) spots on its tail were reminiscent of the rising sun, and Aurora was the Roman god of the Dawn. It also gets called the Pink Bar Shrimp Goby, and the Beautiful Prawn Goby; these last two names are a result of a unique behavior. All the fish in this genus are known as “Shrimp Gobies” because they will share a burrow with Alpheid Shrimp, which makes for one of the coolest relationships you can see in an aquarium. The shrimp dig a burrow which gets used by both the fish and the shrimp, and the Goby will alert the shrimp to danger when it darts back into their shared home. (The shrimp have notoriously poor vision.) Whether this is an act of commensalism or mutualism is up for debate. Call it what you want, we call it amazing in the aquarium.

When it comes to the display to feature this partnership, you need to pay close attention to the sand you use, and how much sand as well. Sand that is too fine and uniform will collapse on itself when the shrimp digs out their home. You need a sand that has a mixed grain size where the minimum is somewhere between two and four millimeters. They can deal with crushed coral substrates if the shrimp is large enough. You'll need at least two inches of substrate. Maintaining this sand bed is a requisite. If you have more than a few inches of sand, you'll need to make sure the deeper sand gets vacuumed or turned over regularly, so make sure this is a part of your water change protocols.

Even though Pink Bar Gobies can get up to four inches long, they don't actually like to get too far from a burrow and so don't need a big home. A single goby and shrimp could be kept in a tank as small as 10 gallons as long as it had strong filtration and no other fish, but a much more compelling display would be two fish and a shrimp in a 40 gallon which would allow for some other additions. The tank should be covered, Pink Bar Gobies are notorious for darting around at high speed when startled, and if they don't dart toward their hidey-hole, they generally dart up, which can result in them launching from the tank. The décor of the tank should have plenty of rockwork that is VERY stable on the bottom of the tank (not the sand) so that the shrimp can't undermine it. The design of the rockwork should also leave plenty of open space for the shrimp/gobies team to dig homes in.

They like great water quality, and so filtration should be up to the task, shoot for a filter system that turns the whole volume of the tank over 10 times an hour or so and keep up the water changes. They aren't super picky about specific gravity, but the shrimp will do much better in full strength saltwater, between 1.025 and 1.026. Temps should be in the mid 70s Fahrenheit and nitrates should be under 10ppm. Keep pH as stable as possible, within a tenth or two of 8.2. While your fish won't be particular to calcium and alkalinity levels, the shrimp will grow faster and molt more often if these numbers are stable. Shrimp don't actually utilize much calcium, and regular water changes with a quality salt like Tropic Marin will supply them with all the calcium, alkalinity, and the other minerals and nutrients they need for a healthy life.

So, what do you keep in an aquarium with a Pink Bar Goby? Well, you start by deciding if you want one or two of them (we love two), but you should usually buy them paired if you're going this way. They can be territorial with other Amblyeleotris Gobies if they aren't paired. The next best answer is a shrimp from the Alpheus genus, often called Pistol Shrimp. (care tips in another article). A really sweet pairing would be Randall's Shrimp aka the Red Banded Shrimp (Alpheus randalli), but any appropriately sized shrimp from this genus would work. For other fish, choose species that are peaceful. Fairy Wrasses, smaller Halichoeres and Macropharyngodon Wrasses (which will also both love the deep sand bed), Cardinals, Blennies, Percula and Ocellaris Clowns could all make good tankmates. It's best to start with the Gobies and Shrimp to get them used to you being a source of food without any competition before adding other fish. We would caution against keeping them with larger predatory fish, or fish that will scare them into hiding, especially during mealtimes.

While Pink Bar Gobies are pretty easy to keep, they are skittish little things. They are basically big signal flags after all. This is the primary difficulty when it comes to getting them to eat. They're pretty likely to be hiding when you come up to the tank initially. To get around this, feed with the lights in the aquarium on, but the room dark. If you need to, use a baster to actually (gently) squirt some food into the burrow and they'll get the message. Start them on meaty foods, Gamma Bloodworms and Mysis are favorites. In house, we use both of these foods but also mix in a variety of Gamma's Brine Plus, Chopped Mussel and Chopped Prawn. They will learn to take Nutramar Complete sinking pellets if you mix them in with the meaty foods. Feed them at least twice a day.

The pairing of a Pink Bar Goby and a Pistol Shrimp is one of the neatest aquarium relationships you can watch, and it doesn't even need that big of a tank. You don't need to keep Amblyeleotris aurora with a shrimp, and they're great on their own too. The Gobies are fascinating to watch as they go around, foraging the sand for things to eat, darting to and fro. Truly, one of the nicest, most interesting fish for the home aquarium. Pick good tankmates and plan your display well, and you could have these amazing critters in your own tank too. Just head to your Local Fish Store ask about getting some sustainably sourced Pink Bar Gobies and tell them Quality Marine sent you.