RandyFolds
Reef Troll
And as far as your question, I have a true coldwater tank. 57-62F throughout the year.
Viability of Catalina Gobie
- Thread starter SuperDaveA
- Start date
philter4
New member
While I agree that these fish should not be sold in a pet store to the average hobbyists, I also see what Nyreefnoob is thinking and the only negative I see in his thought has already been mentioned, now the store might stock another one and keep the cycle going. These are fish that don't do well above the mid to upper 60's and are not suited to normal aquariums.
There are also several things to consider, in the wild the average lifespan of a catalina goby is usually less then 2 years. Even public aquariums like Monteray and Stienhart in San Francisco only average 2 years in the proper conditions. Again, I'm not saying it is ok to collect or try to keep them but if the fish is already an adult when collected and they live for 6 month to a year who is to say that it's life has been shortened. Also, this is the average, it doesn't mean that all of them die at 2 years.
Finally fish and other "cold" blooded animals don't feel temperature the same way mammals do. Keepnig a fish at higher temps causes different problems such as less dissolved O2 in the water, higher metabolism which means they burn out sooner and require a lot more food to keep up with the calories they use, less resistant to bacteria and other diseases and a whole host of other problems, but they do not suffer like a human in a sauna or the desert would.
As I mentioned above, these fish are not suited to our tanks unless they are given a special tank with the proper conditions and other tank mates that require a similar habitat, I am just pointing out a few things that may help.
There are also several things to consider, in the wild the average lifespan of a catalina goby is usually less then 2 years. Even public aquariums like Monteray and Stienhart in San Francisco only average 2 years in the proper conditions. Again, I'm not saying it is ok to collect or try to keep them but if the fish is already an adult when collected and they live for 6 month to a year who is to say that it's life has been shortened. Also, this is the average, it doesn't mean that all of them die at 2 years.
Finally fish and other "cold" blooded animals don't feel temperature the same way mammals do. Keepnig a fish at higher temps causes different problems such as less dissolved O2 in the water, higher metabolism which means they burn out sooner and require a lot more food to keep up with the calories they use, less resistant to bacteria and other diseases and a whole host of other problems, but they do not suffer like a human in a sauna or the desert would.
As I mentioned above, these fish are not suited to our tanks unless they are given a special tank with the proper conditions and other tank mates that require a similar habitat, I am just pointing out a few things that may help.
Jeremy Blaze
Former Reef Addict
How are you 'giving it a better chance"?
You are right, most of us here do not have coldwater tanks, thats we we don't keep coldwater species.
You are right, most of us here do not have coldwater tanks, thats we we don't keep coldwater species.
Sadly, this is indeed the case.
AquaticEngineer
New member
Just send him to me, I can put him in with the other 15 or so Catalina Gobies I have 
