Avoid "log-looking" fish!

[shaunman]

If you're browsing the fish in an aquatic store, and happen to find a 10", really ugly, log-looking bottom fish, you may have found a "Marbled, Sleeping Gobie".
This is not a common fish, but sometimes they pop up and the store clerks rarely know anything about this predator, let alone its name. This fish is tough as nails, grows to about 3 feet, and eats about twice its own weight per day. My poor Tinfoil Barbs, 12", quickly became part of the food chain over night.
In my opinion, the Sleeping Gobie is beautifuly hideous, slow and boring, and cannot get along with anything. If you're into one, huge, monster in a very large tank, check out the Sleeping Gobie. Otherwise, don't bring this one home to play with what you consider, "my tough fish." Three feet is pretty big!

[DeLgAdO]

sounds like an awsome monster for its own tank :naughty:

[benzjamin13]

I used to deal with them in a display tank at my old job. They were pretty cool. But one got sucked up into the filter. It was a nasty job try to get that theing out. My partner was stabbing it with a screw driver trying to pry it out :eek:

[big E]

That sounds like an interesting Monster!!!

[dapike1979]

:D That sounds like an interesting Monster!!!
Pic's pls! :D

[riskistang]

Pictures would be great..curious to see what it looks like....You keeping yours or geting rid of it?

[guppy]

Marbled goby (Oxyeleotris marmaratus). Great fish,They hardly ever move then when they do they eat something, anything. I had one that ate live fish, dead fish, frogs, crayfish, candy, canned cat food, etc. I never found anything it would not eat. One one occasion one ate a 10" large mouth bass just 2" shorter than it was. It also tried to eat a tank heater and got it swallowed all the way to the waterline, It also tried to swallow my hand a couple times. I got it free from an lfs because people kept bringing it back after it emptied their tanks. They will live in anything from fresh to very brackish water and while I can find no records of any a full 3' long there are valid records at 26". They are also known as the Soon Hock. It was on this site that I finally found out what the damn thing was years after I sold it. I had been calling it a mottled sleeper. Here are a couple pictures, the larger one is by Liao from fishbase.

[KurseD]

hey, i had one of those in japan...had never seen it before so i picked it up...was only around 2 in., he hung out underneath my plants and ate bloodworms, he hardly ever moved, just hovered like a dat for hours on end...didn't have him very long,he just disappeared one day...figured he jumpted out. really mean looking, even when small. they had him labled as an ancient butterfly fish, but i knew it wasn't cuz i had one of those already. i looked it up and the closest think i could find to it was a freshwater lionfish...didn't know they got up to 3ft!!!

[chundamunky]

I got one at the moment he is still small only about 10cm. Laughed at the petshop salesman when he told me he'll only grow to 15cm. Like guppy said will eat just about anything. They are actually grown as a food fish in the far east somewhere.

[gomezladdams]

I like it :headbang2

[Calgone]

I used to deal with them in a display tank at my old job. They were pretty cool. But one got sucked up into the filter. It was a nasty job try to get that theing out. My partner was stabbing it with a screw driver trying to pry it out :eek:
Awesome visual....

:O

[toxicfish]

first off.... Welcome to MFK:)



People on this site usually don't AVOID owning 3ft long fish that eats anything thats fits in it's mouth. But I'm guessing You already knew that... lol :D

[guppy]

I forgot to say welcome to MFK shaunman!

[softturtle]

I just got back from a LFS and they had some of those things. They were labeled as cow fish. I asked why it was called a cow fish (cuase it doesn't look like a cow) and then he threw in about a half dozen goldfish. Within 20 sec they were gone. Pretty cool fish.

[shaunman]

I had the Sleeping Gobie about 5 years ago. I knew nothing about it, nor did the clerk who sold it to me. He thought it was some Koren stream fish, and that it would not get any bigger. It was about 10'' then, and nearly bit off the entire head of a 12" Tinfoil Barb. I was going broke feeding him 5-8 feeders a day, + various meats. I only had him for about a month. The Barb situation really pissed me off. If you want to see a picture, google this name, "oxyeleotris marmorata".

Later.

[shaunman]

Sound like you had almost as much fun as I did.

[shaunman]

Yes, I know. This fish was a stupid fish to buy and know nothing about, put in a 38 Gal tank with several Tinfoil's I really liked. The damn thing ate about 3 years of aquatic effort.
I hate to think of someone finding one and putting it in with their big, tough Oscars, Red Devils, or any other cool Cic they love, only to find parts of them the next day.

Thank you for the welcome.

[shaunman]

"Oxyeleotris marmorata" That is its name. It really can eat two to three times its weight per day. Pretty expencive.

[halofishboy]

it kinda looks like a freshwater lionfish no???????????? heres a link that has it's pic



http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,%20Butterfly%20Goby%20or%20Wasp%20Fishl.ht m

[shaunman]

Great pictures! Brings back memories. They really move when you pull them out of the water though.

[Filthy Sanchez]

I like it :headbang2

Me too.

[evilfish]

i just got 2 of these fish!!! the guy at my lfs pactically gave them to me, as they were jumping into other tanks and completely clearing them!!! aswell as these i got a red spot goby. i put them in my old mans community tank for the time being because they are still only about 10cm, and so far theyve taken 5 cardinal tetras and a couple of small guppys!!!

[guppy]

At 10 cm they are getting large enough to be a worry in a community tank, a 25 cm one was eating 15 cm sunfish without a problem and even ate 15 cm bullhead catfish. One about the size of yours even ate 2 skunk corydoras that where about 6 cm. Other than piranha these are the first fish that I have seen gulp down catfish.

[DeLgAdO]

Marbled goby (Oxyeleotris marmaratus). Great fish,They hardly ever move then when they do they eat something, anything. I had one that ate live fish, dead fish, frogs, crayfish, candy, canned cat food, etc. I never found anything it would not eat. One one occasion one ate a 10" large mouth bass just 2" shorter than it was. It also tried to eat a tank heater and got it swallowed all the way to the waterline, It also tried to swallow my hand a couple times. I got it free from an lfs because people kept bringing it back after it emptied their tanks. They will live in anything from fresh to very brackish water and while I can find no records of any a full 3' long there are valid records at 26". They are also known as the Soon Hock. It was on this site that I finally found out what the damn thing was years after I sold it. I had been calling it a mottled sleeper. Here are a couple pictures, the larger one is by Liao from fishbase.

candy?

are you serious man? :ROFL:

[starrfish71]

I had one for years- I liked it ALOT. Mine only grew to be about 12 inches, and I always kept it with other fish: catfish, polypterus, and bigger cichlids. It would eat anything introduced as food but it wasn't territorial or aggressive towards it's tankmates. It did try to swallow a 4 inch bristlenose once; I found them in the afternoon, the bristlenose had opened it's fins and put it's bristles through the skin on the goby's mouth- I managed to actually pry them apart without too much damage to either one, moved the pleco to a different tank, and both survived and lived years after that.

I have been looking to get anohter one - mine lived for about ten years.

[Fried_fish]

Marbled goby (Oxyeleotris marmaratus). Great fish,They hardly ever move then when they do they eat something, anything. I had one that ate live fish, dead fish, frogs, crayfish, candy, canned cat food, etc. I never found anything it would not eat. One one occasion one ate a 10" large mouth bass just 2" shorter than it was. It also tried to eat a tank heater and got it swallowed all the way to the waterline, It also tried to swallow my hand a couple times. I got it free from an lfs because people kept bringing it back after it emptied their tanks. They will live in anything from fresh to very brackish water and while I can find no records of any a full 3' long there are valid records at 26". They are also known as the Soon Hock. It was on this site that I finally found out what the damn thing was years after I sold it. I had been calling it a mottled sleeper. Here are a couple pictures, the larger one is by Liao from fishbase.

When I got to candy and canned cat food I was like wtf?! lmao! good stuff guppy

[guppy]

The candy was an accident, I was eating it and dropped some M+Ms into the tank, before I could scoop them back out it ate them, it liked chunks of canned ocean whitefish cat food. I found that out from a friend who also had one. It also ate grapes, a radish, a marble (don't ask me why), chunks of hot dog, a mushroom, and quite a few other things that you should not feed fish, after it tried to eat the heater I experimented a bit.

[fishboy]

i hate those fish. they never move and are nasty as hell. they had a bunch of them at the lfs by me for like 40$ for a 15 incher. the salseman threw this dovi in there that was half eatin but still alive from a snakehead in there and it swam up and hammered the poor thing. they also had a 4 foot muskie in a show tank there and the guy threw a 12 inch salmon in there with it. it swam for about 4 min until the muskie swam up under it and basically split it in two

[rottbo]

a lfs here had one and had its max size at 8" even though it was already 10" i tried to tell them that they need to change the label but you know those places thet dont care as long as they can sell it

[bentank1]

If you're browsing the fish in an aquatic store, and happen to find a 10", really ugly, log-looking bottom fish, you may have found a "Marbled, Sleeping Gobie".
This is not a common fish, but sometimes they pop up and the store clerks rarely know anything about this predator, let alone its name. This fish is tough as nails, grows to about 3 feet, and eats about twice its own weight per day. My poor Tinfoil Barbs, 12", quickly became part of the food chain over night.
In my opinion, the Sleeping Gobie is beautifuly hideous, slow and boring, and cannot get along with anything. If you're into one, huge, monster in a very large tank, check out the Sleeping Gobie. Otherwise, don't bring this one home to play with what you consider, "my tough fish." Three feet is pretty big!


sorry about your barbs.

[Rass]

That is not what is commonly refered to as a freshwater lionfish. "freshwater lions" are actually a type of reef Toadfish that also lives in estuaries where it can venture into full fresh water. Forgot the sci. name.

[MikeVance]

But you can install one under the sink instead of a garbage disposal! :grinyes:

[Micky_Fahaka]

I love how mean Gobies look!

[cciesielski]

put it in its own tank
it sounds like a beast
how much do they cost
how big are they when you get them

[guppy]

Mine was free, the lfs gave it to me after the third time it had been returned for eating fish, I was told it ate several dorados one night.

[dredcon]

I think I need a fish like that.

[Mudfrog]

My LFS had 3 of them for $5.99 each, I bought two as one had a red sore on it's face, well within a week both of mine had the red sore and they passed on. I really miss them as it was an awesome fish to own, I've been looking all over for another but can't seem to find one.

[BigPleco]

Sorry for the loss Mudfrog! If you find some more...pic em up...i'm interested in owning a garbage disposal!

[Mudfrog]

Will do, here are a couple pics, you can see the red sore on the tail in the first pic. They were truly in awesome fish. I did find one place with them but they need a minimum order of $50, the fish is only like $5 though, don't need 10 of these guys.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/mudfrog/Fish/Marbled%20Goby/marbled-goby4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/mudfrog/Fish/Marbled%20Goby/marbled-goby3.jpg

[The_Gooch]

Awesome looking fish! Now I need another tank. :headbang2

[Opiate]

yeah sounds like aan awesome monster in it's own tank...

[fishnthings]

i want one... bad

[dtgshark]

I've just got one at our local LFS...

[awdawg]

looks pretty darn neat, but would hate to lose all my fish!

[capthowdysmember]

thats an evil lookin critter. too bad i dont have a big enough tank.

[limz_777]

its a cheaper version of a wolf fish, both beasts to be chain-down!!

[rascalsweet]

what temp can it handle. wandering about a out side pond. guessing it couldn't survive. plus I can just see it trying to eat my niece's kittens. :evil_lol:

[deangelo]

I like it too..damn look at the head on that thing, no wonder nothings safe with it around...

[WhiteLineRacer]

mine got eaten :(

[iglowce]

thanx for sharing.. u got a pix for it?

[Somedude135]

Im an avid fish collector, me 2 did not know about this breed but I thought it would be a unique addition to my 150 gallon... with about 40 other small fish... yeah well they were gone in about 2 days..... :cry:

[guppy]

They prefer temps in the 70s F.

[Mudfrog]

I'm still trying to find one. I've been looking forever. I did pick up a Three Spined Toadfish which is comparable as far as the temperment and the fact he will also eat anything that will fit in it's mouth. I'm still anxiously waiting to come across another marbled goby though, if anyone finds a lead for me shoot me a pm please!!

[Mudfrog]

BTW.. here is a link to a page I found with some pics of a 13" Marbled Goby, it also has a feeding video on the page as well.

Marbled Goby (http://www.racegrooves.com/hb/Pets/_pets.htm)

And yes I asked him, he won't sell it to me.. haha.

[throbulator]

The candy was an accident, I was eating it and dropped some M+Ms into the tank, before I could scoop them back out it ate them, it liked chunks of canned ocean whitefish cat food. I found that out from a friend who also had one. It also ate grapes, a radish, a marble (don't ask me why), chunks of hot dog, a mushroom, and quite a few other things that you should not feed fish, after it tried to eat the heater I experimented a bit.


What if it swallowed the heater, and then the heater malfunctioned and cooked it from the inside out :popcorn:

[Knowdafish]

What if it swallowed the heater, and then the heater malfunctioned and cooked it from the inside out :popcorn:

Fish kabob! :D :drool:

[bass_cats]

My lfs sells these things all the time, I got really close to gettig one:eek:. I'm glad i didnt:).