Mystery goby in the sump.

[duanes]

Sometimes after a collecting trip, if fish are too small for the main tank, they end up in the sump.
The sump is a 125 gal heavily planted tank, so small fish can easily disappear into the forest.
While mindlessly gawking into it today, I noticed this little guy, maybe 2 -3¨long (5 -7 cms)

At first I though it might be a small Awaous species, but the mouth doesn´t really fit,
and after the 1st 2 pics were take, it retreated into the vallisneria
foliage.
Maybe is one of the genus Sicydium, found here.
Below is a small Awaous to compare.


Any ideas?
Since the sump sits outside in the elements, the glass gets spotty from rain,

 

[Ansorgii]

With the line and "mustache" it looks like a sicydium salvini to me, maybe a bit darker due to the tank.

I remeber in on the pacific side in Costa Rica that fish was often the sole inhabitant of the small rivers there apart from some tiny fry. They attack and follow Spinners very enthusiastically but were nearly impossible to hook. But the golden colour and black line was always very striking.

 

[duanes]

Good call noticing the mustache and horizontal line.
And where I t was caught, was on the Pacific side of the mountains, near the pueblo of Las Garzas
I just looked it up, S. salvini matches it perfectly.
This is the shallow stream, where it was found.


The only other fish caught that day were Mountain Mullet, Dajaus monticola

 

[Ansorgii]

Very nice, I am glad I could help. I fished in Streams very similiar, but found them aswell in streams that looked a lot more barren. The difference between the atlantic and pacific side always struck me when it came to diversity. And I still wonder how there aren't more species on the pacific side.

Here in Mexico its very similiar, with the exception of the larger rivers in the south, mosts streams only have a handful of species that are often just living temporarily in fresh water. While the rivers that go to the Atlantic are full of species.

Maybe I should start to record my findings here aswell. There are some really interesting things like freshwater flatfish or giants limpets (+10cm), but you always encounter them when you are not prepared.

 

[duanes]

I agree, its funny how even in some large rivers where I collect, I only come across 1 species of cichlid, and only a shoal of tetras.
Interesting about the flat fish, on two of the last trips to the Mamoni river, small flounders the locals all lenguado were caught.

I got the feeling they had migrated upstream during heavy storms from brackish estuarine areas near the sea,
I also dropped them in the sump, because they were quite small.


Since they were first dropped they have never reappeared.
Kind of like the mojarra, a beautiful species, I had high hopes would survive in the tank, but neither one we caught even made it thru the night.

 

[Ansorgii]

Awesoma pictures, and sad to hear. Some fish really don't do well in captivity or survive the stress of being caught.

The only picture I found of one of my more interesting catches is this cichlid in Costa Rica. However that was 10 years ago with a bad phonecamera that doesn't do it an justice. The blue spots are barely visible outside the face (on all fins), and the red frontal dorsal fin is retracted.

I still don't know which species it was, but it would be very beautiful in an Aquarium.

 

[duanes]

Looks like it could be one of the Cribroheros, possibly rhystisma.
I've only seen it once, at a ACA convention in Chicago.
There are a number of Cribroheros that resemble each other though .
Where was is caught in Costa Rica?
Sometimes location gives a clue.

 

[Ansorgii]

It was somewhere on the way from San Jose to the Vulcano Arenal, but in the absolute middle of nowhere under a bridge.

I found this instagram post for cribroheros alfari that looks quite similiar, but different from most pictures of that species.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[duanes]

That alfari looks like the spittin image in your previous post, and fits in with the location.

Now that I have a better idea where the goby, hangs out in the sump, was able to get some slightly clearer shots.
Semms to like the media bags, near the pump.