Description

Bluestreak Goby (Valenciennea strigata)

Bring life and personality to your reef with the graceful Bluestreak Goby, a peaceful sand-sifting species prized for its beauty and beneficial behaviour. With its slender white-silver body, vivid electric-blue stripe, and constant bottom-foraging activity, this goby adds both movement and purpose to marine aquariums.

🌊 Overview
The Bluestreak Goby, also known as the Golden-Head Sleeper Goby, originates from shallow coral reefs and lagoons across the Indo-Pacific region. In nature, it constantly filters sand through its gills, removing food particles while aerating the substrate — a natural cleaning service that keeps reef floors pristine. In captivity, it performs the same valuable role, making it a favourite among reef keepers.

✨ Key Features & Benefits:

• ✔️ Beautiful Colouration – Silvery-white body with a bright blue horizontal stripe and golden-yellow head.

• ✔️ Natural Sand Cleaner – Constantly sifts substrate, reducing detritus and preventing anaerobic spots.

• ✔️ Peaceful Temperament – Ideal for community and reef aquariums with other non-aggressive species.

• ✔️ Pairs Well With Others – Can form bonded pairs that work cooperatively to maintain the sand bed.

• ✔️ Active Personality – Adds motion and interest to the bottom levels of the tank.

🐟 Behaviour & Compatibility
The Bluestreak Goby is a gentle and social fish, rarely aggressive toward tankmates. It spends most of its time near the substrate, digging shallow burrows and moving mouthfuls of sand through its gills to extract microfauna. It may occasionally rearrange the sand around rock bases — natural behaviour that helps aerate the substrate.

Compatible with most reef-safe fish, invertebrates, and corals, though avoid housing it with large, aggressive species that may outcompete or intimidate it.

🌿 Tank Requirements:

• Minimum Tank Size: 150 L (40 gal)

• Temperature: 24 – 27 °C

• pH: 8.0 – 8.4

• Salinity: 1.023 – 1.025

• Substrate: Fine sand (minimum 3–5 cm depth)

• Lighting: Moderate; prefers well-lit environments that support microfauna growth.

A fine, clean sand substrate is essential. Coarse gravel can injure its delicate gills or limit its ability to sift effectively.

🍽️ Feeding
While Bluestreak Gobies consume a portion of their diet from natural sand fauna, they should also be offered a variety of prepared foods:

• Enriched frozen mysis shrimp and brine shrimp

• Finely chopped seafood blends or marine mix

• High-quality sinking pellets and granules
  Feed small portions 1–2 times daily. Over time, they learn to eat directly from the water column, making feeding easy once settled.

🪸 Reef Compatibility
Fully reef-safe and beneficial, the Bluestreak Goby contributes to a cleaner sand bed and improved water quality. It won’t nip at corals or disturb sessile invertebrates, making it a perfect companion for LPS, SPS, and soft coral setups.

💡 Breeding Notes
In captivity, bonded pairs may establish burrows beneath live rock and guard small clusters of eggs. Breeding success is rare but possible in stable reef tanks with minimal disturbance and abundant microfauna.

⚠️ Care Tips:

• Keep a tight-fitting lid, as gobies are known jumpers.

• Introduce to a mature aquarium with established sand fauna.

• Provide rockwork with natural caves or burrow spaces for shelter.

✨ Why Choose the Bluestreak Goby?

• Acts as a natural sand cleaner, reducing maintenance.

• Peaceful and compatible with reef environments.

• Adds dynamic movement and a splash of blue colour to the lower levels of your aquarium.

• Hardy once acclimated and easy to care for when properly fed.

🐠 Summary
The Bluestreak Goby (Valenciennea strigata) is more than just a beautiful reef inhabitant — it’s a functional member of your cleanup crew. Graceful, hardworking, and endlessly entertaining, this goby enhances both the look and health of your marine aquarium. Ideal for hobbyists seeking a visually striking, beneficial, and peaceful bottom-dwelling fish.

Disclaimer: Photos are NOT of our own stock. Pictures from Google search. Colours may appear different in other aquariums due to variations in lighting conditions. Colours may also be influenced by your screen settings, such as brightness and contrast.