🐠 Hector's Goby (Koumansetta hectori)
A Bluish-Black Body With Bright Yellow Horizontal Stripes • A Distinctive Dorsal Eyespot • A Valuable Natural Algae and Sand Grazer
 
📋 Hector's Goby, also known as Hector's Hover Goby, and sometimes listed under the older synonym Amblygobius hectori, has an attractive bluish-black body marked with bright yellow horizontal stripes, and a distinctive dark eyespot on the dorsal fin.
It comes from a wide range across the Indo-West Pacific, including the Red Sea, Seychelles, Micronesia, and the Philippines, inhabiting sheltered coral reefs, typically hovering just above sandy or rubble substrate shaded by large coral colonies. Every Hector's Goby we ship is feeding well.
A peaceful, hardy species, this goby is a valuable addition to a reef tank, actively sifting sand and grazing on hair algae and detritus. It's fully reef safe and won't bother invertebrates, though it can be territorial toward its own kind and other similar gobies or dartfish in smaller tanks. A charming natural behaviour: if housed with a pistol shrimp, this species can form a real symbiotic burrow-sharing relationship, and if kept as a pair, it may even spawn in a home aquarium. It reaches up to 8.5cm, so a 40L tank suits it well.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Bluish-Black Body With Yellow Stripes: A striking, popular nano goby
🌿 Fully Reef Safe: Won't harm corals or invertebrates
🪴 A Natural Algae Grazer: Actively sifts sand and consumes hair algae
🦐 A Pistol Shrimp Partnership: Can form a real symbiotic relationship if paired
🧠 Beginner Friendly: Hardy, easy to feed, and undemanding