🐠 Yellow Goatfish (Mulloidichthys vanicolensis)
A Silvery-Yellow Body With a Bold Golden Stripe • Blends In With Bluestripe Snappers • An Active, Peaceful Sand Sifter
 
📋 The Yellow Goatfish, also known as the Yellowfin, Goldstripe, or Yellowstripe Goatfish, has an elongated, cylindrical, pale silvery-yellow body with a bold, blue-edged golden stripe from the eye to the tail, and a pair of long sensory barbels under the chin that detect prey buried in the sand. It's the same species as our Goldstripe Goatfish, sold under its other common name.
It lives in large daytime schools around coral reefs and sandy areas across the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific, and it has a fascinating trick: in the Red Sea it schools with bluestripe snappers by day and shifts its colour to look like them, then splits up at night to feed alone. In the aquarium it's an active, peaceful, social fish that sifts the sand for food without harming corals. Every Yellow Goatfish we ship is feeding well.
It grows to up to 38cm, so give it a roomy tank (we recommend at least 470L), a sand bed to sift, and a tight lid, since goatfish are known jumpers. It leaves corals alone, but it will sift out worms and small crustaceans, and it's happiest in a small group of its own kind.
 
💡 Highlights
🎨 Silvery-Yellow Body, Golden Stripe: An active, eye-catching schooling fish
🐟 Blends In With Snappers: Shifts its colour to school with bluestripe snappers
🍽️ Ships Feeding Well: Every Yellow Goatfish we send is eating confidently
👃 Sensory Barbels: Detect buried prey in the sand
🌿 Reef Safe With Caution: Won't harm corals, but eats worms and small crustaceans