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Algae Grower
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Peacock Gudgeons are one of the most beautiful and interesting freshwater fish. They come from Papua New Guinea and are a member of the Sleeper Goby group, but unlike most other sleepers, they can be seen swimming throughout the entire aquarium. They are also known as Eyespot Sleeper Gobies because of the black eyespot that can be found on their tail. Their colors appear to change under different light, but their base color is a pale iridescent pink-purple-blue with darker pink, orange, yellow, and black markings.
Sexing this fish is relatively easy, as mature males are usually larger than females and have an obvious cephalic hump along with dorsal and anal fins lined in yellow, while females lack the cephalic hump, and their fins are lined in black. Females also have a rounded belly much like females of P. pulcher, but where P. pulcher is crimson the female T. ocellicauda is yellow. The eyes of the male fish will sometimes reflect red-orange, while the eyes of the female appear black.
They are very peaceful and timid and can be housed comfortably with other peaceful, slow moving fish. They are good candidates for the planted aquarium because they will not eat or uproot plants. They are not aggressive, but males can be territorial, so it is important that each gudgeon has its own cave to defend. After spawning, males will defend the eggs, but once they hatch the male will likely eat them so fry are best reared artificially.
They can be difficult to feed, as they will not usually accept flake, pellet, or freeze dried food. They prefer live foods such as worms and artemia, but can be persuaded to accept frozen food with time. They are slow feeders and should not be housed with fast moving fish, including tetras and danios, because they will likely be unable to compete for food.
I have a Peacock Gudgeon in a small community tank with otos, corydoras, bumblebee gobies, and guppies. The Peacock seems to enjoy or at least tolerate the addition of salt (1/4 tsp per gallon), and is peaceful toward all of its tankmates but will not pass up the opportunity to snack on a few guppy fry. It will occasionally hide among the plants and sneak out at snatch an unsuspecting fry, however there are still many fry in the tank after several months and it seems to only eat the youngest ones (less than about two weeks old). It may be beneficial then to house this difficult feeder with at least one female guppy in the presence of a male so that a food source will always be available. For this same reason, it may be wise to avoid shrimp as tankmates as they will likely become a meal.
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