I am a huge fan of goby in general for my marine tanks but the available species for freshwater have never been all that attractive. That has changed with the discovery of this little guy, a new species from China. Of course there is no saying if or when this fish would enter the hobby. Sometimes it happens quickly and others not at all. If this is a fish that is plentiful it might, if it is a fish that can be bred in captivity it most certainly will.
For me the most attractive goby commonly sold for freshwater is the yellow banded or bumble bee goby, but the sad thing is, it isn’t a freshwater goby, it’s a brackish water fish. That means people who buy it will quickly find it perishes in their freshwater tank. There is a second fish that goes by this same name which is more tolerant of freshwater but still isn’t a true freshwater fish.
Some other goby, like the marbled goby, get large and require huge tanks. There just hasn’t been any really good options in the hobby that have the coloration of a marine goby.
In the marine area of the hobby there are many goby from the beautiful yellow clown, to the incredible array of shrimp goby each species of this group hanging out with a pistol shrimp.
While marine goby are quite easy to keep, the freshwater species tend to shy, large, or difficult in some way to maintain or aren’t true freshwater species. For now we just have to look at photos of wonders like this new species and hope it becomes part of our hobby.
Rhinogobius maxillivirgatus is a new goby species described from freshwaters of Anhui Province in Eastern China. While we generally (and rightfully) perceive reef fish as more colorful, there are many freshwater fish that are very colorful.
Source: A new freshwater goby that gives any reef fish a run for its money