Hector's Goby (Koumansetta Hectori)

Also Known As: Hector's Hover Goby, Striped Goby

Compatibility and Behavior
Hector's Goby (Koumansetta hectori) is a petite, slender nano fish that wears its stripes horizontally, running highlighter yellow-green lines the length of a dark olive body, and a small eyespot near the dorsal fin for extra contrast. In a smaller nano reef it reads like a tiny moving highlight tracing across the sand and rockwork. It's peaceful and reef safe, and it's a functional little fish rather than a bold centerpiece, spending much of its day hovering just above the sand and picking up small mouthfuls of substrate to graze filamentous algae and microfauna. That habit helps knock back film algae, hair algae, and traces of cyano on the sand and lower rock. It can show mild aggression toward other gobies when space is tight, so it's typically kept singly, and always with very calm, non-aggressive tankmates.

Aquarium Requirements
Like the other grazing gobies, this one wants a biologically mature tank, since natural algae and microfauna make up a real part of its daily diet. A well-established system around 10 to 30 gallons or larger with visible microalgae and light film growth on the rock and sand is ideal. Give it a fine sand bed to pick through and ample live rock with cracks, crevices, and sheltered overhangs to retreat into when startled, along with moderate flow and open sand flats where it spends most of its time working the bottom. A tight-fitting, gap-free lid is important, since like most gobies it can be spooked into jumping if threatened or chased. And because algae alone may not be enough in a very clean system, plan on small, frequent feedings of both meaty and algae-based foods to keep its body condition strong, offering spirulina-based foods and quality pellets alongside fine frozen items like mysis, enriched brine, and copepods.

Specifications
Approximate Size: 0.75–1.5"
Diet: Omnivore with strong herbivore tendencies; grazes filamentous and film algae, microfauna, and detritus, supplemented with spirulina-based foods, quality pellets, and fine frozen foods such as mysis, enriched brine, and copepods
Origin: Indo-West Pacific and Red Sea
Care Level: Moderate
Reef Safe: Yes
Temperament: Peaceful
Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons
Special Considerations: Grazes on natural algae and microfauna, so it does best in an established tank and should be supplemented with small, frequent meaty and algae-based feedings in very clean systems; can jump, so a gap-free lid is recommended