The adaptable Ornate Sleeper Goby (Giuris margaritacea)

The Ornate Sleeper Goby (Giuris margaritacea) is also known as the Snakehead gudgeon, and the Aporos sleeper goby and is the lone member of its genus. Though its common names imply it comes from the goby or invasive snakehead family, it is neither. It belongs to the family Eleotridae and is found in a large array of environments including freshwater, brackish, and marine settings. It also has an extensive geographic range from Africa, New Guinea, Australia as well as Melanesia and Madagascar. They are found in relatively shallow water, rarely found deeper than 15 feet (~5 meters). Adults tend to prefer freshwater to slightly brackish settings such as estuaries and inshore rivers and swamps including floodplains with muddy bottoms. They are plant spawners and will aggregate around dense aquatic vegetation. Their diet mainly consists of aquatic insects, but smaller specimens will also graze on algae. In the home aquarium, you can start them on live blackworms and enriched live brine before attempting to ween them onto frozen foods. Adults can attain a length of just under 10 inches (~25cm).