The Oh-So-Beautiful Bella

Valenciennea bella is a beautiful Goby; part of a group we often call Sleeper or Sifter Gobies. Of the two names, Sifter is more appropriate, because these gobies never seem to sleep, and never seem to stop sifting (a topic we'll revisit). Valenciennea genus Gobies were all named for Achille Valenciennes, a zoologist from the 1800s who was more famous for his work with mollusks and parasitic worms than anything with fish. The “Bella” portion of the name is interesting as depending on the root language, it could mean “beautiful” and this is likely the prettiest (and perhaps rarest) of the Sleeper Gobies, but it could also mean “wars.” This is not a fish you'll commonly see in your LFS, but when you do, they'll probably be called Bella Goby, or Bella Sleeper Goby, as they really don't have any other common names in English.

In the wild, Valenciennea bella is a shallow water fish, almost always being collected in under 100 feet of water. They're relatively common in the tropical waters of southern Japan around Okinawa. There is suitable habitat for them throughout the Indo-Pacific region, though the only other population of Bella Gobies to be found comes from the Philippines. They are always near shallow water reefs where there is a sandy or silty bottom, in which they make burrows. Sometimes these burrows will have two openings and even doors (generally a small shell or something similar that can be easily moved). They are always found either singly or in mated pairs, that they will maintain for life if possible. New pairs are often formed, even in captivity. These pairs will work together, taking turns burrowing and eating or acting as a lookout.

This is one of the smallest Valenciennea Gobies, rarely getting bigger than three inches long. As a result, they don't require a large aquarium based on their size and territory needs. They will do better in tanks that have a larger footprint (vs more depth), so they have more sand to work. We suggest a 40-gallon breeder tank or larger for a mated pair, and if possible, they should be kept in pairs. This display should be covered, as they can jump out of a tank when startled. There should be sparse rockwork, that is very secure and stable on the bottom of the tank, and not on top of the sand, as Bella Gobies love to dig, and will surely topple unstable rocks. A sand bed is required, and it should be an inch or two deep; don't worry, they'll keep it turned over and clean. This sand should have a relatively small grain size, less than two millimeters, so that the Goby can sift it.

On the topic of sifting, the reason these fish are often called “Sifter Gobies” is that they spend their days taking mouthfuls of sand and passing it through their mouths, and it ejects out under their gill plates. As they do this, they not only turn over, clean and oxygenate the sand, but they're also feeding. In the wild, this behavior is how they would find the majority of small invertebrates they live on like copepods, amphipods, small worms etc. Feeding Bella gobies enough is the primary difficulty of keeping them. In the wild, they can sift a very large area for food, over ten square feet. This is nearly impossible for most people to replicate in the home aquarium, so the Gobies need to be fed often and well. We suggest you feed them no less than three times a day. In house we feed them a mix of thawed meaty foods from Gamma including Mysis, all sorts of enhanced Brine, Copepods, Mini Bloodworms, Tubifex, and Finely Chopped Prawn and Mussel. We also introduce them to Nutramar Pellets, and here we like the Algae and Color Boost Shots as a portion of this fish's diet in the wild is the algal matter sifted from the sand. If your fish are getting skinny, up the food right away. If they are picky about what you're feeding them, try some live loaded brine or live tubifex, both are easily cultured, and also frequently available from your Local Fish Store.

The Bella Goby's interesting (and borderline obsessive) sand bed filtering is a double-edged sword. On one edge, there is absolutely no other critter in the marine aquarium hobby that cleans substrate remotely as well. A pair of Bella Gobies will clean and overturn an aquarium's sand bed better than an army of snails, stars, urchins, crabs, you name it. This feeding mechanism gives them one of their names, and is both their defining characteristic, and their one big catch. You see, they don't really care where the sand goes once, they filter it. So, the location of your sand in your aquarium will change over time, and any corals you have directly on the sand will be buried sooner or later, which kills most sand bed appropriate corals. If a big gorgeous Trachyphyllia is on your must have list, then Valenciennea genus Gobies can't be.

And you know what, they're worth that catch. This is a superbly good aquarium fish. They'll get along well with pretty much everything that isn't another Sleeper Goby (unless it's a pair, obv). The only caution we'd give you about keeping other fish is things that could eat the goby, like Groupers, some Eels etc, and things that are super-fast, active and aggressive that would scare the Bella Gobies into hiding. With a fish that needs this much feeding, you can't have them scared during feeding times. They are very unlikely to bother any corals directly, outside of the sand filtering, so with careful choices and appropriate flow, they could be adopted to some reef tanks.

Lastly, when well fed, Bella Gobies are very hardy, being resistant to most common aquarium ailments. They are incredibly active and interesting to watch. Valenciennea bella is easily the most colorful and striking of the Sleeper Gobies that are available in the hobby. We don't suggest adding them to tanks with sand bed corals, or to aquariums that feature a DSB (deep sand bed) as the Gobies can actually over work the sand in those systems. If you don't have either of these, ask your favorite fishy retailer about getting you a pair of Bella Gobies from Quality Marine!