Discordipinna griessingeri Breeding Guide

The spikefin goby Discordipinna griessingeri is a reclusive sub-2 cm reef goby with no documented captive spawning. This guide summarises its biology and the difficulties of breeding it.

Overview

Discordipinna griessingeri, the spikefin goby, is a small goby of the family Gobiidae reaching only 10 to 22 mm standard length as an adult. It is mostly white with orange stripes along the body and the tall, protruding first dorsal fin and dark spots on the face. It occurs in the western Pacific, Pacific islands such as Hawai'i and Polynesia, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, occupying crevices and pockets in coral reef rock, rubble and sand between 2 and 50 m depth. It is reclusive and, despite the alternative name flaming prawn goby, is not associated with burrows or prawns.

Sexing

No reliable external sexing characters are documented for this species. Its reclusive, cryptic habits make any in-tank observation of paired behaviour difficult.

Breeding Setup

No captive-breeding protocol has been published. Given its crevice-dwelling natural habitat, a mature reef system with abundant live rock providing dark pockets would be a prerequisite even to keep the species, and any reproduction attempt would be experimental.

Common Challenges

The species' secretive habits and absence of published reproductive data are the main barriers. Like other small reef gobies it is expected to be a demersal egg-layer that would hide any eggs deep within reef structure, making egg detection and the rearing of small-mouthed larvae extremely difficult.