"Butterfly Goby" but it looks more like a grouper?

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:48 pm

After picking up some other fish and plants a few hours ago I saw a tank in the brackish area labeled "Butterfly Grouper: Warning Very dangerous, dorsal spine contains a toxic poison." So of course I'm getting intrested and curious. Looking at their bodies it seemed to be more of a grouper. To make it short I bought the largest one in the tank and its with my figure 8's and it seems they both know not to mess with one another.

Take a look for yourself:

Goby or grouper?

Sorry the little fella kept stopping and going and I couldn't get a clear shot of him.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:51 pm

Just a plain ole butterfly goby.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:51 pm

So it is a goby? Are they poisonous as they claimed it to be?

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:29 pm

Cool looking fish! I seem to recall seeing an article on these guys recently...but I can't remember where.

PP - what SG do they need? Any other known requirements like tank size, food (I think it's live/meaty foods), etc?

Eric

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Fri May 05, 2006 10:41 pm

So far (s)he has been eating beef heart, brine (live), and black worms (the puff daily mix.)

LFS had them at the SG of 1.008 (like my tank)

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Fri May 05, 2006 11:25 pm

That SG is fine. Brine shrimp isn't very nutritious & beefheart is for piranhas, not average aquarium fish. They are shy & slow swimmers & will get beat up by puffers.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sat May 06, 2006 10:10 pm

Mine is pretty active when the light goes on and the puffs don't even look at him as food.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Wed May 17, 2006 5:56 pm

After doing some research, seems that my hunch was right. These guys are actually part of the grouper/perch family.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed May 17, 2006 7:11 pm

How's he doing with your figure 8? I've never seen any locally...but I'd be tempted if I did to pick one up.

Eric

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:52 pm

He's doing great. No aggression directed at him nor any to the puffers from him. He is doing great and loving those black worms while the puffs are occupied with the krill at the surface.

Post by **nmonks** » Wed May 24, 2006 10:14 am

It's a fish called Neovespicula depressifrons and is a kind of waspfish rather than a grouper or goby. There's a bit more about them here, as well as a link to their FishBase page.

The sting is in the spines of the dorsal and pectoral fins. While probably not dangerous to most people, you do want to take care as the venom is reputed to be a very painful.

Cheers,

Neale

perek · Post by **perek** » Wed May 24, 2006 10:45 am

I want this fish.

perek · Post by **perek** » Wed May 24, 2006 2:24 pm

Would it go with two GSPs ya think?

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:12 pm

I've done my research on them the first few days I had him.

The sting is painful I hear but yet have I not experienced it. The 'wasp'fish title it gets is not directly a species name, but just another name it goes buy. Species wise it is in the perch/grouper family.

Perek I would not look at putting one with a GSP due to the following:

~This fish is faily active and will have strong competition for food.

~GSPs are very curious and if they decide they want a taste of of the wasp, they will be getting more then a chunk of meat.

Mine at the moment is doing great with 3 figure 8's and a dragon goby. I do have to selectivly feed the fella on his own occasionally because he likes clumps of blackworms not single ones... picky bugger....

perek · Post by **perek** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:51 pm

How much did you pay for one?

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"Butterfly Goby" but it looks more like a grouper?

"Butterfly Goby" but it looks more like a grouper?