Butterfly goby,s warning

[david emmett]

I promise that sooner than later I will learn not to buy anything from my lfs without first checking here to know what I,m getting into. Anyway the other day when I was up at my lfs I asked what I could put into a 20g tank that all I had in there was 2 gourami [dwarf,s] I said I wanted something neat looking so they showed me the butterfly gobies ,I thought they were pretty neat and brought them home. Well nobody told me first that they are brackish and even more so that they had a nasty sting that they could give you and yes they did get me .So if anybody has some helpful advice in keeping these fish I,d be grateful. Thanx Dave E P S If anyone can tell me if its safe to put these in with my puffers[ one leopard and one ceylon in a 29g] thanx again

[BeelzeBob]

well first they arent even real gobies.
look up "wasp fish" on google.
they are actually related to stone fish and lion fish.
give them a nice place to hide, and a sandy gravel substrate that is close to their coloration and definitally strive for BRACKISH water.
if you get stung again, squeeze that s@&* out immediatly. the more you get out the less it will hurt, and the quicker it goes away.
if your puffers don't nip his fins, and you keep him fed, you shouldn't have compatability problems.

[cherrypie]

Very cool looking fish, would like one myself.

If stung again I would suggest try immersing the affected area in hot water (as hot as you can comfortably tolerate), this is standard first aid procedure for pain reduction in lion fish, stone fish and stingray stings.