Scarlet Goby

About

The scarlet goby reached the aquarium trade in September 2010 and the goby world briefly lost its head. Everybody had to have one — but the price was so high that the first consignment made no great splash, and the hope that people would soon be breeding the fish went with it. Sixteen years later it still mostly is not bred. What the money buys is a fish from one mountain. The type locality is a stream on Lianhua Mountain in Haifeng County, Guangdong; the species holds only a handful of streams around it, in the highest reaches, above the three other Rhinogobius that share the watershed. The IUCN rates it Endangered, and one of the criteria behind that listing is decline driven by exploitation — for a 4 cm fish with no food or sport fishery, that means the aquarium trade. Nearly every one on sale is taken from the wild. A male costs about $35 in the United States; the white-cheek gobies it gets confused with cost $15–20. Identification matters, because the label usually will not help: most Rhinogobius reaching importers are sold under the blanket trade name white cheek gobies. Look at the cheek. An adult male scarlet goby has an unmarked one — no pigment on the cheek or the branchiostegal membrane — plus no black spot on the first dorsal fin, a broad white band on every median fin, and six to eight red blotches down the flank. The white-cheek gobies of the Rhinogobius duospilus complex, which is what most red-and-white Chinese gobies in shops actually are, do the opposite: adult males carry oblique stripes across the cheek, and they reach 6.2 cm standard length where this fish stops at 3.6 cm. A striped cheek on a five-centimetre goby is a different species, whatever the tank card says. The last thing to know is that the shop copy oversells it. Retail listings call it hardy and easy to spawn; the people who have actually spawned it describe a fish that is neither. It has been bred, and it is not an easy task. Males are far more interested in each other than in the females, they mouth-fight for rank, and the small mouth injuries that follow infect almost immediately — one experienced breeder lost three adult males within days of putting them back together. Inexperienced fathers eat the eggs, and males kept in stale water go infertile, which is the clue to the whole animal: it comes from a headwater close to its spring, far from any pollution, with very few other fish around it.

Care

Cool, fast, clean and slightly alkaline: 19–24 °C, pH 7.0–7.8, 90–215 ppm hardness. That is a room-temperature tank in a heated house, not a tropical one, and a heater set to 26 °C for the tetras is the usual slow way to kill this fish. Build a stream — rocks of mixed sizes, sand, fine gravel and water-worn boulders, with pipes, pots and driftwood arranged into nooks and shaded spots that break lines of sight. It cannot tolerate an accumulation of organic waste, so 30–50 % weekly water changes are routine rather than optional; sloppy maintenance shows up first as infertile males. Torrent conditions are unnecessary, but a high proportion of dissolved oxygen and real water movement are not, so run a power filter, a powerhead or an airstone. The smallest sensible footprint is 60 × 30 cm, and a tight lid is wise: these gobies grip glass with a fused pelvic disc. Buy a group rather than a pair — at least two males and as many or more females, because kept short of company they turn listless and inactive. Males spar and rarely do serious damage where there is cover, but the fighting is done with mouths and mouth damage is what kills them, so give more floor than the minimum. Upstairs neighbours: Tanichthys, Microdevario or small danios. Not dwarf shrimp, which are simply eaten, and not other Rhinogobius — nobody yet knows whether the species can hybridise.

Diet

Small-invertebrate carnivore. Frozen or live bloodworm, mosquito larvae, Artemia and mysis; live blackworm to bring it into condition. Dry food is tolerated without enthusiasm and will not sustain it. Eats dwarf shrimp and fry, its own included.

Telling males from females

What works for this species, most reliable first.

• Colour and patternA hint only · from about 6 months, and only on a settled fish

  In rainbowfish, killifish and several barbs the male carries the colour — deeper and more saturated, intensifying further when he displays.

Also in these lists

Similar species

Same category and the closest water parameters — if this species isn't quite it, start here.

Sold in Lithuania

These Lithuanian shops listed this species in their public catalogue (checked August 8, 2026). Stock moves — ask before you travel.

These links are unpaid: we get nothing for them and ask for nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What tank size does a Scarlet Goby need?

A Scarlet Goby needs an aquarium of at least 60 litres (15.9 US gallons) with a footprint at least 60 cm (23.6 in) long — for this species, swimming length matters as much as raw volume.

What water parameters does a Scarlet Goby need?

Scarlet Goby does best at 19–24 °C (66.2–75.2 °F), pH 7–7.8 and a general hardness of 5–12 °dGH.

What group size does a Scarlet Goby need?

Scarlet Goby is a social species — keep a group of at least 4 so natural behaviour emerges and stress stays low.

Is the Scarlet Goby suitable for beginners?

Scarlet Goby is a demanding species best attempted with some experience — it needs stable, closely watched conditions to thrive.

Sources

• Seriously Fish — Rhinogobius zhoui (Li & Zhong, 2009)
• FishBase — Rhinogobius zhoui Li & Zhong, 2009
• AMAZONAS Magazine — Zhou's Vermilion Goby (Jutta Bauer)
• Tropical Fish Hobbyist — The Chinese Vermilion Goby (Stan Sung)
• Practical Fishkeeping — How to keep Rhinogobius gobies (September 2009)
• Dan's Fish — Scarlet Goby, Male (Rhinogobius zhoui)
• The Wet Spot Tropical Fish — Rhinogobius cf. duospilus "White Cheek Goby"