Peacock Gudgeons

Here are some pics of my new gudgeons. I'm not 100% sure of one of the females; it is possible it's really a young male. Time will tell.
The pic of the male reminded me to warn anyone getting these fish. You know how cat's eyes (the animal not the things in the road) glow in photos taken with flash? Peacock gudgeon eyes look opaque at certain angles. I'd forgotten that, but a few anxious minutes with a magnifying glass showed these white/blueish eyes are actually black and normal.

The pics are
A male
The three females
The female that might possibly not be

And finally, what happens when I go near the tank when the fish are due to be fed 

They are indeed ember tetras. They are a good example of what those pale orange little fish in the shop can look like when they've settled in.

And the big pale blurs are dwarf rainbows.

They are indeed ember tetras.

Thought so, saw some at the weekend - first time I'd come across any and rather liked the look of them. Nice to see them in an established tank.

When I first saw  the pic of The female that might not be I thought it was a pregnant female as it is rather portly!  Or had they just had tea?!!

Female peacock gudgeons/gobies do tend to have that shape, males less so but still that 'just stuffed themselves' look. They hadn't been fed, I fed them straight after I took the photos. I know what my fish are like when there is food in the tank - every photo would have had a streak across it as some fish or other chased down a bit of food. That's how I got the last photo, when they saw me they all clustered at the point where I drop the food in 


It is several years since I last had these gudgeons. It was before I had the 125 litre , so before 2006, and I just had a pair in my 60 litre tank. I finally remembered about the eyes after scaring myself when these looked as though they had cloudy eyes. I also remembered about males having a hump on their foreheads and females having a black edge to their anal fins - though the ones I've just got don't have much of a back stripe. And I know that juvenile males have a female shaped head till they mature - I got a trio originally last time but one grew up and turned out to be a male so I took him back. I recently read that males have longer anal and dorsal fins. Two of mine, the ones with lumpy foreheads, do have long fins while the other three, which also have yellowish bellies, have short fins.
Fingers crossed I've got 2m 3f.

What a shame, poor fishies    Hope the rest stay well.

Thank you both for kind words.
I suspect an internal infection of some kind. The bulging eyes on both sides of one of them, combined with the red all round them suggests something of the sort. And I know that without antibiotics there is very little chance of curing something like this.

That's sad news indeed.

Definitely does not need brackish water, quite the opposite in fact, prefers soft water. I suspect the people in the shop think that because it's often called Peacock Goby "it's a goby, gobies need brackish water", but in fact it's not a goby at all, just looks a bit like one.

Sorry to hear about your fish. I'd really like to get some at some point. Can I ask how you put a fish down? I have no idea.

I have to report a female has now gone. She was floating at the top of the tank yesterday, with bulging eyes and red abdomen. She was so far gone I put her down.

The remaining two females appear to be OK (for the moment at least). Last evening both were swimming round the tank in and out of the plants, nibbling at something on them. Fingers crossed they don't come down with whatever-it-is as well.

Since these fish have died/got sick within 2 weeks of buying them and no other species in the tank is showing symptoms, I think they had whatever-it-is when I got them. I know it was a Maidenhead Aquatics, but their branches do vary. I know someone who won't buy their fish from this MA, preferring to travel further to the next nearest one, because of the manager of this MA. Maybe they have a point