| Scientific Name: |
Valenciennea sexguttata |
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| Species Authority: | Valenciennes, 1837 |
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| Family: |
Gobiidae |
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| Common Name: |
Sixspot Sleeper Goby, White Sleeper Goby, Ladder Glider Goby, Sechspunkt Schläfergrundel (DE) |
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| Distribution: | Indo-Pacific: Red Sea, Persian Gulf and East Africa to Samoa; north to Yaeyama Islands, Ryukyu Islands, south to Queensland, Australia. |
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| Environment: |
Reef-associated; marine; depth range 1 to 10 meters. Inhabits silty or sandy areas of lagoons and bays, usually in pairs and lives in a burrow under rocks. Commonly seen in aggregations over large areas in lagoons of atolls. |
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| Reef Safe: | Yes |
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| Minimum Tank Size: | 200 liters - Preferrably larger. |
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| Tank Set-up: | Marine aquarium with live sand, corals, live rocks / rocks, macroalgae. The sand is particularly important as they build their shelter by digging burrows and feed off the bottom as they sift through the sand eating mouthfuls of substrate and the food that lives within the sand. They should be kept in a tank with fine, soft substrate that will not damage their gills as they sift. |
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| Water Region: | Bottom |
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| Lighting: | Medium |
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| Water Flow: | Normal flow found in reef tanks or fish only tanks. |
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| Size: |
Up to 14 cm |
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| Lifespan: |
No reliable information available. Relatively short lived in the home aquaria. |
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| Diet: |
Carnivore. The diet should include a variety of live and frozen brine shrimp, mysid shrimp, live black worms, and prepared foods for carnivores, and they should be fed frequently. In the wild, their natural diet consists mainly of benthic invertebrate. |
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| Temperament: |
Peaceful. Rarely becomes aggressive towards other fish. Can form monogamous pairs. They can be territorial and exhibit aggresssion with conspecifics unless they are a mated pair. |
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| Care Level: |
Moderate |
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| Resilience: | High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months |
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| Reproduction: | Egg layer. Male and female pairs will dig their own burrow(s), excavating sand from underneath rocks. |
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| Gender: |
No reliable informaiton available. |
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| Special Requirement/s: |
There are reports of Valenciennea sexguttata starving in home aquaria due to their feeding habits. It is important to have the tank mature at least for 6 months for the microfauna to be established in the tank, especially within the sand. They are sand sifters and would benefit with an attached populated refugium. They should be maintained in pairs (m/f) if at all possible. |
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| Red List Status: | Not Evaluated |
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