The Linki Goby, Amblygobius linki, is an interesting fish that was introduced to the hobby by Biota Palau just a little over a year ago. Now that I’ve had my pair of Linki gobies for most of that time, I thought it’d be cool to introduce you to this rare reef fish and tell you five things that I love about this species in a reef aquarium.
They have a unique appearance – Linki gobies are boldly striped with black and white lines, and there’s few other reef fish that look like it. Save for the Red Sea sankey dottyback, the black and white pattern is unique in Linki gobies, and it makes them stand out in any aquarium lighting. Also, subtle hints of red spots and flecks are present in the dorsal fins when the fish matures.
They’re a perfect ‘large’ nano fish – We’re all pretty much familiar with the small rainfords and hector’s gobies, and the larger dragon gobies, but the Linki goby falls right in the middle of their size ranges. You wouldn’t put a dragon goby in a 20 gallon tank, and you’re likely to lose track of rainford’s a hector’s gobies in a large reef tank, so the linki goby topping out at a solid three inches is a perfect addition to both small and large aquariums.
They eat algae!! – It’s well known that Amblygobius and Koumansetta gobies eat algae, but their appetite for it varies from species to species. Since they’re not that large, but also not quite nano, the Linki gobies are a perfect size for a fish to eat algae in nano and medium sized reef tanks.
Unless you add an army of them they’re not going to ‘take care’ of algae problems, but I was surprised at the amount of algae they’ve knocked back in my own tanks. I don’t have pervasive algae or anything, but before I had the yellow tang or ANY kind of algae eaters, I noticed the Linki gobies putting a dent in certain patches of Derbesia hair algaes – they are especially good at ripping up little strands of unwanted algaes I get on frags and new corals before these can develop into any kind of problem.
They are peaceful reef tank fish – I have a surprisingly large number of fish in my 60 gallon reef tank, including five dartfish, a royal gramma, a plectranthias, sunburst anthias, yellow tang, yellow assessor, and a banggai cardinalfish. In the year since I’ve had the pair of Linki gobies they’ve only ever shown the slightest amount of aggression, and only towards each other.
They are a Palau exclusive reef fish – The linki goby is part of an elite group of aquarium fish that are ONLY available captive bred. Coming only from the west Pacific Ocean, the Linki goby is not available to the aquarium hobby from anyone but Biota Palau, and buying fish like these helps supports captive breeding efforts of other exciting reef fish, notably including Biota’s captive bred Mandarins and Coral Beauty angelfish.
