# Butis butis



## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

Just thought I'd toss in a picture of my latest find....a Duckbilled Gudgeon (_Butis butis_). The picture doesn't show it but in the right light he has the same evil blue sheen to his eyes as a lot of other gobies.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

omg! nice fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i cant find these anywhere around me... great find!


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

It came in with a mixed bunch of cichlids and was labelled 'juvenile pike cichlid'. The shop wanted $14.99 for him. When I told him that he was a goby they cut the price to $12.99. I let him sit in the shop for about a month and nobody else was interested so they sold him to me last night for $6.99. Couldn't pass up THAT deal!


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## ctarry (Nov 29, 2003)

nice fish









what kind of water is it kept in, cos they can survive in fresh, brackish and marine, and is it in the tank on it's own?


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

This one is in straight fresh water. The store had him that way for a month so I didn't want to upset the apple cart. He's in a tank with Tiger Barbs, some Blue Gouramis, some Red-tailed Rasboras and a few loaches. He ate flake food this morning but I'm sure he's going to prefer bloodworms, etc.


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## ctarry (Nov 29, 2003)




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## IDONTKARE47 (Jan 5, 2004)

thats cool


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

does he swim about alot or mostly rest on his pec fins on the gravel? Is that specimen just underfed, or are they normally really lean like that? how big do they get? how big is currently? They are a somewhat rare goby by aquarist standards?


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

So far he's been spending a lot of time swimming freely around the tank, eyeing my rasboras with lust (they're too big for him to swallow). I've noticed him perching on his pectorals occasionally but so far he seems pretty active.

_Butis butis_ is a fairly lean and mean fish by goby standards...not chunky like a number of other gudgeons. They've never been a common goby in pet shops in the U.S. because they're not super-colorful. This is the first one I've seen for sale in about 15 years.

Maximum size on these guys is about 6-7 inches. He's about 4 inches right now.


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

Update.....the goby isn't quite as lean and mean as he was. I peeked in the tank just in time to see the tips of the antennae of a ghost shrimp disappear down his gullet! The ghost shrimp were the 5 survivors of the 10 that I put in my tank a couple of weeks ago as food for my barbs, gouramis and loaches. The goby now has a belly!


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## KRSwop1 (Feb 17, 2003)

sorry don't mean to de rail your thread, but I'm not so sure that you have a butis butis. If you do, the he has to be smaller than 4 inches, like you said that he was. I have one now that is about four inches and the differences between mine and the pic of yours are quite noticeable. For one, your fish's fins are still transparent, while mine are almost completely brown. My fish's snout seems to be a bit more elongated than yours, and his eyes seem to be set back a little more than yours. Also you say that he's pretty active, but how in fact does he swim? Does it swim upside down or pause in the middle of the water motionless? I have noticed with mine that it doesn't seem to have a sense of what is up, down, left or right. He will swimm or perch on the top of the water upside down every onec in a while. Very strange fish, but awsome to see him ambush feeders.


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

Mine swims in typical 'crazy fish' fashion....upside down...sideways....clinging to the undersides of plant leaves....etc...etc. As far as I can tell he keys out as _Butis butis_ but there are a couple of other similar gobies like _Glossogobius_ species and, of course, other species of _Butis_. I'm going to work on getting some more careful spine and scale counts to verify the genus and species of this guy. For now I'll tenatively leave him as _Butis butis_.


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

nice fishy


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