First point is they are not a goby despite the fact that most Americans
and Europeans call them such. Gobies have fused pelvic fins, gudgeons
(also called sleepers) do not.
> Philypnodon is a genus of gudgeon (ELEOTRIDIDAE).
Just for the hell of it I figure I should mention that there is still a
little debate going over how to spell the family name. Some claim
Eleotridae is correct, some argue for Eleotrididae. Eschmeyer (California
Academy of Science--he has lists of all the described genera of fish and
is working on a full valid species list too! It's all on the web) seems
to be going for the former and he usually has this stuff nailed down
pretty good. And some people think our arguments on this list are
trivial......
> It is a relatively dull fish,
Dull?? How dare you call a gudgeon dull. It has more personality than
any rainbowfish just in it's anal fin. It may be drably coloured
though. :-) (which was probably what you really meant to say!) :-)
> The smaller species, is undiscribed (although people at the museum
> keep telling me that it will be soon).
Don't hold your breath. I still think you will be waiting at least three
years minimum. Hoese can't figure out if there is just one species of
dwarf, or a whole bunch of "geographic" species as they are quite
variable morphologically. He would love to get some genetic data first,
but I think he may just put a name on one population and just state that
there may be a number of species under that name.
> has more colour and pattern than its cousin.
Not really all that much more though, but granted it is the more
attractive by a long ways.
> The trouble is, this fish seems to be much more difficult to keep in a
> community tank.
Plus the little buggers really like to hide under things and rarely come
out!! Most of the gugeons seem to have a preference for "real" food,
meaning live or frozen stuff. I've only kept then a couple of times, but
I had no problems getting them to eat frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms.
> I suspect you have the first species, I just wonder who bothered to
> take them to the States!
I doubt that they are a Philypnodon, but stranger things have happened!
Cheers
Peter Unmack