Old Glory Fish

Facts about the Old Glory Fish, it is a popular name for Rainford’s Goby.
All in a Name
The Old Glory Goby is a popular name for the Court Jester Goby, Rainford’s Goby, red lined goby, red striped goby and sleeper gobies. The Old Glory scientific name is Amblygobius rainfordi. Old Glory are part of the Amblygobius genus and Gobiidae family. The Amblygobius rainfordi goby, also called Koumansetta rainfordi, was first identified in 1940. Old Glory became popular in the aquarium trade after 1990.

Physical Description

These Old Glory fish reach two and a half inches in length. The Old Glory are green and blue with bright orange stripes that run their entire length. The Old Glory have five blue edged stripes. The Old Glory have five white spots on the base of the dorsal fin. There is a black ocellus or fake eye spot on the middle of the second dorsal fin as well as one at the base of the caudal fin. The Old Glory resemble the nocturne goby, crosshatch goby and Hector’s goby. However, the nocturne goby burrows more while the crosshatch goby doesn’t need algae as much.
Behavior
The Old Glory fish is often bullied by hawkfish and dottybacks. Avoid putting them in a tank with hawkfishes and sand perches. However, unlike many other gobies, they will not retreat to a burrow if disturbed. And while the Old Glory hover around the bottom of the tank, they are often seen in the open.
The Old Glory fish is relatively peaceful except to related species like Hector’s goby. The Old Glory are social, and you can enjoy watching them in groups of five or more if you have the space. However, even pairs of opposite genders may not get along. The more dominant fish will chase the smaller one. They spend a lot of time hovering in the water column instead of hiding in shelters.
These Old Glory fish sift the sand for spaghetti worms and copepods. The Old Glory will not damage most coral or invertebrates like clams or hermit crabs.
These omnivores need algae to stay healthy and do best where there is filamentous algae. You know they are malnourished if they have sunken dorsal musculature and a curved back. The Old Glory do best with live rock and sand. The Old Glory take mouthfuls of sand and sift it through gill rakers for small invertebrates to eat.
You can feed them live and frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. The Old Glory can also be fed small crustaceans, chopped squid and chopped krill.
These Old Glory fish are considered relatively easy to take care of. Their ideal environment is the standard salt water aquarium with water between 74F and 80F. The best water conditions are a water hardness of 8 to 12 dKH and pH of 8.1 to 8.4.

Habitat

This Old Glory fish needs at least a ten gallon tank. Twenty gallons is better.
The Old Glory fish are reef compatible. In the wild, they live in tropical reefs in depths of two meters to thirty meters. They are found hovering along the bottom of the reef within two feet or half a meter of the sand.

Range

The Old Glory fish are native to the western and central Pacific. The Old Glory are mostly found in Vanatu and Indonesia. The Old Glory are distributed along the Great Barrier Reef up to Fiji and the Philippines.

Trivia

This Old Glory fish is named for the bright stripes on its body that resemble those on the American flag.