Surrufus Stiphodon

Published sizes for this goby disagree, and the gap is not trivial. FishBase lists it as reaching 2.1 cm standard length, from Watson and Kottelat's 1995 description, while aquarium references give 30 to 35 mm for the same species.

Stiphodon surrufus was described from a single creek on Leyte in the Philippines and has since been recorded on Okinawa and Yakushima in southern Japan, probably carried north as larvae on the Kuroshio Current. Adults live above waterfalls in clear, fast, well-oxygenated water running over bedrock and boulders.

That habitat sets the tank: a base of sixty by thirty centimetres, 54 litres, strong flow, strong light and mature rockwork, at 22-28 °C and pH 6.5-7.5. The lighting is not decorative. These gobies are specialised grazers with a long gut built for algae and biofilm, and they slowly starve on flake and bloodworm; many arrive in shops already thin, which is the usual reason a purchase fails.

Buy one male with two or more females, the smallest sensible group. Males are loosely territorial and display against each other rather than fight, and the species is safe with dwarf shrimp, with Caridina and Neocaridina both listed among suitable tankmates.