Yellow-lined shrimpgoby
Vanderhorstia flavilineata
The Yellow-lined shrimpgoby features a streamlined body with a pale background and distinctive yellow horizontal stripes along its sides.
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About the Yellow-lined shrimpgoby
This is a tiny sand-dwelling shrimp goby from Papua New Guinea that likes to hover right at the front door of a burrow and bolt inside when it gets spooked. In the wild it hangs out with an alpheid (pistol) shrimp in a rubble-lined burrow, which is exactly why it does best in a tank with a sand bed and some small rubble pieces it can use as "building material." Those yellow lines and little head spots pop way more than you'd expect from a fish that barely breaks an inch.
Also known as
Quick Facts
Size
2.7 cm SL
Temperament
Peaceful
Difficulty
Intermediate
Min Tank Size
30 gallons
Lifespan
2-5 years
Origin
Western Pacific (Papua New Guinea)
Diet
Carnivore - small meaty foods (mysis, brine, copepods/amphipods), frozen and live
Water Parameters
22.2-25.6°C
8.1-8.4
8-12 dGH
Need a heater for this species?
This species needs 22.2-25.6°C in a 30 gallon tank. Use our heater calculator to find the right wattage.
Calculate heater sizeCare Notes
- Give it a sand bed (2-3 inches) with a mix of fine sand and a little rubble or shell bits - they want to dig and park at a burrow entrance all day.
- If you can, add a pistol shrimp (Alpheus sp.) and some small rock pieces near the sand so they can build; without a shrimp they still do fine, just more skittish and you will see them perch instead of fully settling in.
- Keep salinity steady around 1.025-1.026 and run reef-ish temps (about 76-79F); they hate big swings more than they hate slightly imperfect numbers.
- Feed like a bottom-dweller: small meaty stuff (mysis, brine with enrichment, chopped shrimp, roe, good pellets) and shoot it right to the burrow with a baster so faster fish do not steal every bite.
- Cover the tank - they can bolt when spooked, especially in new setups or when bullied, and jumpers from gobies are a classic heartbreak.
- Tankmates: peaceful fish only (clownfish, small wrasses that are not aggressive, cardinals, firefish) and avoid hawkfish, big dottybacks, triggers, or anything that treats small gobies like snacks.
- Watch for them slowly starving in a busy community tank; a healthy one has a nice rounded belly and comes out for food instead of lurking and getting pinched in.
- Breeding is possible but not casual: they spawn in the burrow and the male guards, then you get tiny pelagic larvae that need live foods and a separate rearing setup - fun project, not a 'oops babies' situation.
Compatibility
Good Tankmates
- Pistol shrimp (Alpheus spp.) - this is the classic buddy-up. The goby stands guard and the shrimp digs. If you want to see the fish acting natural, this is the #1 pick.
- Clownfish (ocellaris or percula) - usually fine since they stick to their little zone and do not mess with the burrow. Just avoid extra-territorial clowns in tiny tanks.
- Firefish (Nemateleotris spp.) and other calm dartfish - peaceful, keeps to midwater, and does not compete for the goby's burrow space.
- Small, mellow wrasses like a pink-streaked wrasse or possum wrasse - active but not generally mean, and they cruise the rockwork instead of bullying the sandbed.
- Blennies that mind their own business (tailspot, bi-color if it is not a jerk) - usually they perch on rocks and do not harass a shrimpgoby. Watch for the occasional grumpy individual.
- Peaceful reef-safe tangs and rabbitfish (in appropriate tank sizes) - they are big but mostly ignore a shy bottom goby, and they are not hunting it.
Avoid
- Dottybacks (especially royal dottyback types) - they can be little terrors, stake out caves, and will hassle a timid goby or steal the burrow area.
- Hawkfish (flame, longnose) - not always a guaranteed disaster, but they are perch-and-pounce fish and can absolutely eat shrimp and intimidate a shrimpgoby hanging near the sand.
- Big, bossy wrasses (six-line that turns mean, melanurus, etc.) - the constant zipping and occasional bullying can keep the goby pinned in its hole and stressed.
- Predators and sand-stirrers that see gobies and shrimp as snacks (groupers, lionfish, large anglers, big triggers) - they will eat the goby, the pistol shrimp, or both sooner or later.
Where they come from
Yellow-lined shrimpgobies (Vanderhorstia flavilineata) are little sand-sitters from Indo-Pacific reefs and lagoons. You usually find them on open sand near rubble, posted up at a burrow entrance with a pistol shrimp doing the construction work. That partnership is the whole vibe of this fish.
Setting up their tank
Think "open sand, stable rock, low drama." They do best when they can claim a patch of sand and not get blasted around by chaotic flow.
- Tank size: 20 gallons is workable for one, but 30+ gives you a nicer sand zone and fewer spats with neighbors.
- Sand bed: fine to medium sand, around 2-3 inches. They like to sift and the shrimp (if you add one) will move a surprising amount of it.
- Rockwork: place rocks on the glass or a stable base, then add sand. Burrowers can undermine rocks if they sit on the sand.
- Flow: moderate. Aim for a calmer sandy corner so the burrow entrance does not constantly collapse.
- Cover: a tight lid. These gobies can jump, especially early on or if startled at night.
- Lighting: whatever your reef runs is fine. They do not care, but they appreciate shaded spots near the burrow.
If you want the classic pairing, add a compatible pistol shrimp (often Alpheus randalli, depending on what is available/identified locally). Put a little rubble and a couple small shells on the sand where you want the burrow to start. It gives the shrimp building materials and helps them settle faster.
Do not count on them to "find" a shrimp across a huge tank right away. If you are adding both, I have had the best luck introducing them close together near the same sand patch with lights dimmed.
What to feed them
They are small-mouthed micropredators. In my tanks, the ones that do best are the ones that learn frozen foods quickly and get a couple small feedings a day at first.
- Great staples: frozen mysis (smaller pieces), brine shrimp (enriched), finely chopped krill, Calanus, copepod blends.
- Nice extras: live copepods if you can culture them, or bottled pods to help new arrivals settle in.
- Pellets: some will take tiny sinking pellets once established, but do not assume they will on day one.
- Feeding style: target feed near the burrow entrance. They are bold once settled, but they will not compete well with pigs.
New yellow-lined shrimpgobies often act interested in food but miss it a lot at first. Use a turkey baster or pipette and gently "rain" small bits right in front of them. After a week or two, most get the hang of it.
How they behave and who they get along with
This is a watch-their-little-face kind of fish. They hover at the burrow, dart out to grab food, then reverse back in like a tiny submarine. If paired with a pistol shrimp, you will see the goby keep a fin or its tail in contact with the shrimp while the shrimp bulldozes sand. Super cool behavior.
Temperament is generally peaceful, but they are territorial about their burrow. They do not want another sand goby moving in next door.
- Good tankmates: other peaceful reef fish that stay in the water column (clownfish, small fairy wrasses, cardinals, firefish if your tank is calm).
- Use caution with: other bottom perchers (watchman gobies, other shrimpgobies, scooter blennies/dragonets in smaller tanks) because food and real estate overlap.
- Avoid: aggressive fish that harass the sand bed (dottybacks that bully, big hawkfish that hunt shrimp, larger wrasses that flip rocks and pester).
- Reef safety: generally reef-safe. They might snack on tiny pods, but they do not pick at corals.
If you add a pistol shrimp, assume it may rearrange frags on the sand and occasionally dump sand on nearby corals. Keep corals up on rocks, and give the burrow zone some breathing room.
Breeding tips
They can spawn in captivity, usually as a bonded pair using the burrow as a nest. The male tends to guard eggs inside the burrow, and you may just notice the pair getting more secretive and the male fanning more.
Raising the babies is the hard part. Larvae are tiny and need live planktonic foods (rotifers first, then copepods/Artemia as they grow) and clean, stable rearing setups. If you are not already set up for marine larval rearing, treat spawning as a bonus behavior to enjoy rather than a project you must complete.
If you want to try, your best starting point is: stable pair, lots of live foods for conditioning, and a plan for collecting larvae (they go pelagic). A simple snagger at lights-out can work, but you need food cultures running ahead of time.
Common problems to watch for
Most issues with this species are really "new fish" problems: stress, not eating, or getting outcompeted. Once they settle and are taking frozen food, they are pretty steady.
- Not eating: common in the first week. Try smaller foods, live pods, and target feeding near the burrow. Reduce competition at feeding time.
- Jumping: happens during acclimation, after a scare, or at night. A tight lid and covered gaps fix 99% of it.
- Burrow collapses: too coarse sand, too much direct flow, or not enough rubble. Fine sand plus a few pebble-sized bits helps.
- Being bullied: they freeze and stop coming out. Rearrange rockwork, add more hiding spots, or move the aggressor. They do not do well under constant pressure.
- Parasites (ich/velvet): they are not unusually prone, but they are small and can go downhill fast. Quarantine and observation are your friend.
If your goby is breathing hard, staying out in the open, and acting "spaced out" after a new addition or a temperature/salinity swing, do not wait it out. Check ammonia, temperature, and salinity right away and be ready to move it to a quiet, stable hospital tank if something is off.
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