Lightly Medicated | Two Spot Goby

What “Lightly Medicated” means

This is the same animal as our non-quarantined listing, held briefly in our systems and given one short prophylactic course — a light treatment for ich and for internal and external worms — then observed eating in front of us before it goes home.

A light course knocks the parasite load down. It does not guarantee full removal, and we will not pretend otherwise. Ich is only killed in its free-swimming stage, and a short treatment window can miss cysts entirely; worm burdens can survive a single dose. Clearing an animal takes the full quarantine window — 40 to 90 days depending on the species — which is exactly what the Quarantined listing is for. This tier buys you a lower parasite load and a fish we have watched eat, not a cleared animal.

We condition the fish on our end. Every animal we medicate is brought back onto prepared food on our own systems and is eating before it leaves — in practice it is rare for a lightly medicated fish to ship out and arrive sick. Do the same at your end: get it eating in your aquarium before you count it settled.

When it ships

Plan on 5–7 days on our systems for the treatment course, and it does not leave until it is eating. If the animal is not already in our systems we source it first — allow up to two weeks for it to reach us before that clock starts. From the day you order, plan on roughly three weeks in total.

The guarantees

• Shipped orders: 24-hour live guarantee from confirmed delivery.
• In-store pickup: 7-day live guarantee — bring a water sample from your aquarium so we can test it before your livestock goes home with you.

Want the full program — treated, observed, confirmed eating, and covered for 28 days on pickup? That is the Quarantined listing. Run your own quarantine and just want the fish this week? The non-quarantined listing is cheaper still. The whole ladder is explained in Quarantined vs Non-Quarantined.

Two Spot Gobies (Signigobius biocellatus) get their name from the pair of prominent false eyespots along their dorsal and anal fins — a decoy pattern that draws a predator’s strike toward the tail end of the body rather than the actual head, which is a much more survivable place to absorb a bite. The spots are bold enough that the mimicry works reliably: this fish is also thought to mimic the appearance and jerky movement pattern of a scorpionfish, another potential deterrent layered on top of the false eyespot trick.

They’re sand-dwellers by nature, hovering low over open substrate and darting for cover at speed the instant anything significantly larger moves nearby. In an established reef with live sand and rubble, they’ll claim a small territory around a patch of open bottom, occasionally disappearing into a crevice or an empty shell but spending most of their time in that low, hovering, eyes-forward posture. Hardy, unfussy, and small enough to integrate cleanly into a nano reef without competing with anything for space or resources.

Scientific name: Signigobius biocellatus
Origin: Indo-Pacific — sheltered reef areas, rubble zones, and sand patches in lagoons and along reef margins
Water parameters: Temp 72–80°F · Salinity 1.023–1.026 · pH 8.1–8.4
Tank requirements: 10 gal minimum; live sand substrate; open sand patches for foraging and hovering
Diet: Carnivore — frozen mysis, small meaty foods; picks small crustaceans and zooplankton from sand
Compatibility: Reef safe; peaceful with virtually all species; pairs are possible but same-sex pairs may fight
Husbandry note: Two Spot Gobies that are kept singly may show less of the characteristic hovering-and-darting behavior than pairs. A bonded male-female pair is more active, more visible, and more interesting to observe. Pairs can be difficult to sex externally, so buy two from the same tank and let them sort it out.