Bumble Bee Gobie

justintoxicated

justintoxicated

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Dec 19, 2005
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So I saw these at the LFS and could not pass them up for only a dollar each.

I like to research my fish before I buy but the guys at my LFS seem pretty knowlagable so I figured I would ask them how it would do in my tank.

After getting home I read that they need Brakish water yet they were in a freshwater tank at the LFS and they told me they would be ok with guppies in a 20 gallon. They also told me they will eat flake food... :rolleyes:

Should I take them back or will they be ok in my tank? They seemed pretty **** happy and went right for the live bloodworms in the tank! I really like the 2 fish and im not mad about the $2 I just don't want to hurt the poor little guys...I read someplace else that there is Freshwater Bumble bee Gobies, but I don't know how true that is...Mine do have full banded stripes so my assumption is that they are not golden banded gobies.

Tank has some Guppies (maybe 10 not all adults)
ADFs x2
and maybe 40 Applesnails (young adults that will be sold soon).

Thanks in advance.
 
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as babies they are freshwater...but as they mature they need brackish water i had some without knowing this and they died eventually... i really liked them too... so i would say take them back or plan on a brackish tank soon :)
 
yes they are brackish, but i used to keep them in fresh for a long time. Funny, my wife has some now in bw, and hers don't eat, swim around alot, but don't eat, at least not in front of us. You could probably do just fine keeping them in fresh, but like jadis said, eventually they will apreciate the salt. I don't know about the adf's but your guppies could live with a little salt if you wanted to try that. you also don't have to worry about your salt staying at a certain level, as brackish water flucuates from almost fresh to very salty. I would just keep it lower than .005. anyways, whatever you decide, but you do have a couple of options.
 
There is a lot of dispute if they really are brackish or not. I think they can survive equally well in any water conditions once acclimated but the real problem is feeding them. They are slow movers and any other fish may take the food before they get to it. If they are able to get fed adequately, I think they could thrive for years in freshwater without ever needing to be relocated into brackish.
 
I read that there are 2 different species of Bumble Bee Gobies.

One is gold banded and has incomplete rings or sports, this one is Brackish water only.

The other has full rings, and is also brackish but can also live in fresh water. It does say they do prefer brackish water though...

I kinda felt like I rescued them fro the petstore cause their back fin (not sure of name) looks like something had nipped them. Maybe each other? They were in a very crowded tank.

As for feeding them I think they will be fine, the first thing one of them did was find the area in the flourite where I had dumped the blackworms and started sucking them down. Probably starving from pet store since they told me they will eat flake food.

I dump live food in my tank all the time for the ADF's since my Firebelly toads and newts in my vivarium eat alot of them anyways. Guppies seem to really like blackworms too.

I have to admit the Gobies do look pretty happy in the tank as opposed to where they were at the pet store, but it has not even been 24 hours. I do have an extra 10 gallon tank but not really anywhere to set it up since I only rent a bedroom and already have 3 tanks in it! :eek:

There may be trace amounts of salt from crushed coral and Cuttlebone I use to keep the PH up right? These guys prefer a PH of 7.5 to 8, Right now mine is a bit low but once my new filter comes it should go back up to 7 where it was in my 10 gallon.
 
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There are three or four species actually but only two that are found in the shops and both are still hard to identify and it's not known whether they really are true brackish or not. Keep feeding them live food and with noncompetitive fish. That's where most people fail and lose them then assume it's because the fish are brackish. They prefer live food or frozen worms.
 
man i've been looking for a couple of bumble bee gobies everywhere. no place has them or can get them. that sucks since their so cheap.
 
I have two newly purchased bumblebee gobies myself. Cutest little buggers I ever saw !

They seem to be doing well in the little quarenteen hangon tank I have them in at present. There is a divider between them to keep them from nipping at each other.

They are very happy with the live blackworms I have been feeding them. I'm trying to decide which tank to put my stunted genetically challenged blue rams into, so that I can put these gobies in the little planted those guys are in.

A 5 gallon tank should be more than adequate for a small group of these little guys....with plenty of hiding spots, caves and such. I have read that they like to spawn in caves or holes.
 
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