Bumble bee goby update

[ssuchem13]

So last thursday i got a bumble bee goby, after doing alot of research i decided to keep him in my freshwater tank even tho some bumble bee goby's are brackish. I narrowed him down to a Xonos or Melas variety, both of which can do well in freshwater. His name is bumbles. i know kinda corny but it suits his personality. well He has been doing great in his new home. Hes quite the active little guy. he actually swims quite alot, as well as resting on the bottom . he literally acts as though he owns the tank, he chases shrimp out of his pagoda, and cave. hes doing well eating frozen brine shrimp and ive even seen him eat some flakes i feed the others . at this point i couldn't be happier with him, i really feel like he is the star of my tank. here are some photos.

 

[Jannika]

Bumblebee gobies are cute, with attitude. I thought about getting some myself, still might. You have to be careful about so much conflicting information on the net, though. There's very few sites that I trust for solid information, and they say that all gobies do need brackish water in order to thrive.

From seriouslyfish for example:

There are currently nine described Brachygobius species, of which several are commonly imported and all are sold under the common name "bumblebee goby". Care for all is virtually identical. Brachygobius xanthozonus appears to be the most common species in the hobby, and can be distinguished by counting the anal fin rays, of which there are 8 (and a single spine) in this species. Unfortunately, these gobies are all too often sold as freshwater community fish, which they are clearly not. They may survive for a while in freshwater, but they will not thrive. If you see them for sale, please do not buy them unless you can provide them with the correct conditions.

 

[ssuchem13]

oh believe me most of my time was spent sorting through all the conflicting information. but ive just come to a conclusion that makes me know i made the right decision rather than taking him back. there is a chance if he is a zonus that he will live a shorter life. but brackish water does not guarantee him perfect health, especially if he is a melas. he can still get sick in brackish water. but honestly the fact that he seems so happy and is full of energy lets me know im doing the right thing. in the tank at the store he was just kinda mopey and would scoot occasionally around the bottom. the fact that he actually swims around alot and explores the tank makes me very happy as a pet owner. he has been the best purchase i have made in this hobby hands down. and if he can live a happy life in my tank im willing to deal with possible health issues. he does not look stressed and he really seems to love the new home. so he might not live 5 years, its better living in my tank and having plenty of room to swim and his own territory than just sitting in the shop tank until he gets put in someone elses freshwater tank or just wastes away in the shop. i know some of you will think im not doing the right thing, but i dont care at this point. ive made him happy and thats all that matters to me, hes happy and has a home.

 

[Khemul]

They are great fish. Oddly enough they seem to be ambush predators. Put them around baby fish and you'll see the behavior. They'll basically drift along and when the baby fish runs, rather then chase, they'll simply shift direction and continue drifting along until the baby fish stops running away. Then gulp gulp.


Sounds like you did some good research. It can be a pain to figure out the whole brackish/freshwater thing, but as far as I've been able to tell a lot of those imported are actually the freshwater, or at least freshwater tolerant variety. Not sure if even the wholesalers know for sure which one they have so identification is entirely up to the fish owner, which isn't all that easy with a 1" fish.

 

[livebearerfreak]

if a fish needs a special requirement, then i would give it that requirement, doesnt matter if you can afford/do it, its better for the fish in the long run, seen quite a few people here buying brackish and leaving them in freshwater, then dieing and they post threads asking why there fish died.... nice fish regardless! but please if you cant afford a brackish tank then give it/sell it to someone who can.

 

[Khemul]

if a fish needs a special requirement, then i would give it that requirement, doesnt matter if you can afford/do it, its better for the fish in the long run, seen quite a few people here buying brackish and leaving them in freshwater, then dieing and they post threads asking why there fish died.... nice fish regardless! but please if you cant afford a brackish tank then give it/sell it to someone who can.

With Bumblebee Gobies it isn't about special requirements or proper conditions. They tend to be an exception to the brackish-only rule because it is still in debate what they actually are. There are a bunch of species that look extremely similar. Some are brackish with a tolerance for fresh, some are fresh with a tolerance for brackish, and some are purely fresh. Even once you get a species narrowed down and know which category it falls into, there is still debate on whether the categories are even correct. Some people think all of the Bumblebees imported are brackish-only, others argue that they are all entirely freshwater. It doesn't help that importers, wholesalers, and stores are extremely unlikely to bother IDing what they have. Basically it is one of those fish where you can potentially kill it whether you keep it in fresh or brackish.

The brackish world is a little murky like that. You get some like the Violet Goby and Green-Spotted Puffer where it is shown through long-term study and research that they are definitely brackish/salt and need that. Then you get others like the Figure-8 Puffer that some believe aren't truly brackish, but instead need something that is always in the brackish environment and not common in the freshwater environment (it'll probably never be figured out and so they'll just be considered brackish fish to stay on the safe-side). To complicate things even further, there are fish like Mollies and various coastal goby (Frillfin and Crested Gobies definitely fall here, but aren't common in the hobby) species that'll cross from salt to brackish to fresh without a care in the world.

 

[ssuchem13]

Thanks Khemul for being the first person who knows about these guys and actually being supportive. I would not have decided to keep him if i hadn't done the research i did. and ultimately i came down to the dilemma of He is either freshwater entirely or freshwater tolerant. so, if hes' freshwater, brackish water will kill him. not worth taking the chance to kill him. And im leaning more toward him being freshwater anyhow, ive ben able to watch him while he swims more now so ive gotten a better look at him, and hes looking more like the freshwater variety.

 

[Jannika]

There's a good article on WWM about some of these confusing brackish/freshwater fish. I'd love to keep gobies in fresh, and perhaps it's possible in hard, alkaline water.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracsaltyh2o.htm

edit: keeping any gobie in brackish certainly won't kill him, and when in doubt it is recommended. Don't mean to be non-supportive, just trying to help sort it out.

 

[ssuchem13]

if you read the post above, i could very well set up a brackish tank, but there is a chance he could die from that. hes doing way better in my freshwater tank than the store tank "which was also fresh" the says hes freshwater, theyve kept them in freshwater no problems. that with the fact he is doing very well in my tank, and the research ive done i know ive done the best possible i can. Absolutely IDing a 1" fish is easy and almost impossible when there are so many similarities. you think I should give the fish away based off of what you have seen in the past. but let me assure you, ive done my research, these little fish are amazing and not fully understood. so Please next time maybe ask some more questions before jumping to conclusions

if a fish needs a special requirement, then i would give it that requirement, doesnt matter if you can afford/do it, its better for the fish in the long run, seen quite a few people here buying brackish and leaving them in freshwater, then dieing and they post threads asking why there fish died.... nice fish regardless! but please if you cant afford a brackish tank then give it/sell it to someone who can.

 

[Ballyhoo]

I have the same gobie in a 10 gal full fresh water. He's almost 3 years old. Was born in fresh at my lfs, and still thriving today