freshwater goby suggestion
- Thread starter DoctaQ
- Start date
You do realize that small inverts like many of the shrimp species are a natural food for
many fish.So you are also looking for a smallish Goby.Lemme cruise my library and i'll see what i can find.Just remember they may be hard to find without ordering online and they could be expensive too-Anne
many fish.So you are also looking for a smallish Goby.Lemme cruise my library and i'll see what i can find.Just remember they may be hard to find without ordering online and they could be expensive too-Anne
i have a few bubble bee gobies in my 55 gal.tank along with several other species of fish and ghost shrimp...they are very peaceful... ijust love them cause they are so darn CUTE..!!!!!!! and they are not very expensive... but they are the only freshwater ( brackish water ) gobies that my local fish store carries...
Stiphodons, bumblebees, or darters. Darters are quite similar to gobies 
But say goodbye to any shrimp babies. Even kuhlis might eat them all.
But say goodbye to any shrimp babies. Even kuhlis might eat them all.
bumblebees really do prefer light brackish. they may tolerate freshwater, but keep in mind it's not ideal. they prefer a specific gravity of around 1.005 which is certainly NOT freshwater. A nice freshwater goby is the desert goby. It's native to fresh water, IME it's pretty peaceful, and pretty attractive.
There are 9 proposed species of bumblebees, certain ones do better in fresh or brackish.
like DP said, darters are just like gobies, i have one in a 20 long and hes a very interesting little guy
And only a few actually found in the trade. The most common species you'll find is Brachygobius doriae. You can pretty much take that to the bank considering I was told that by Helen Larson, a fish taxonomist. B. doriae is a brackish species. Even if you do have one of the rarer species, you have virtually no way of telling exactly what species or whether or not it needs salt. The only safe thing to do is to keep them in low-end brackish, regardless of what species you have.
On to the actual topic. Darters are a lot like gobies. Only problem is that they might get too big to keep with shrimp. Stiphodon gobies are generally non-carnivorous and stay somewhere in the area of 3". The main thing they eat is algae. I don't know the exact specifics of Stiphodon care, but I've read that most species come from streams with lots of flowing water. They might be better off if you had that kind of movement, and that may not be best for the other animals.
Desert gobies reach about 3" too. The main difference is they eat whatever fits in their mouths, and they have big mouths. Your tetras could be put at risk.
There is also the white cheeked goby, Rhinogobius duospilus. It reaches about 2" but is known to come from fast-flowing, cool, very well oxygenated streams. Being subtropical, they probably aren't compatible with your fish. They might also eat smaller fish/shrimp.
Perhaps you'd be interested in gudgeons, the gobies' close relatives? They look more like a regular fish but are still goby-like. You may be able to find small ones that don't eat small fish and shrimp. Peacock gudgeons come to mind...