My Bumblebee Goby tank. Need some help planning?

[TooManyChoices]

I've set up a little tank (slightly less than 10 gallons) for a group of Bumblebee Gobies. As of about 5 minutes ago this is the state of the tank:

Basically just river rocks, goldvine pieces and some assorted twigs and some IAL to tannin stain the water.

I haven't done any testing yet but added 4 big teaspoons of AQUARIUM salts (not marine salts) and there's a small piece of white rock in there to buffer the pH.

Now, assuming this tank is fine to add fish to, is it an okay plan, to get a small group of 4 or so gobies, introduce them, get them identified and then go about gradually increasing the salinity to the appropriate level?

It seems that many people think differently about these fish. Some are freshwater that tolerate brackish, and vice versa. Some are straight fresh or need brackish.

 

[TooManyChoices]

Anyone? The tanks just sitting there idling away...fishless...slowly filling up with mosquito larvae in my bedroom.

 

[jasonfishaddict]

To my knowledge, Bumblebee Gobies need brackish water to survive and marine salt is better to create the proper salinity. The tank must be cycled before adding fish so test your water and begin cycling. If the gobies are currently in brackish water, find out the water parameters and match them as closely as you can to reduce stress. If they're in freshwater, then it's okay to slowly increase salinity over time.

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[TooManyChoices]

I've read many people keep them in freshwater their entire lives will seemingly no ill effect. This is why I want to try to ID whatever ones I get so I can conclusively decide how much salt they'll need. I'm sure supplying them with harder, alkaline water, making sure it doesn't go acidic will do them for the short term.

 

[jasonfishaddict]

Many fish species are listed as brackish because they were wild caught such as mollies. But these same species are farm raised in freshwater. So it depends on the supplier. Many of these species still require brackish water for breeding.

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[TooManyChoices]

Good point! I would think bumble bees would be wild caught as I believe a lot of goby fry is very difficult to raise.