Bumblebee Gobies?

[n3ont3tra]

Thanks for reading. I have a tank (20 inches long, 13 inches high, 10 inches wide) and I am trying to decide what to put in it. I really like bumblebee gobies and have some questions about them.

1. How big do they get?
2. Are they easy to take care of?
3. Would they be alright in that size tank?
4. How many could happily go in that size tank?
5. Would they be happy together (with that number of fish)?
6. Are they expensive?
7. Do they live long?
8. Anything else I should know?

Thanks again for reading.

 

[AMS]

Thanks for reading. I have a tank (20 inches long, 13 inches high, 10 inches wide) and I am trying to decide what to put in it. I really like bumblebee gobies and have some questions about them.

1. How big do they get?
2. Are they easy to take care of?
3. Would they be alright in that size tank?
4. How many could happily go in that size tank?
5. Would they be happy together (with that number of fish)?
6. Are they expensive?
7. Do they live long?
8. Anything else I should know?

Thanks again for reading.

1. Up to 1.25" but closer to 1".
2. They are difficult to feed but after that they are pretty easy to care for.
3. That size tank is fine, minimum is 10 gallons.
4. How many gallons is it? They are territorial and need plenty of caves and such so keep that in mind.
5. They prefer groups and any number of them is fine so long as you have enough territory.
6. No, I have seen them for 80 cents at some LFS's.
7. I am not certain of their exact lifespan but expect a few years.
8. Initally get your hands on plenty of live foods. Also pick tankmates carefully.

Are you going to keep them in freshwater or brackish?

 

[n3ont3tra]

{{4. How many gallons is it? They are territorial and need plenty of caves and such so keep that in mind.}}
It's 10 gallons. I can easily provide caves and hiding places.
{{8. Initally get your hands on plenty of live foods. Also pick tankmates carefully.}}
Planning on not having any tankmates, just bumblebee gobies. Also, what types of livefoods?
{{Are you going to keep them in freshwater or brackish?}}
Could I keep them in brackish without problems?

 

[ac106]

{{4. How many gallons is it? They are territorial and need plenty of caves and such so keep that in mind.}}
It's 10 gallons. I can easily provide caves and hiding places.
{{8. Initally get your hands on plenty of live foods. Also pick tankmates carefully.}}
Planning on not having any tankmates, just bumblebee gobies. Also, what types of livefoods?
{{Are you going to keep them in freshwater or brackish?}}
Could I keep them in brackish without problems?

Live foods: I have used chopped earth worms, live black worms and live brine shrimp with great success. I would assume they would love live blood worms also since they eat frozen ones without a problem.

As for frozen food, bloodworms work great. Mysis shrimp and frozen brine are eaten by one of my species but not the other. Weird right? Will not touch flake. They would starve first.

I have them in with a glass fish, 2 figure eight puffers and a dragon goby. I have had 1-2 deaths over the past year. Otherwise they are doing great, have grown and seem happy. I have even seen some evidence of spawning, such as losing color but nothing else.

While freshwater in the wild, they do better in brackish aquariums. Do a search it has been discussed many times.

 

[nmonks]

Could I keep them in brackish without problems?

Yes, they do perfectly well in brackish. The jury is out about which is best. It probably doesn't matter all that much, provided you get them feeding. Brine shrimp and daphnia work well, provided there's no competition, but otherwise frozen bloodworm and tiny bits of prawn are good, too.

An ideal tank might be at SG 1.005 and with a weak air-powered sponge filter. You could then basically fill it with brine shrimp, and let the gobies pick them off over the week or so, adding more live brine shrimp every couple of weeks. Since brine shrimp aren't that nutritious, do augment their diet with other food items.

Ten gallons would be fine for 10 gobies, provided you had lots of shells and caves for them to set up territories. When slightly overcrowded (in terms of space, not nesting places) they chase one another about, and it is rather amusing to watch. Adding tankmates is possible (Endler guppies would be ideal) but the downside is that tankmates steal food, and if they scare the gobies, they won't come out much.

The lifespan of very small fish is notoriously difficult to guess. Some neon tetras live to be 4 years old. But you can probably expect around 2-3 years, assuming the gobies are this year's generation (i.e., not fully grown).

Cheers,

Neale

 

[n3ont3tra]

Oops, sorry, I meant could I keep them in freshwater without problems?

Also, is it possible to ween them onto flake foods? Could someone that's done it tell me how?

Thanks for all the replies so far!

 

[AMS]

Oops, sorry, I meant could I keep them in freshwater without problems?

Also, is it possible to ween them onto flake foods? Could someone that's done it tell me how?

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Yes, you can keep them in freshwater, but they are better suited for slightly brackish water. Let it be known that it is common for BBG's to develop ick, fungus, external parasites and other diseases when kept in freshwater. If you do decide to keep them in fresh, make sure you have a pH of around 8 and a high hardness.

No, it's not possible to wean them onto flakes.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Ok, so would brine shrimp and occasionally worms be a good staple diet for them?

 

[AMS]

Ok, so would brine shrimp and occasionally worms be a good staple diet for them?

I wouldn't use brine as a staple because it isn't nutritional. Bloodworms or mysis shrimp would make a good staple, then use brine as a treat.

I feed my BBG's the following frozen foods:

Frozen- mysis shrimp, bloodworms, prawns, bits of silversides, lobster eggs (hard to find), Cylop-eeze, daphnia, tubifex and sometimes brine shrimp.

 

[nmonks]

Re: food. I'm with AMS on this one. Flake foods are as good as never eaten by these gobies and brine shrimp are a useless staple for most fish. It's so easy to give them tiny bits of prawn or fish that it hardly matters. A cheap bag of prawns from Tescos will cost you a couple of quid, and that'll last a tankful of gobies for years.

As for salt water or otherwise, by default I'd go with slighly brackish. They don't need much, even 2-3 grammes of marine salt per litre will be plenty. They aren't fish from estuaries and they certainly don't go out to sea.

I don't think these fish actually need brackish water like other brackish water fish, given they live in streams with pH 6 and zero hardness. But I think like other soft water fish they are not adapted to water with a lot of bacteria and parasites, so have a fairly weak immune system. Chocolate gouramis and bearded halfbeaks are like this, as are wild discus and angelfish. Anyway, the salt likely inhibits the bacteria and parasites, and although the gobies don't need salt, they retain the "hardware" from their ancestors, so the salt does no harm.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[andywg]

Naomi Deventhal states in an interview on another forum site:

By far the most commonly traded species is Brachygobius doriae or something quite close to it. And I have kept these several times equally well in both fresh and slightly brackish water. I prefer fresh water, because I like to keep live plants.

for those that don't know, Naomi is considered an expert on Gobies and is currently sorting out the taxonomy and relationships of the Indo-Pacific goby genus Callogobius

So I see little problem with keeping them in FW. We have kept 7 fine in FW for about 18 months or so now, if not longer.

 

[nmonks]

And I'm pleased to say she's the author of the goby chapter in my brackish book.

Cheers,

Neale

for those that don't know, Naomi is considered an expert on Gobies and is currently sorting out the taxonomy and relationships of the Indo-Pacific goby genus Callogobius