Buzzy Buzzy Bumble Bees......

[blue_betta]

i was alway under the impression that bumble bee gobbies were brackish only (although i didnt know this when i bought my first and he subsequently died within a couple of days) but i recently saw a tank full of them with female siamese fighters for company and a couple of males in breeding traps. can they be kept in fresh water?

 

[Fella]

i was alway under the impression that bumble bee gobbies were brackish only (although i didnt know this when i bought my first and he subsequently died within a couple of days) but i recently saw a tank full of them with female siamese fighters for company and a couple of males in breeding traps. can they be kept in fresh water?

Yes they can. I kept one successfully in fresh for a couple of years before he was eaten by an archerfish.

In the wild they can be found in freshwater zones.

they will probably do best in high alkaline hard water rather than soft water. You can of course keep them in brackish too, and they'll do just as well.

 

[dizzied]

Depends on the species. Some are strictly brackish, others are freshwater.

 

[andywg]

Depends on the species. Some are strictly brackish, others are freshwater.

However, identifying BBG to a species level is nigh on impossible without a microscope and a penchant for counting scales.

Most of the BBG in the hobby are Brachygobius doriae which can be kept in fresh or brackish water. It is reported that they do better in BW, but I would more attribute that to people researching the fish more and also discovering you cannot feed them flake or pellet food very easily.

My BBG are 2 years into FW and more than happy. My water is somewhat hard and edges onto the alkaline side of things though. If your water is soft and acidic the BBGs may not fare so well.

 

[bymauldin]

Would these fish do okay in a 10 gal aquarium...if it were a species tank?