Bumble Bee Fish..

[edfishman]

i went to my fish shop yesterday and bought 3 bumble bee fish. it was a spare of the moment decision. i noticed they were not feeding like the other fish and on looking them up i see they need plankton or something similar to feed on. my fish shop didnt tell me this. now im wondering what to do? i cant get to the fish shop till the weekend.

what should i do in the meantime? Can anyone give me any tips on feeding them?

how often do they need the plankton?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

i went to my fish shop yesterday and bought 3 bumble bee fish. it was a spare of the moment decision. i noticed they were not feeding like the other fish and on looking them up i see they need plankton or something similar to feed on. my fish shop didnt tell me this. now im wondering what to do? i cant get to the fish shop till the weekend.

what should i do in the meantime? Can anyone give me any tips on feeding them?

how often do they need the plankton?

There are different types of bumblebee fish, for example like the bumblebee goby and the bumblebee catfish, so firstly you need to indentify what exact type of fish you have.

Bumblebee goby;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile59.html

Bumblebee cory;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...p?species_id=15

Bumblebee jelly catfish;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=721

Bumblebee dwarf pleco;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/speci...?species_id=819

Or some other type of bumblebee fish or even one that was put under the wrong name etc...
The petshop is not obliged to tell how you to look after the fish exactly (and to be honest, many petshop staff are not very educated about the fish they sell anyway), its up to you to research these things which is why it is so important to research your fish before you buy them .
Do your bumblebee fish look anything like the ones in the links above? Can you get any pics of the fish?

 

[edfishman]

Definitely the Goby!

I should have been more on the ball with this I admit.. I won't make the same mistake again!!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Definitely the Goby!

I should have been more on the ball with this I admit.. I won't make the same mistake again!!

Good . As the site says, bumblbee gobys are strictly brackish fish which means they live in waters with a salt content inbetween marine and freshwater. Feeding them isn't very easy, but the most likely reason why your current goby isn't thriving is because its in a freshwater set up (please correct me if i am wrong and you are keeping it in a brackish set up);

"Feeding your gobies will be the most difficult part of maintaining them. They will eat only live food such as Brine shrimp, Daphnia, Cyclops and Mosquito larvae. Some have had success in getting the fish to eat frozen, however they seem not to recognize it as food unless it is moving. Although they can be kept in a community setting with other salt tolerant species ( Mollies or Platies ) they will remain shy and not flourish. They will be happiest in a species tank. Keep a fairly large number, ten or more, in the tank and provide plenty of hiding places such as stones tubes and caves. Plants will be limited to salt tolerant varieties and probably the best choice will be the die hard Java fern, plastic may be a better choice. The water should have a small amount of marine mix to increase the salinity. One to two teaspoons per two gallons should be OK. Although you do not want heavy circulation, aeration and filtration should be efficient."

If you can get a brackish tank set up for this fish of around 20gals very quickly and put some matured/established filtration in it (or clone some of the filter bacteria from your current filter) and get some live foods for it, you might be able to save it, but this is the only way to save this fish from doom. There is a brackish section on the forum for more info on setting up and maintaining brackish tanks if you want to know more .

 

[andywg]

Good . As the site says, bumblbee gobys are strictly brackish fish which means they live in waters with a salt content inbetween marine and freshwater. Feeding them isn't very easy, but the most likely reason why your current goby isn't thriving is because its in a freshwater set up (please correct me if i am wrong and you are keeping it in a brackish set up);

This is a bit of a misconeception.

BBG do seem to do better in BW in an aquarium, but in the wild they are usually found in freshwater, even somewhat soft and acidic water.

If your water is hard and alkaline then the BBG should be fine in FW. Naomi Deventhal (an inchthyologist who specialises in gobies) states in an interview for another site that most of the BBG in the hobby are Brachygobius doriae which can be kept equally well in FW or BW.

The main problem most people have with BBG is getting them to feed as they tend to prefer live or frozen meaty foods.

 

[Jozlyn]

I have three Bumble Bee Goby in my FW tank. I feed them frozen bloodworm. I defrost the bloodworm. I feed the other fish flake food. While the other fish are flat out eating the flake food, I find where the Bee's are and drop the defrosted bloodworm basicly on top of them, they are quite slow but they eat it just fine and are thriving.

Given that you haven't had them long, they're probably still settling in, this can take a few days, it's unlikely that they'll starve to death.

Just distract the other fish and then feed them the bloodworm, they'll be fine