Bumblebee Gobies

[Gix]

Howdy,
I've been thinking of trying my hand at a brackish tank, so I might start up a little 10 US gallon one. I want to put some bumblebee gobies in there, and my other idea was sailfin mollies. However, on a website I just looked at, I read that bb gobies are "notorious fin-nippers." Is there any truth to this? Would it be a bad idea to house them with mollies?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I found this profile on badmanstropical fish which is a good site for fish info


http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile59.html

"Maintenance:

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."

So mollys will be ok but the gobys prefer their own kind on the whole

EDIT: oh i would just like to add the bumblebee gobys only take live foods as they do not recognise food that is not moving, so are quite hard to feed.

 

[nmonks]

Hi,

I've got 4 bumblebee gobies in my aquarium, along with lots of other fish. The gobies feed well and are very active and fun to watch. I don't keep them with mollies, but certainly other fish with a similar temperament, so I'd say they should be fine together.

http/homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/livestock.html

The trick is to make sure you keep them with fish that will not snatch food away from them. My gobies do not get live food, and readily take frozen foods. What they won't eat is flake. Anyway, their favourite food are shrimp eggs, which I scrape off the large coldwater prawns sold in my supermarket. These eggs can be laid out on aluminium foil and frozen for later use. Very cheap, and very popular (my glassfish adore them too). My bumbleebees aren't wild about brine shrimp or bloodworms though.

There is a misconception that this fish needs brackish; it doesn't. There are true brackish (and even marine) bumblebee gobies, such as Hypogymnogobius xanthozona but these are rare and probably never imported.

The one seen in aquarium stores are most likely Brachygobious nunus or Brachygobious doriae but really no-one knows, and they're impossible for aquarists to identify (you need a dead specimen and a microscope!). Anyway, these gobies will do fine in neutral, medium hard water. They will do well in slightly brackish conditions too, but nothing to strong (a specific gravity of 1.004 or less).

Bumbleebee gobies die not because of not being kept in brackish water but because they aren't fed properly. Happy bumblebees are really greedy, and they become very rounded and plump. They easily live for 5 years if well cared for. The fact that most don't in captivity is because many people don't keep them right. They're quite easy to breed, as well.

Cheers,

Neale