Bumblebee Goby

[blueline-uk]

Is it true that bumble bee goby's are fin nippers, I saw some for £2 today and thought it would be a nice addition to my tank. But we still have two male guppy's in their... would they be nipped to pieces or what?

 

[geo7x]

I'm not entirely sure what the answer is to this one, but here goes.

I heard that nipping BBGs are a complete myth, and this was one of the things that made me decide it would be ok to put BBGs in my community tank. The result was mixed, at first the BBGs did nip my cories and even a couple of my rasboras, however after the first couple of days the other fish learned that the BBGs were best avoided so kept clear of them, and BBGs, being pretty bad swimmers, couldn't nip the other fish as they swam away every time they got near.

Guppies, however, are a slightly different story to my short finned fish. I have never kept guppies before but from what I understand they are pretty slow swimmers with big fins. If I'm honest I would not put guppies in with BBGs.

Just going from my experience

 

[blueline-uk]

I'm not entirely sure what the answer is to this one, but here goes.

I heard that nipping BBGs are a complete myth, and this was one of the things that made me decide it would be ok to put BBGs in my community tank. The result was mixed, at first the BBGs did nip my cories and even a couple of my rasboras, however after the first couple of days the other fish learned that the BBGs were best avoided so kept clear of them, and BBGs, being pretty bad swimmers, couldn't nip the other fish as they swam away every time they got near.

Guppies, however, are a slightly different story to my short finned fish. I have never kept guppies before but from what I understand they are pretty slow swimmers with big fins. If I'm honest I would not put guppies in with BBGs.

Just going from my experience

Thanks for your reply, yeah guppy's being clumsy swimmers may stray across the BBG's more easily, I guess i'll have to give them a miss which is a real shame as I hear they can be real characters in a community tank!

 

[geo7x]

I'm not entirely sure what the answer is to this one, but here goes.

I heard that nipping BBGs are a complete myth, and this was one of the things that made me decide it would be ok to put BBGs in my community tank. The result was mixed, at first the BBGs did nip my cories and even a couple of my rasboras, however after the first couple of days the other fish learned that the BBGs were best avoided so kept clear of them, and BBGs, being pretty bad swimmers, couldn't nip the other fish as they swam away every time they got near.

Guppies, however, are a slightly different story to my short finned fish. I have never kept guppies before but from what I understand they are pretty slow swimmers with big fins. If I'm honest I would not put guppies in with BBGs.

Just going from my experience

Thanks for your reply, yeah guppy's being clumsy swimmers may stray across the BBG's more easily, I guess i'll have to give them a miss which is a real shame as I hear they can be real characters in a community tank!

No problem, don't give up hope, someone else may come along and disagree with me and it may turn out that I just have extra mean BBGs

 

[Esfa]

No problem, don't give up hope, someone else may come along and disagree with me and it may turn out that I just have extra mean BBGs

I've had no problems with bbgs with male bettas and corys.

 

[dizzied]

I haven't had any problems keeping BBGs and guppies together. Mine don't nip anything, and even if they tried, they'd be slow to catch most fish anyways.

 

[blueline-uk]

I haven't had any problems keeping BBGs and guppies together. Mine don't nip anything, and even if they tried, they'd be slow to catch most fish anyways.

HMM, now I dunno what to think , maybe I'll sleep on it, have any of you guys any tips on what best to feed them, what do yours prefer?

 

[geo7x]

I knew this would happen.

As I said, I've never kept guppies, and they were fine with my fish after a couple of days, might not be such a bad idea.

 

[andywg]

I've never seen any issues between my BBG and guppies. Mind you, I don't spend that much time looking at my FW tanks anymore...

 

[blueline-uk]

Can I just ask what you would feed a pair of BBG's and how OFTEN?

 

[andywg]

The tank my BBG are in is fed some flakes, some catfish pellets, some algae wafers and bloodworm. I feed the tank about 2-3 times a week, but you can feed more.

Getting BBG to feed is the main issue with their keeping rather than a need for salty water. One possible theory for their doing better in brackish water is that brackish keepers tend to be less likely to just throw flakes at a tank to feed them. Be prepared to have to feed live bloodworm and daphnia to get the BBG to eat. Try to get them onto frozen foods. Some will take pellets and flakes, but mine never have.

 

[Esfa]

Yeah mine were difficult to get to feed.

I used live bloodworm with some frozen stuff, each time i fed them putting less live and more frozen, and they realised the frozen was food too.

 

[geo7x]

One reason why BBGs sometimes don't thrive in community tanks is because due to them being bad swimmers they often find it hard to get much food before the others have eaten it all.

Mine won't eat any dry food, so this means a diet of mainly frozen bloodworm.

 

[blueline-uk]

Thanks for all your help but now I have been to the LFS and got some I've found that my Keyhole Cichlid has taken an instant dislike to them, she chases them whenever she manages to find them, why is this? She doesn't do it to any of my other fish???

HELP!

 

[geo7x]

How bad is it?

Keyholes are cichlids after all and therefore will be aggressive sometimes. Just see how it goes.

At least the BBGs have been instantly put in there place