Bumblebee Goby

[Paradise3]

Don't know if this is the right place... I think it is.
I've just got one of these today, did loads of research before I got it and I know they need brackish water... My questions are, would table salt be OK? If so how much? If not, what salt would I need? I've had to move him to a 5.5 gallon on his own because was nipping my new lyre-tail guppy. I've fed him some de-frosted bloodworm, he seems to like his little caves and I think I'll need to get his nice little plant pot that he claimed into his new tank. Is the 5.5 gallon OK until I can get him a bit of a larger tank? It might be about 6-7 gallons. Anyone who can answer me these few questions will get a virtual cookie! Any sort you want!

Cheers,
Alessa!

 

[FreedomFighter]

Don't know if this is the right place... I think it is.
I've just got one of these today, did loads of research before I got it and I know they need brackish water... My questions are, would table salt be OK? If so how much? If not, what salt would I need? I've had to move him to a 5.5 gallon on his own because was nipping my new lyre-tail guppy. I've fed him some de-frosted bloodworm, he seems to like his little caves and I think I'll need to get his nice little plant pot that he claimed into his new tank. Is the 5.5 gallon OK until I can get him a bit of a larger tank? It might be about 6-7 gallons. Anyone who can answer me these few questions will get a virtual cookie! Any sort you want!

Cheers,
Alessa!

I think he might appreciate some friends, but i've heard they can be kept singularily.

Also, table salt should be fine if you know how much to add, interestingly enough bumble-bee gobies can be weaned off salt onto freshwater. This can be done by;

do your regular water change (weekly/monthly, whatever) and when you go to add the salt, add less salt then you normally would.

Then next wc, add even less, etc etc, until you are not adding any salt. Happy healthy freshwater goby.

 

[Paradise3]

Well I'm guessing he wasn't kept in brackish while he was at the LFS. Is he alright with a mixed diet of live (smallish) brine shrimp and defrosted bloodworm? The reason I say smallish brine shrimp is because he's not even an inch long. I would get him some friends but someone else mentioned they were territorial with each other? Plus he was they only one they had in and I got him for free because I said I liked him. The tank he originally came out of had the 2 swordtails I bought, the 6 emerald eye rasboras that I bought and some other fish that I didn't buy. Would you think he was kept in brackish with that stocking or would it have injured the other fish? When I get a bigger tank for him I will try to et him 2 or 3 friends. Will this be OK in a 7 gallon?

Cheers,
Alessa!

P.S. You get a chocolate chip cookie!
P.S.S. I love your Battle Royale thing!!! I love that film!

 

[FreedomFighter]

Well I'm guessing they weren't kept in brackish while they were at the LFS. Is he alright with a mixed diet of live (smallish) brine shrimp and defrosted bloodworm? The reason I say smallish brine shrimp is because he's not even an inch long. I would get him some friends but someone else mentioned they were territorial with each other? Plus he was they only one they had in and I got him for free because I said I liked him. The tank he originally came out of had the 2 swordtails I bought, the 6 emerald eye rasboras that I bought and some other fish that I didn't buy. Would you think he was kept in brackish with that stocking or would it have injured the other fish? When I get a bigger tank for him I will try to et him 2 or 3 friends. Will this be OK in a 7 gallon?

Cheers,
Alessa!

P.S. You get a chocolate chip cookie!
P.S.S. I love your Battle Royale thing!!! I love that film!

Doesn't sound like he was kept in brackish water to me.

Feeding them frozen food will likely be difficult, but possible. BBG's are live food hunters, so he'll likely only take interest in food that's still floating, so brine shrimp may be the better choice, but blood worm is still a possible alternative.

They are territorial fish, but not violently. They will just establish an area and guard it. Is that 7us gallons or 7uk? 35litres?
they grow to about 4cm, so you could probably have a group of 4 in a 35l I would presume.

Arigato for the cookie, and you get major props for liking BR. Both BR and BRII are in my top ten greatest films, I find a lot of deep meanings in the film that I agree with.

 

[Paradise3]

Well I'm guessing they weren't kept in brackish while they were at the LFS. Is he alright with a mixed diet of live (smallish) brine shrimp and defrosted bloodworm? The reason I say smallish brine shrimp is because he's not even an inch long. I would get him some friends but someone else mentioned they were territorial with each other? Plus he was they only one they had in and I got him for free because I said I liked him. The tank he originally came out of had the 2 swordtails I bought, the 6 emerald eye rasboras that I bought and some other fish that I didn't buy. Would you think he was kept in brackish with that stocking or would it have injured the other fish? When I get a bigger tank for him I will try to et him 2 or 3 friends. Will this be OK in a 7 gallon?

Cheers,
Alessa!

P.S. You get a chocolate chip cookie!
P.S.S. I love your Battle Royale thing!!! I love that film!

Doesn't sound like he was kept in brackish water to me.

Feeding them frozen food will likely be difficult, but possible. BBG's are live food hunters, so he'll likely only take interest in food that's still floating, so brine shrimp may be the better choice, but blood worm is still a possible alternative.

They are territorial fish, but not violently. They will just establish an area and guard it. Is that 7us gallons or 7uk? 35litres?
they grow to about 4cm, so you could probably have a group of 4 in a 35l I would presume.

Arigato for the cookie, and you get major props for liking BR. Both BR and BRII are in my top ten greatest films, I find a lot of deep meanings in the film that I agree with.

He tends to like the bloodworm and has eaten a few... Not too many but he is still settling in I'm guessing. He seems to recognize me already because if I go to the tank he comes rushing to the front going up and down the acrylic! If I open the lid to move something or do something in the tank he swims to the and suckers onto my hand, until I start moving it about in the tank. Then he just goes and sits and waits until my hand leaves the water. It's 7UK gallons.
I really love BR and BR2. There's actually someone on here called Kiriyama, I questioned them once and they like the film too.

Cheers,
Alessa!

 

[FreedomFighter]

Sounds like you have a great little character there. Lets hope he stays that happy and friendly. And a couple of bloodworms will keep him happy for a long time, he's only small.

so roughly 35l, Yes I think you could keep 3 to 4 gobies in that tank, and then maybe some otocinclus as clean up crew? Would be a lovely little tank.

 

[Paradise3]

I have 2 oto's in my 15 gallon hex tank ATM. I'm hopefully getting some more after Christmas. I hope he stays like that, it's cute when he just comes up to my hand! Feels weird when they latch on though. I once had a friends 10" plec do that to the back of my hand... Never again.

Cheers,
Alessa!

 

[FreedomFighter]

I have 2 oto's in my 15 gallon hex tank ATM. I'm hopefully getting some more after Christmas. I hope he stays like that, it's cute when he just comes up to my hand! Feels weird when they latch on though. I once had a friends 10" plec do that to the back of my hand... Never again.

Cheers,
Alessa!

I think your lucky, i've never heard of a BBG doing that to someone. Your privelaged. He loves you

 

[Paradise3]

I have 2 oto's in my 15 gallon hex tank ATM. I'm hopefully getting some more after Christmas. I hope he stays like that, it's cute when he just comes up to my hand! Feels weird when they latch on though. I once had a friends 10" plec do that to the back of my hand... Never again.

Cheers,
Alessa!

I think your lucky, i've never heard of a BBG doing that to someone. Your privelaged. He loves you

Well I did stand there for about half an hour just talking to him while I was in the shop... Then I said "Oh your gorgeous, I love you!" and the staff said "Well do you want him? He's been on his own for ages and no-one seems to want him. You can have him for free if you want." So I brought him home with me. He should have cost an extra £3 on top of what we were already paying(£31.76)

Cheers,
Alessa!

 

[FreedomFighter]

Well I did stand there for about half an hour just talking to him while I was in the shop... Then I said "Oh your gorgeous, I love you!" and the staff said "Well do you want him? He's been on his own for ages and no-one seems to want him. You can have him for free if you want." So I brought him home with me. He should have cost an extra £3 on top of what we were already paying(£31.76)

Cheers,
Alessa!

Yeah i'm known for talking to fish. LFS thinks i'm crazy ;P

You'll have to grab a photo of him soon so we can see. And can never complain about free fish, you lot bought a fair amount of fish though.

 

[Paradise3]

Yeah, I bought;
6 Red tailed rasboras,
5 emerald eye rasboras,
1 male guppy,
2 swordtails.
Then I got him free.
Plus I got 2 lot's of de-chlorinator. Will find the pic I had in my siggy a few hours a go.
I had people walking past staring at me stood there wiggling my finger at him and talking to him.

Cheers,
Alessa!

Edit:
Found it! A little blurry but still.
Don't ask about the writing on it, I just enjoy having him as company for when I'm stuck up all night like tonight. It's from when he was in the 15 gallon.

My gorgeous baby!! Bumble! My lovely little bumble bee goby!

 

[fluffycabbage]

aww cute! i fancy a couple myself but not researched them yet. theyre always in our lfs

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

There are different species sold as "Bumblebee Gobies" and they have different water tolerances... Brachygobius xanthozona can tolerant freshwater I believe, whereas Brachygobius nunus is not so tolerant of freshwater.

A quick google came up with this article that compares each species... http/www.aquarticl...bee_Gobies.html

Your one sounds a right character already, interacting with you and your hand!

Edit: Just found a PFK article about another species, Brachygobius xanthomelas, http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=3019

 

[nmonks]

Let's tidy up the Brachygobius xanthozona thing. There's no such beast in the hobby. It's a very rare species, hardly known outside of museum collections.

Identifying BBGs to species level is essentially impossible. There are two species groups, the "large" Brachygobius doriae species group and the smaller dwarf Brachygobius nunus species group. Within each species group are numerous lookalike species.

The traded BBGs will do well in freshwater. They normally die from starvation. Frozen bloodworms are eaten, but they contain very little useful nutrition. You must provide a more varied diet than that, one including finely chopped fish fillet, live daphnia and minced prawn (though this contains thiaminase, so be careful). Brine shrimp are taken readily, but again, these lack nutrients so use sparingly.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Paradise3]

Let's tidy up the Brachygobius xanthozona thing. There's no such beast in the hobby. It's a very rare species, hardly known outside of museum collections.

Identifying BBGs to species level is essentially impossible. There are two species groups, the "large" Brachygobius doriae species group and the smaller dwarf Brachygobius nunus species group. Within each species group are numerous lookalike species.

The traded BBGs will do well in freshwater. They normally die from starvation. Frozen bloodworms are eaten, but they contain very little useful nutrition. You must provide a more varied diet than that, one including finely chopped fish fillet, live daphnia and minced prawn (though this contains thiaminase, so be careful). Brine shrimp are taken readily, but again, these lack nutrients so use sparingly.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks!
I was once told you can identify them by how many stripes they have? If so, mine has 3. they start in the middle area and go down to the tip of the tail. And with the fish fillet would defrosted, de-breaded fish fingers be OK? They are basically the same thing really...

Cheers,
Alessa!