bumblebee goby

[Kittycat]

Does anyone know anything about these fishes? I wanted to know if they get along with guppies, I've gotten conflicting info over the net, some say they are peaceful, aggressive only to their own species, some say ideal tank mate includes livebearers, and others also say that they are fin nippers.

Some say they are ok as community fish, others say they are better in species tank.

Also, do they absolutely need substrate or can they be kept in bare bottom tanks?

 

[CFC]

They can be fin nippers so it is best not to keep them with any long finned fish. They should be kept in mild brackish water in a tank with many caves for hiding in, without caves they will be hostile to each other. All fish should be kept with a substrate unless it is a temporary tank ie a hospital or breeding tank that they will only be in for a short period of time.

 

[Erised]

Bumbelbee gobies are brackish water fish, and I dont believe guppies are ... I really would not keep the bumbelbees in freshwater seeing as it will shorten their livespan A Lot and they just shouldnt be kept in freshwater.

You Can keep them with other salt tolerating fish, preferable livebearers indeed. Mollies or Platies will do well in brackish water and will be good tankmates for them. You could however go for an oddball tank as well and get brackish water puffers (you'll need a rather large aquarium though), if you do this though, use bumblebee gobies and puffers only, do not add any other fish seeing as puffers really should be kept in species only tanks.

Seeing as they do spend most of their time on the bottom, I think its recommended to get some type of substrate on the bottom.

I dont know if they're finnippers or not ... much as I've heard, they're peaceful fish that will only eat meaty food, however they're quite hard to feed when you've got other fish in with them, seeing as most of the food will not reach them. Also, they're just happier in a species only tank with like, 10 bumbelbee gobies

 

[nino]

i have a couple in my community tank and at first they were fin nippers (to the neons) but they stopped doing that. we have a little mosquito "farm" in our backyard to feed to the gobies since they won't eat the flakes. at first it was hard to feed them the larvae because the other fish are faster then them, but now they now to just swim up to the net where all the food is and they just go in and feast.

 

[Shooter]

I'm a newbie here, but I had a 29 gal freshwater tank about 12 years ago and put 2 bumblebees in it, along with a bunch of various kinds of tetras (neon, serpae, scissor, etc). Within a day or two, I had neons with nipped out parts of their tails. I started a close watch of my two new inhabitants and found that only one of them was the offending tail-nipper, the other didn't. I took the aggressive one back to the lfs and kept the other, who became an upstanding and interesting addition to my aquarium. So, I guess I'm saying that my experience shows it could be 50/50 here on how they act for you. LOL I liked them in that it was just something different from some of the more common fish you see everywhere.

 

[Kittycat]

Thanks, everyone. I've been planning on getting a trio of platies once I buy my new bigger tank (where I'll move my guppies), so I guess I'll put them together.

As for brackish water...How much salt does it require? I thought they'd would be ok with guppies as I put some salt in with the latter...

 

[luckynat]

I have 4 bumblebee goby's in my tank that live with 2 goldfish and 3 guppies and haven't had any problem they seem to keep to themself.