Bumblee Goby & Kosher/Sea Salt ?

[egoz]

We just bought a 2 bumblebee gobies. They've been placed in a 10 gallon tank along with 6 gold pristella tetras (which can be moved to a larger tank, if need be).

I have several questions, seeing as these bumblebees need brackish water:

[] Is kosher salt the same as sea salt? I did a 25% water change and added 1 teaspoon per gallon as i replaced the water with tap water that had been conditioned.
[] Will the gold pristellas do okay with this salt level? Or, should i move them to one of our large tanks?
[] I live right by the ocean, and i read somewhere that i might need to add a "buffer" (they recommended sea shells). I have, literally, tons of these wherever i look. Should i add several of these (boiled clean) to the tank? If so, how many? And, what pray tell, is buffering ?

These bumblebees, so far, see very active in the tank. I've fed them some frozen daphnia, and they also seem to live the shrimp pellets we feed to our pandas (in another tank). Although i've read that they are bottom dwellers, they seem to feed on all levels and have squarly sectioned off about 20% of the tank as being off-limits to my gold pristella tetras, despite being a fraction of their size.

Any insights? Asnswers? Suggestions?

rob@egoz.org

 

[copeina]

1) Kosher salt is not the same as sea salt, but it will work just fine. I have been using coarse salt from the baking aisle for many years.

2) The pristellas will not tolerate the salt.. a bad combination of a soft water fish with a brackinsh fish. Don't bother trying.

3) "Buffering" is the process by which your pH and possibly hardness are stabilized by action of calcium carbonate dissolving into the water. Shells, coral gravel, limestone, and baking soda are all good ways to buffer your water. Typically, introducing these items to your water will raise the pH to 8.2 - 8.4 and keep it there. Too much will not raise it higher, therefore they are also known as 'target buffers', though too much baking soda may cause water chemistry problems that I have not had the displeasure of experiencing (yet). You can fill the tank with shells or coral, as once a certain concentration of carbonate is reached, they will not dissolve any further. In my Tanganykan tanks, I use lots of limestone, 1 TBSP of baking soda per 10 gallons, and 2 TBSP of coarse salt. My fish breed like like crazy, and viability of the fry is excellent.

Bumblebee gobies are terriffic little fellows. As you've already witnessed, they travel around the tank, and will colonize every layer of the water as long as there is a substrate for them to be near. Try some tall plastic plants, or a rockpile for them to use the entire tank!

They are easy to breed, and fairly easy to raise, as long as you can supply them with enough baby brine shrimp or similar food. Frozen daphnia will likely be too large for newly hatched fry.

Good luck, hope this helps!
/Kris

 

[Cody]

wait so they can live in a 10 gallon? how big do they get? awesome find egoz.

 

[Tanks4myfish]

I keep things simple in the tank (my daughter's). I use a mixture of a teaspoon per 5 gallons of water with Doc Wellfish's Aquarium Salt for freshwater fish. As it says, it's for freshwater so it's not so brackish, but my goby seems pretty happy.

I have my cute little Goby in a 3 gallon tank with my daughter's guppy with a rock for the fish to hide and couple of plants. My goby is everywhere - very active and very lively. I feed it live brine but for the last week, I've only fed the tank livebearer flake food with Tubifex Worms.

The tank is so simple that I don't even have a filter system. I change the whole tank about once every two weeks or whenever the water gets dirty.

 

[egoz]

Thanks for all the responses.

Ok, i transfered the population of gold pristella tetras to a 30gl tank (that has 1 panda cory, 5 black neon tetras, and 5 head-n-taillight tetras), and now the bumblebee gobbies are on their own.

I also added some seashells and a hunk of coral to buffer.

rob@egoz.org