Schooling Bumblebee Goby

[NoRp]

ive serched on here and i cant find anything out about these little guys
does anyone keep them or have any idea where i can get them from in the uk?

 

[geo7x]

ive serched on here and i cant find anything out about these little guys
does anyone keep them or have any idea where i can get them from in the uk?

well ive looked at an article on them on fishbase which gives the impression that they are similar to any other brachygobius species sold under the name of "bumblebee goby" (although it states they get to about double the size of 'normal' bumblebee gobies, how true this is i dont know) which brings me onto how i wish you the best of luck in finding them to be honest, the most likely species to be sold under the name of "bumblebee goby" are (quoted from neale monks in the bumblebee goby profile in the tff index) "Brachygobius doriae, Brachygobius nunus, or Brachygobius sabanus" others do pop up from time to time, but the likelyhood of them being these is probably next to none going by my estimations, and even if they were to pop up in your lfs they may be labelled under the name of just "bumblebee goby" or even just "bumblebee fish" and they may be very hard to identify.

by the way, is there a particular reason you are after the "schooling bumblebee goby" as opposed to any other bumblebee goby?

 

[andywg]

Also worth remembering is that this genus is very difficult to identify to a species level without getting it under a nmicroscope and going scale counting.

 

[nmonks]

The schooling bumblebee goby is Brachygobius aggregatus and it is typical of the "dwarf" bumblebees (as opposed to the larger "common" bumblebees of which B. doriae is typical). It's photographed and discussed in the Aqualog book. The Fishbase article is here:

http/www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=11802

The Fishbase size estimate is wrong; these get to about 2 cm. Only the "common" BBGs get to 4 cm, these are things like B. doriae and B. sabanus, which are probably the two commonest species in the trade.

Maintenance is as other BBGs -- hard freshwater or slightly brackish water, lots of live foods, no aggressive tankmates, and enough caves (shells) for each fish to set up home. Yes, they sometimes school, but they also pair off to breed, so plan ahead. Frank Schaefer in the Aqualog book doesn't believe they are traded, and I've certainly never seen them.

Trying to order BBGs to species level is probably a waste of time. As AndyWG says, they are very difficult to identify, and exporters and retailers don't bother. Multiple species get traded, probably even within a single batch of fish.

Cheers, Neale