Bumblebee Goby

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lmw80

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
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Bristol, Pa
My knight goby in my brackish tank died yesterday, after attempting to treat an infection that seems to have developed from him scraping his back. I thought he had been doing fairly well with treatment, but I guess it wasn't enough to save him.

This tank is 16 gallon high and is a guppy tank. The knight goby was there for population control. I have heard a lot about bumblebee gobys having similar living habitats as knight gobys and would like to get a bumblee goby instead of a knight goby this time around, but have a couple of questions.

The sg in the tank is usually 1.008-1.010 - is this suitable for the bumblebee goby or are they at a higher brackish level?

Are they shy like knight gobys? ie should I provide some type of cave for him?

I have sand substrate, do they like to dig like the knight gobys do?

Thanks in advance.
 
Ok, i have never owned one of these little guys but thought i would have liked to in the past so i did alot of research.

I know that they prefer lower levels of salt. They can do very well in a FW setup, but prefer BW. I have seen these in a river delta in florida before, the river drained into the ocean. So i know they can live in high salt levels too, they can even be introduced to reefs if I am not mistaken.

Yes, they love to hide, a cave is a good idea no matter which fish you have.

They can dig, and might, but i have never heard of them doing that. I hope that helps lori
 
Your sg should be good enough. Provide caves etc. later on they'll start hopping around the tank when they feel comfortable. I've seen them slightly dig, but for teh most part they don't.

hth lol, sorry my response was so short but that's all I could think of typing right now :p
 
I have mine in my freshwater tank with kribs, gauramis, GBRs and a few others. Mine never gets bothered or bothers anyone. He's cute, hops around from rocks to leaves and it's funny to see the little guy hanging out with such a serious group of fish. I've had him for almost 2 months. He's fine and happy.
 
Great information, thanks everyone!

I think I'll get one!

edit: They are territorial towards their own species I have read, so would it be advised to just stick with one instead of two?
 
I was told the same thing and didn't want any more aggression than I already have in my tank so I stuck with 1.
 
cappieBridget said:
I was told the same thing and didn't want any more aggression than I already have in my tank so I stuck with 1.

Does he seem to be doing ok by himself? I mean eating and happy, etc?

Again, thanks everyone.
 
Your sg should be fine, they can live in FW, do better in lower salinity BW. They do like their caves and other sheltered spaces, and have surprising conspecific agression for such a little fish, but I can't bear to keep just one, so I have always kept about 4 together to diffuse aggression. Freshman year of college I kept a faux saltwater setup, 2.5 gallons, pale gravel, a piece of coral I picked up in Caribbean, and 3 bumblebee gobies and one figure 8 puffer. Was a pretty pleasing little tank for my tiny little dorm room. Note on feeding: I have never been able to get one to take flake, they really need live food, may take frozen.
 
For the live food, he will have the newborn guppies. I have frozen food and sinking meat pellets for the rest of the time.
 
I keep three of these in a fast flowing FW community tank with no problems. They don't fight, they are hilarious when you see their 'effort' at chasing other fish (mainly one another, but there's never fighting). They sort of jerk at the other fish like it's some big deal of effort to make lol.
They are doing fine in FW, though they would live longer in brackish conditions.

If you have the space, you might find likewise that a group of 3 would do well.

One note about feeding: the reason I put them in my fast flowing river-condition tank is that they will only eat live food, OR food that looks like it's alive. Fast flowing water will trick them I've found. They will peck at flakes, but they will now eat frozen food such as brine shrimp and bloodworm.
 
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