Bumblebee Gobies and salinity

[jetajockey]

Hi everyone. Just wondering if anyone had any info on this, In the past few years I've seen conflicting opinions on whether bumblebee gobies are brackish or not. Some say there are some that are, some that aren't. Anyone have documentation on this?

I think for now we are going to keep them in slightly brackish water, but we'll see.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I've also seen conflicting info. However, something that I have seen repeatedly is that there are a couple different varieties... and that is where the fresh vs brackish conflicting info comes in to play.

 

[jetajockey]

Yeah, same. I'm wondering, the kind I have on order are labeled brachygobius doraie.

 

[mfdrookie516]

This is old info, but seems to have some value/science to it.. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/bumble-bee-gobys-in-a-community-tank-87358.html

 

[Morgie]

I have my brachygobius doraies in slightly brackish water. I've seen a fairly substantial increase in activity after I acclimated them over. They were being kept in freshwater at my LFS, but they also had them in a brackish display tank with "freshwater" flounder and dragon gobies.
I'm interested to hear what other people think, because everything I've read has been conflicting as well.

 

[Terrance]

They definitely live longer in brackish water since they are captive. Out in the wild they live more in freshwater than brackish, so traders often say they are freshwater fish. Traders are not hobbyist, so they don't know what works best for a long-lived captive fish.

There are a few similar bumblebee-like species out there in the Asian trade that are pure freshwater. You probably won't see them in the U.S.