Got free fish, know nothing about them..

[Nu-Nu the eel]

I know that the farm we got ours from listed them as fw, so they were likely kept in fw there as well. Ill email the for clarification.

@ nu nu : they don't need groups of 6, they don't school or even shoal tightly, similar behavior to other gobies I've kept. Please double check your research before advising, being accurate is important because it gives weight to your words.

I did check my sources. Scroll down to the bumble bee goby section.

http://www.school-of-tropical-fish.com/brackish-water-fish.html

 

[Sharkbait54]

Jet do your research before insulting people like that!!

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Jet do your research before insulting people like that!!

Haha it wasnt insulting, i just think that maybe he had an experience where his bumble bee gobies didnt school or something like that. I was wrong anyways, it says they prefer schools of 8, but i think 6 is a good number for most schooling fish

 

[00youknowit00]

Okay so after reading up it seems like either type of BBG thrives in brackish, but one will do fine in FW too.

Next question, how hard is brackish to do? Is it just adding the right amount of salt and..BAM..brackish? If its not a huge deal I wouldn't mind making the tank brackish for them.

 

[00youknowit00]

Haha it wasnt insulting, i just think that maybe he had an experience where his bumble bee gobies didnt school or something like that. I was wrong anyways, it says they prefer schools of 8, but i think 6 is a good number for most schooling fish

Well from my understanding, they aren't a schooling fish, but higher numbers keep territorial aggression down.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Well from my understanding, they aren't a schooling fish, but higher numbers keep territorial aggression down.

Ya well i would think that such a small fish would prefer to be kept in large schools, and thats what that website said, but personal experiences are more accurate then the internet in my opinion.

 

[jetajockey]

I'm not insulting anyone, my apologies if you take it that way.

I do plenty of research, and just because you found something on a site that says they school or whatever doesn't really mean anything. That's what I meant by research, or experience. Do you keep bbg's? Or any other freshwater or brackish gobies?

Bbg's don't school in the traditional sense, they may all sort of loosely hang together, but I wouldn't even define it as shoaling, and I'm fairly certain that my experience is not the odd one just because one web site I've never even heard of says something different.

I've kept gobies in groups of 2 or 3 to 10 or more and they all behave basically the same no matter what. Give them some structure and the males might stake some claims but thats about it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Haha it wasnt insulting, i just think that maybe he had an experience where his bumble bee gobies didnt school or something like that. I was wrong anyways, it says they prefer schools of 8, but i think 6 is a good number for most schooling fish

Experience > heresay. I've never ever seen anyone suggest that any goby is a schooling fish. It's usually the opposite. He was saying that even if you read something online, you need to find multiple sources. One link proves nothing.

Liveaquaria pretty much contradicts what you've said:

The Bumblebee Goby is a small, relatively peaceful fish that does not tolerate intrusion into its territory

Tropical Aquarium Fish for Brackish Aquariums: Bumble Bee Goby

 

[Sharkbait54]

This is from the link....." Bumblebee Gobies prefer to swim in schools of 8 to 10 and they don't really get along with other species very well. They can be kept along with other species, but they will be very timid and not as active as they are in schools".

 

[00youknowit00]

Ya well i would think that such a small fish would prefer to be kept in large schools, and thats what that website said, but personal experiences are more accurate then the internet in my opinion.

I'm not disagreeing at all, just for a different reason (aggression), once I get the water situation figured out I'm already planning on hopefully getting 2-3 more, so a total of 4-5.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

I'm not insulting anyone, my apologies if you take it that way.

I do plenty of research, and just because you found something on a site that says they school or whatever doesn't really mean anything. That's what I meant by research, or experience. Do you keep bbg's? Or any other freshwater or brackish gobies?

Bbg's don't school in the traditional sense, they may all sort of loosely hang together, but I wouldn't even define it as shoaling, and I'm fairly certain that my experience is not the odd one just because one web site I've never even heard of says something different.

I've kept gobies in groups of 2 or 3 to 10 or more and they all behave basically the same no matter what. Give them some structure and the males might stake some claims but thats about it.

Yes i agree that one website means nothing and that personal experience is more important then any website which is what i stated above. I do not have bumble bee gobies so i have no experience with the fish but i am just using the website as an example about how there are many differant opinions.

 

[mfdrookie516]

This is from the link....." Bumblebee Gobies prefer to swim in schools of 8 to 10 and they don't really get along with other species very well. They can be kept along with other species, but they will be very timid and not as active as they are in schools".

Show us another link to back it up.. that's the whole point. One link proves nothing. Anyone can post anything they want on the internet. There's no law against incorrect info being posted on something like this. I can start a website and say that bumblebee gobies need pure spring water with a dash of lemon. Just because it's on a website doesn't prove that it's correct information.

 

[00youknowit00]

Okay so after reading up it seems like either type of BBG thrives in brackish, but one will do fine in FW too.

Next question, how hard is brackish to do? Is it just adding the right amount of salt and..BAM..brackish? If its not a huge deal I wouldn't mind making the tank brackish for them.

*clears throat*

Anyone have anything to say about this?

 

[mfdrookie516]

It's not quite that simple, but not much more difficult than that either. If you've got your tank running now, it's just a matter of slowly raising the salinity to acclimate the fish, and give the new bacteria time to grow as the salt kills off the existing bacteria. If you slowly raise the salinity over a period of a few weeks, you should be good to go.


And... perhaps you should see a doctor about that mucus.

 

[Sharkbait54]

So sorry that was rude of me. I'm sorry I have no Idea how to make a tank brackish lol.

 

[00youknowit00]

It's not quite that simple, but not much more difficult than that either. If you've got your tank running now, it's just a matter of slowly raising the salinity to acclimate the fish, and give the new bacteria time to grow as the salt kills off the existing bacteria. If you slowly raise the salinity over a period of a few weeks, you should be good to go.

And... perhaps you should see a doctor about that mucus.

Okay, that answers my next question too, its a different bacteria.
So next questions:
1) What do I need to get to measure salinity?
2) What is the recommended salinity?
3) How small of increments is safe?

I'm probably asking pretty simple questions, but I don't wanna mess this up. Haha

 

[00youknowit00]

And... perhaps you should see a doctor about that mucus.

I know I know.. I have an appointment Monday, I couldn't get in till after Thanksgiving.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I'm saying this with no experience in the matter, just lots of reading on the subject. Most brackish systems run between 1.010 - 1.015. A refractometer is definitely more accurate than a hydrometer, but this isn't a reef system. Brackish water fluctuates in nature, so a little bit off isn't going to be detrimental. It's basically a $10 hydrometer vs a $30-40 refractometer. Pick a time span and go with it. If you choose 6 weeks, increase it each week by .0025. You can do it faster, but I tend to err on the side of caution.

Here's a thread where another member made the transition - http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fresh-to-brackish-160170-3.html

I know that siva and dragonfish71 have experience in converting fw to bw... I think maybe Terrance does as well. You might PM one of them if they don't happen upon this thread.

 

[00youknowit00]

I'm saying this with no experience in the matter, just lots of reading on the subject. Most brackish systems run between 1.010 - 1.015. A refractometer is definitely more accurate than a hydrometer, but this isn't a reef system. Brackish water fluctuates in nature, so a little bit off isn't going to be detrimental. It's basically a $10 hydrometer vs a $30-40 refractometer. Pick a time span and go with it. If you choose 6 weeks, increase it each week by .0025. You can do it faster, but I tend to err on the side of caution.

Here's a thread where another member made the transition - http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fresh-to-brackish-160170-3.html

I know that siva and dragonfish71 have experience in converting fw to bw... I think maybe Terrance does as well. You might PM one of them if they don't happen upon this thread.

Thanks! I'll PM. I thought a hydrometer would work, but never sure. I just think the trick its getting one that reads low enough..

Also, I'm assuming that waiting till saturday to start isn't going to hurt anything since they've been in fw anyways.

 

[00youknowit00]

How many go y'all think would be a good number to have? Its a 5gallon. While reading all over I read somewhere about 12 for a 10gallon. But would rather hear what y'all think.