Bumblebee Goby Feeding

[plutoniumcaterpillar]

I've had a bumblebee goby for about 2-3weeks now, and I did my research on him and saw that they only like bloodworms and won't touch pellets or flakes, and so far from what I can tell, this is true, and he was loving his bloodworm dinners. A while later I purchased some guppies. Now I try to feed them a bunch of flakes first because once I get to the bloodworms, they go bananas over them and leave none for the goby! I'm a little worried that he's being underfed as a result.

So basically I'm wondering if bumblebee gobies will eat any other food source, hopefully one that the guppies will leave alone? Or can my bumblebee goby go a little while without much or any food for a few days when he doesn't get any at feeding time? What do you guys think?

Thanks!

 

[Cynic]

Are you feeding live or freeze dried bloodworms? Unfortunately as ambush eaters gobies are prone to be difficult to feed for the very reason you are experiencing.

 

[plutoniumcaterpillar]

I'm feeding him frozen bloodworms. Are live ones better or do they have a better chance of getting to him?

 

[Scottyhorse]

It would help to target feed him with some tweezers.
Just wondering, do you have the scientific name of this goby? Most 'freshwater' bumble bee gobies are actually brackish water. The actual freshwater goby ( I only know of one ) is very rare to find at a pet store or lfs.

 

[Cammywammy]

It would help to target feed him with some tweezers.
Just wondering, do you have the scientific name of this goby? Most 'freshwater' bumble bee gobies are actually brackish water. The actual freshwater goby ( I only know of one ) is very rare to find at a pet store or lfs.

How do you tell the difference between a brackish goby and a fw goby

 

[Case]

Basically you look at their bands. There are two types of gobys that look very similar. There is the actual Bumblebee Goby that does well in fresh water (but does best in brackish), These guys have four solid unbroken black bands. Then there are the Golden Banded Gobys. These little guys are almost always mistaken in pet stores as bumblebees and sold as freshwater when they are in fact brackish. They do very poorly in fresh water. You can identify these cuties as they often have broken bands and spots or small stripes between the black bands. I had issues keeping my gobys alive when I first got them because I didn't know that at the time. Now that I do I converted my tank to a brackish and both types thrive.

As for feeding your gobys, I would suggest spot feeding them. Using tweezers, or even a syringe, would work. When I first got my gobys I used a syringe and fed them frozen blood worms. Now I have them trained for feeding time so they compete for their food and I can just dump it in (With your other fish you may still need to spot feed though). Mine eat frozen blood worm and brine shrimp (after a bit of convincing). I'll be attempting frozen mosquito larvae and mysis shrimp to give them more variety.
Don't be too worried if your gobys don't get a whole lot to eat at first. They are very small fish and two or three bloodworms is enough to keep one going. I've had gobys who refused to eat brine shrimp for about 4 days before giving up and eating it.

 

[Cammywammy]

I got two of the unbroken band kind. I wish it was easy to sex them because I believe I have two males they're in my 10 gallon planted tank and are just sitting around at the bottom

 

[Case]

To sex them can be hard if you only have a few. The males are thinner but have brighter colours, and females are rounder.
If they're alone in a community tank they do tend to sit around and hide. That also could be part of your feeding issue. When in a large group of they're own kind they get highly competitive for food.

 

[Cammywammy]

How many does it take for them to get competitive? I have platies in another tank that have given birth and I put the fry in my goby tank. And now my goby is nice and fat! Meaning he's eating something!