Help needed

[lamby]

Hi every one on AA iv been givin a bw bumble bee goby i have no idea what to do with the water what levels should i have what tests ddo i need i love the lil guy i want to convert him to freshwater but need to get the hang of the brakish water can some one give me some advice

 

[Wyomingite]

First, ya need a hydrometer, to measure the specific gravity of the water. Brackish bumblebees do well at a specific gravity of 1.005-1.008 or so. Ya just add marine salt for a saltwater tank until ya hit that range.

Ya may not want to switch him back to FW. It isn't as simple as that. Not all bumblebee gobies are able to survive in FW long term. The three most common species in the trade, Brachygobius xanthozonus, B. nunus and B. doriae all do best in brackish. In fact, B. xanthozonus needs to remain in brackish for long term survival. These three species are nearly identical and the only way to reliably determine species without killin' the fish is by countin' anal fin rays. B. doriae and B. nunus both have one anal fin spine and seven rays, and the first black band rarely encircles the body completely. There's some debate whether they are actually different species, and I'm not sure what the current staus is. B. xanthozonus differs from the other two by the number of anal fin rays (one spine and eight rays) and the first black band behind the pectoral fins is generally broader and nearly encircles the body completely.

Hope that helps a little. Maybe ya can tell which species ya have. If not, yer best keepin' him in brackish water.

WYite

 

[lamby]

so it wont effect it if i slowly changed it to fw just shortens the life spane of the fish hmmmm would a goby be alright in a 2-4g nano or is this just stupid to think of an what sort of space am i looking at il buy it a better tank next pay day

 

[lamby]

alright this is what im going to go buy

nano cube
aquarium salt
hydrometer

i was wondering if i could add live sand and rock?

 

[lamby]

so im going to buy a few things hopefully tomoro

nano cube
aquarium salt
hydrometer

but im wondering if i could se live sand as a substrate and live rock

 

[Samzter]

I thought they needed 20-30g minimum.

 

[_skyla_]

I had bumble bees and kept them in brackish water i had six in a 75litre with sailfin Molly's. They are fussy little eaters and sometimes won't take flake foods so I used to use frozen foods and put it infront of the filter flow to make it look like it was moving and they snatched it up when it floated past them. They do better in a species only tank though as they usually get outcompeted for food if your not carefull. If you get more they tend to like there own little territories and little caves but make sure you have a little cave or hidy hole for this little guy anyway to make home.

 

[_skyla_]

Don't worry about live sand you don't need it for brackish setups. I don't know if you can add it though someone lose I'll have to answer that one I just wouldn't do it if I didn't need to I think that might be an expensive way to go. I just used play sand I got from a hardware store and got some Malaysian trumpet snails to keep the sand from getting compacted. I had some live plants in there too but not many tolerate brackish water I can't remember exactly what I had though.

 

[lamby]

well its only about 2cm and its in a 200x200x200 cube il have to get a better tank or convert my long one once my cichlid tank is set up

 

[lamby]

and what about the sand and rock because il probaly turn the nano in to a full salt and have a shrimp or somthing small in it after

 

[_skyla_]

I know they are tiny but most websites seem to recommend at least 20g. But I think that's a lot to do with the fact they can get quite territorial if you have them with others.

 

[_skyla_]

Maybe get a bigger tank if you can or do as you said and convert your other tank and you could have a species tank of them? I personally love these guys there one of my favourite very cute with their little grumpy frown faces haha I would love to have them again just had to leave them behind with my ex when i moved from Broome ehhh

 

[lamby]

Maybe get a bigger tank if you can or do as you said and convert your other tank and you could have a species tank of them? I personally love these guys there one of my favourite very cute with their little grumpy frown faces haha I would love to have them again just had to leave them behind with my ex when i moved from Broome ehhh

do ya rekon if i change this tank it would be ok im going to keep it brakish i love a challange might even push me to doo a salty

the tank will be empty in a week or too once i get the key to the house

 

[_skyla_]

do ya rekon if i change this tank it would be ok im going to keep it brakish i love a challange might even push me to doo a salty

the tank will be empty in a week or too once i get the key to the house

Yeah that would be a great size for him are you planning on adding some more bbs ? Brackish tanks are fun id like to do one again someday but I'm not brave enough to try a marine tank just yet haha what are u going to do with the cichlids? Can't remember if u mentioned your upgrading their tank?

 

[Wyomingite]

That would be a great tank. Are the plants live? They may not be able to handle too much salt, dependin' on species.

WYite

 

[lamby]

yeah their live il change them to my tall tank and iv got a 150ltr for the cichlids

 

[Wyomingite]

yeah their live il change them to my tall tank and iv got a 150ltr for the cichlids

Cool, if ya want live plants, java fern and some crypt species do well in brackish water tanks. Ya'd hafta look up what species of crypts, though, 'cuz I can't recall.

WYite

 

[lamby]

i have 2 java fern so makes me happy to know i can keep them in

 

[lamby]

ok ok so I webt and got a hydrometer enought salt to do 120ltrs and thats it iv got some rock and a cae for him to hide in

so what do i want my tests to be reading befor i add the fish need a list

 

[_skyla_]

since hes in freshwater youll want to slowly acclimate him to brackish water. I put mine in first and slowly built up the salinity i cant remember exactly what i kept mine. Theres a good site that helped me set up mine ill find it and post the link