Bumblebee Gobies

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I have been researching bumblebee gobies recently, and I think they'd make an interesting addition to my 55 gallon tank, which I am turning brackish. In the tank are a 9 1/2 inch long violet goby (He doesn't bite), and many small guppies. As I've said before the guppies are "feeder" guppies, and most of them were born in that tank. There are only a few fully grown guppies, from the first generation, and several growing (about an inch long at the biggest) offspring of those. There are some smaller ones, perhaps 3/4 of an inch long, and babies that range in size from newborn to half an inch. I've read that bumblebees will eat baby guppies. I'm fine with that. Something needs to keep them under control. However, will they attack, and if they do, hurt, my mature guppies?
Aside from that the tank has two pieces of driftwood, each over a foot long. One is fake and the other is from Malaysia. The real piece of driftwood makes a short "T" shape, and part of it is very wide. I intended for my violet goby to hide under it, but he doesn't seem to like it. The fake driftwood is just straight and curved, with many crevices that may serve as good homes for three or four bumblebees. The substrate is black sand. I am trying to get my java fern to reproduce so I can have it on the driftwood. I have a small piece of hornwort in the tank right now, which will undoubtedly grow and have to be trimmed.
Also, if I get bumblebees, would five be all right? I've heard that small numbers make them more aggressive. The bioload of the tank shouldn't be a problem, right? I would imagine the presence of five bumblebees to be about like a similar number of mature guppies.
I think I covered everything but I may have more questions later on down the road. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[mitcore]

wow that is some info

i have one bumble bee
he is good on his own but they prefer not to have mates, they are very territorial,so i would recommend only one, no matter how big your tanks is, he will keep you guppies fry under control but i can not say he will leave the adults alone, they are meat eaters and if they are not feed once a day they will eat what they can get hold of, they are a cute fish but can be a little bit painful when you do want to keep some fry, LOL

this is my advice hope it helps

[Siamese Fighter 1]

Good fish to mix include other brackish fishes such as glassfish flounders, and dragon gobies. Mollies like the same water but get to the food too fast and stuff their guts while the bees just haven’t quite got the buzz yet.bees move quit slow so i think you can mix them with guppy"if im wrong someone please correct me"
if you have not got any tank scavengers ghost shrimp will make a good cleaner

hope this help:thumb:

[Kaga's Kritters]

5 bumblebee gobies in a 55g would be just fine. they are small and pick small territories, so they dont need a lot of room. i have 2 in my 5.5g right now and they dont bother each other or the other fish. and the bioload from them is minimal since they are so small.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Thanks guys. I think I'll get about five. Now, since they're so slow, I'm assuming that if I want to save some fry, I can catch them before the bees do. Is that correct? If I provide enough hornwort and java fern can some fry make it to adulthood? The weird thing about my guppies is, I guess since they're "feeders," they don't eat the babies at all.

My LFS is getting bumblebee gobies in on Tuesday. Apparently everyone and their dog had to run out and buy bumblebee gobies for Christmas. I'm moving all of my java ferns to the 55 gallon tank, because the gobies are supposed to like lots of plants. If anyone has any tips for preparing the tank for the gobies, please tell me.
I'm assuming that the LFS will have them in freshwater. Freshwater to a specific gravity of 1.001 shouldn't be too dramatic, should it?
When I go I'll probably get a few ghost shrimp. I kind of doubt that the place will have live brine shrimp or blood worms, so what should I get? I don't know much about live foods. Maybe they'll have frozen brine shrimp. And, if my guppies eat their food, they can still eat the guppies' babies. There's a good food source. The gobies can receive nutrition and control my guppy population at the same time. Meanwhile, those pesky male guppies are always harassing the females, trying to make more.

[Siamese Fighter 1]

not many plant will survive in brackish water(i think)but you can use plastic plants lots of drift wood and rocks. if u use rocks or drift wood overlap them and make a cave for the goby.or you can use flower pots and pipes i prefer rocks and driftwood "looks better":19:

[mitcore]

other then my fry and the odd adult LOL my bumble bee loves blood worms i give him frozen and the odd live ones

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Java fern and hornwort are supposed to survive in brackish water. That's why I got them.
Lastnight when I was putting java ferns in the tank I noticed a hole in the center of the fake driftwood that would make a very good little home for a bumblebee goby, breeding or otherwise. I think the only reason you're supposed to have caves is for breeding, but I'm not sure. Every article I've read says that you'll often see the bees sitting in one place for a long time, protecting their territory. There's a nice place underneath the real driftwood that my violet goby refuses to use as his new hiding place. I think he's ticked that I took his unrealistic half of a Greek stadium ornament away. I have a little white plastic pipe that makes an "r" shape, but that's just as unrealistic.

[Siamese Fighter 1]

when you get your goby take some pics we wana see them...;)

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

OK. I'm not good at getting pictures of fast moving fish, like my guppies, but when the bees settle down and are guarding their territories, I'll take some pics.
I was thinking of taking some pictures of my tank anyway.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I just got my bumblebee gobies today. There are five of them. Each one costed $2.07. Expensive little gobies, and very, very small. They're swimming around and hanging on the glass, algae, and java ferns in my tank.
I took some pictures of my tank, but mainly my violet goby. I have yet to put the pictures on my computer though.
I bought frozen bloodworms for the bumblebees, but I haven't tried to feed it to them yet. I'm going to feed them right after I put in the flake food so the guppies are distracted, then try to place it near the bumblebees.
UPDATE: I fed them bloodworms. Aside from the competition with the guppies and the occasional swim-by by my violet goby, the bumblebee gobies ate without problems. Now they (or at least the majority of them) have nice round bellies

[mitcore]

they will hunt the blood worm, even if it is dead, is is very funny to watch make sure you feed every day or the will go after fish and fry

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

It's been over a week since I got my bumblebee gobies. They've been feeding nicely on the bloodworms. I've been identifying them since I got them. I've also been trying to sex them. If I'm correct, I have a four to one ratio of females to males, and that's not good. If plump, round bellies, presumably filled with eggs, indicates a female, then there's only one lonely male.
I am currently in the process of acclimating my favorite guppy to his new home. After that is done I can begin acclimating my 55 gallon tank to brackish.
As far as breeding goes, I'd like to try it with the bumblebees, but it is said that they produce as many as 200 offspring (or is that just eggs?). I could see if the store I got them at would buy or even just take bees. If I could figure out how to ship fish and stuff, I could sell them on Aquabid, or offer them to the people on the two fish forums I am active on. The main thing is, I have to know there's somewhere for most of the babies to go before I even consider breeding. I can't manage a tank full of bees and guppies. I'm trying to be responsible and not impuslive here.
Lastnight, I accidentally left the frozen bloodworms out, and they thawed. My mom put them in the fridge, which didn't help. When I found them the packets were full of bloodworms floating in water. I hope after re-freezing, the bloodworms are still eatible.

[slinky]

My bumble gobies get along very well. In a 10 gallon tank they constantly fight for "supreme high ground" but nothing aggressive, just like brothers. In the 16 gallon they swim together even more frequently. Regardless of the tank, they ONLY have eaten live food and spit out flakes. They also refuse to eat frozen shrimp. We'll see what happens when I go on vacation and that will be all they can eat for a few days...

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Hmm...I don't see why they wouldn't eat frozen brine shrimp. However, I wouldn't rely on something you aren't sure about to sustain them during your vacation. Is there something else in there, like livebearer fry, or something else that they might eat? How many bees do you have?

[slinky]

Gobies like live food. Apparently they are predators and enjoy the feeling of the chase and are damn spoiled and picky, enjoying fresh meat. In my case, they love brine shrimp and will also eat bloodworms.

I've got 2 gobies in a tall 16 gallon tank. They seem to play with each other. One has orangish and the other has gold stripes.

With regard to flakes, apparently gobies will eat them if they are hungry enough and stop acting like spoiled prima donnas. They have a choice of eating some flakes and freeze dried worms or waiting for live food for 2 days. Apparently fish can last a lot longer than that but this will be a matter of willpower. I was told in the LFS that they never fed them live food, only flakes. Apparently when damn hungry...

[sanddigger]

BBG are so fun. I have had mine for almost a year. If your are fortunate to have a lfs that supplies live brine shrimp, buy a bag. As others have said they love the "chase" (actually I have found mine to stalk) their food. Live brine will stay in the fridge for a few days.

I just get a "net full" ( tiny brine net) and the BBG are off for the chase.

Mine also like frozen mysis and brine shrimp.

Live brine shrimp is what they 'feed on' in their natural habitat, so that's what I try to give them on a regular basis. "Frozen" is a back up.

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

When I feed my BB's they go right after the food. Lastnight I was holding a cube of frozen bloodworms near the top of the water and guppies were tightly packed all around it trying to get some. Then one of the bumblebees swam up and started biting one of the guppies and chased her away. Then it started biting another guppy. It stopped when it found bloodworms. For a minute I thought somehow some bloodworms had survived because they were making fast movements, kind of like they were convulsing or something. One, which swam away from a bumblebee, on closer inspection, turned out to be in the mouth of a baby guppy. It's kind of funny when all the fish play keepaway.
I'm currently getting a five gallon bucket of brackish water ready to put in my tank to begin the conversion to brackish.