my bumblebee goby

[Kaga's Kritters]

My little bumblebee goby is finally starting to come out of hiding and swim around the tank. Ever since I got him he's been hiding all the time, at least during the day. But finally today I seen him out swimming around! He is soooooo cute, and so little too. He must have been finding some leftover food or something to eat and eating at night, or he would have been dead by now. I just love my little guy :) Finally got a pic of him today too.

[RobbieG]

I've got a dozen of those in one of my tanks they are great little fish - I can never find more than 5-6 at any one time. The only reason I know I still have them is I recently upgraded the tank they were in and had to catch them all to put them in the new one.

I had been positive that most of them had passed on and been eaten by my clowns - but I kept finding them everywhere:19:

[Kaga's Kritters]

I'm planning on getting him a few buddies soon. I was doing some reading and found they do better in groups, otherwise they are very shy.

[RobbieG]

Some sites say that they are territorial - but mine are about 18 months old and have never harmed each other. They don't stick together - but they don't get mean with each other if they wind up in the same spot.

[Kuli_Loach]

I had one that sadly died in 24 hrs. He was cool and I wish I could get another.

[Kaga's Kritters]

yea i read they are territorial, but mine gets chased a little by my serpae tetras. never seen him chase anyone though.

[RobbieG]

The serpae will be sorry if he does - those little guys have some mean choppers!

[Ark6ie]

how big do they get? i saw some in the pet shop on thursday and wanted some but i thought id better find out about them first

[RobbieG]

This is a good article about them

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[Ark6ie]

great article, so id need to add salt to my tank in order to keep them?

[RobbieG]

Before you add salt - find out from the person you get them from how they were raised/bred. They are happiest in a little salt - but even so if they have never been in salt they will need to get acclimated to it.

A LOT of them have been bred/kept in FW for their whole lives

[Ark6ie]

if they were kept and bred in FW would i still need to add the salt? sorry bout all the questions just dont want to buy them and not know how to look after them properly, thanx for your help :22:

[RobbieG]

You would probably still want to add a little salt - I would just do it slowly so as not to throw them for a loop.

Its not the salt itself that would be bad - it would be the sudden change from all FW to brackish.

[Ark6ie]

and i got told yesterday that adding salt to a tank will help the fish fight diseases, is this true?

[RobbieG]

Some fish don't handle it well at all (scaleless fish) - but other than that lots of folks swear by it.

I personally don't use it as a tonic - I really try not to add anything at all to my water unless I have to for a specific reason - but thats just me.

[Ark6ie]

i wasnt that fussed on the idea specially since i have 6 bristlenose in the tank aswell as my loaches. i just had white spot in the tank but cleared it up with the white spot treatment.

[cocoa_pleco]

i only use salt for popeye, otherwise i dont bother using it.

[Ark6ie]

so i shouldnt feel bad for not using it. thats reassuring

[RobbieG]

Actually - looking at your signature - that tank reads like the official list of fish that can't tolerate salt at all

[Ark6ie]

its my favourite tank, and i know its over stocked but i dont have any agression and i do at least weekly water changes. i will have to upsize though when the clown loaches get bigger and the silver sharks