Freshwater gobies

[Carapar56]

In planning stocking for my 20 gallon and 10 gallon tanks I've come across gobies a lot. For me I always loved gobies and think their habits and behavior is fun to watch. Unfortunately I've been unable to come across any small, community tropical gobies. Most of the species I have found come from colder waters, which isn't suited to my tanks. Does anyone know any nice warm water goby species?

[MandyK]

As far as I know, (which isn't a whole lot in this case) Most gobies aren't really that friendly. At least not to each other.

I had once looked into getting one to go with my Dwarf Puffer. The species I was looking at was the Bumblebee Goby, but there tends to be A LOT of confusion as to which is actually a freshwater species.

You might check my old Dwarf Puffer Journal for that info. I think that's where it is.

[Carapar56]

I know the species, I used to own bumblebees. They're actually brackish fish, though often mistake for and kept in freshwater. And that's not always true. There are some community gobies, yet most don't live in the conditions I'm looking for. I was going to go with a peacock gudgeon or maybe some other gudgeon but I really want that standard goby shape, ya know? Its just really appealing to me.

So far I've found the Desert Goby and the Freshwater Neon Goby. Both are nice, but the latter is gorgeous. I would love the Neons but they seem to have a very strict diet of algae and diatoms and I'm not sure I can provide that. Desert gobies sound like my best option, but they're really not all too colorful.

[MandyK]

Yes, that's the confusing part.

There are two strains of Bumblebee Goby, one being strictly brackish, one being freshwater compatible. I had the scientific names at one time, but I've gotten rid of that info as I don't need it any more. :)

I am quite interested in the others. I'll have to look them up. Good luck!

[Carapar56]

Thank you. And yeah I was unfortunate to have bought a mislabeled brackish bumblebee goby group a few years ago. In my inexperience they didn't last long. Doesn't help that they were mislabeled but still. I think I'm going to go with Desert Gobies and maybe a school of tetra or rasbora. I want something very small. I'll have to look around more.

[Aeonflame]

Ive kept Awaous banana or river goby with other fish, but I dont know if its available in the trade.

[talldutchie]

Goby species are poorly documented. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...ent.php?sid=32 is the best attempt I know off of getting all the beginner info together. All the ones you see in the trade tend to be mislabled as well. Rhinogobius species are fairly common but that's pretty much a room temperature genus. I've considered doing a small tank with a pair of these but couldn't find the room.

Chlamydogobius is probably your best bet. Only freshwater goby I know with a high temp tolerance. Doesn't do soft/acidic water though.

Personally... if you have a 10g.. goby is an ambush hunter. If you break up sightlines with some big pebbles you could keep 2, possibly 3 in that. A 20 gallon would make a lovely temperate chinese tank. Boulders on a mix of coarse sand and a few handfulls of fine gravel. Few clusters of a tall small plant like rotala. 3 gobies, 3 "hong-kong" plecs, 8 whiteclouds. High light to encourage algae growth, Eheim 2213 or similar on it and possibly a small wavemaker for some extra flow.

[Carapar56]

Well I have planned the stock for my 20 already. I'm looking for goby species for a 10 gallon. I'm going to go with 3 in a 10 gallon and a group of phoenix rasbora. I'm going to go with a sandy body with large round river stones, I don't think I'm going to make it planted. If I do it'll most likely consist of crypts, swords, and other strong rooted plants. I think I might make my other 10 gallon a home for bumble bee gobies as I've found a nice website that has freshwater specimens for very low prices. Thanks for the help you guys :D