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I was in a local pet store that I don't usually use due to their treatment of the fish...
But anyways, I saw something called a bumblebee goby
and I asked how much they were and the guy didn't know so he said '3.99 each' so I got two cause that's all they had.
They are tiny, and I am just wondering if that is going to change in a month or two, totally non-aggressive to my guppies, they aren't attacking the plants at all, and when I googled bumblebee goby I got pics that looked like what I have.

Any tips on what kind of fish this is or anything? I have never seen this fish before.
But when I get both my tanks set up I want to get more and I would like to get neon tetras in the same tank
would this work?

Any comments would be loved on this, I want to make my goby's happy in their new home and anything helps.

Mickey,

Bumblebee gobies are normally a brackish water fish. They can survive in freshwater, but not to thier best liking. Provided that the tank with the neons is not too soft or acidic, I see no reason that it could not "work", but the gobies are more than likely going to be at least modestly stressed by this less than ideal environment. Likewise, neon tetras would fare even worse if placed into brackish water which would suit the gobies better. I really would not advise the tank set up you're talking about for the sake of the fish involved.

Larry Vires

Okay thank you, would they manage better with the tank that has guppies and a bristlenose plec?
Cause if not I will either have to give them away, or make a new small tank for them.

if you like Bumblebee Goby's; you could set up a brackish tank with other peaceful fish that tolerate salt.

great tankmates would be Poecilia velifera or P latipinna. those Sailfin Molly's do great with a bit of salt and they're completely harmless. Black Molly's are very good too; another very common fish that can handle salt.

the other "regular" brackish fish in the trade are too big and would eat the goby's and also outgrow the tank (Scats, mono's, Arius etc) or be too nasty in general (Puffers).

the tank they would be in would be ten gallon if they move away from the guppies
and I have had mollies before and I found them way too agressive
atleast the sailfin mollies
including I didn't like how little room they had in the twenty so I don't want to put them in the ten.

BumbleBee Gobies should be in a brackissh water tank and the "salt" should be seawater grade mix. The need mostly live food to acheive a decent life spawn and are at their best in a small species tank. Your 10 gal. is an ideal sze. They usually don't compete well for their share of the live foods. Half beaks might make a possible tank mate. They tend to stay near the top and the "bees" mostly on the bottom. Just a pair or trio of "beaks' with 4 or 5 "bees" would be good. A couple Amano shrimp would be safe companion scavengers would also make the tank more interesting and would help eat left over/dead food.

Yeah one of the bumblebees died last night and the other one isn't doing as good either.

Right before I bought them there was some tragicness in a ripped bag incident. And I believe and overdose in stress coat.

The other problem {aside from it being dead} would be the fact thatI have never seen this fish before and I have doubts that I will find it in a petshop around here.

Not to mention the person at the shop said that the bumblebees ate whatever was in the tank with the other fish, is this just becuase it was starving? :s

Hi Micky,
Because bumble bees do need mainly small live foods they are often starved neaar death by the time you find them for sale. If you would like to try them agai consier buying them from a british equivalent to one of our mail order aquarium supply/fish companies. Many of these companies actually employ a marine biologist or other professional manager of their livestock depaartments. Also bumble bees should not cost all that much $3-4 US ea is high and in a group of 6 they should'nt be more than about $3.00 ea. They do well on newly hatched brine shrimp, white,grindal,blackworms and adult brine shrimp. They will also usually learn to accept frozen foods after a little bit but at first it's best to give them newly hatched Artemia to quickly build up their health before trying to make the switch to more convenient frozen foods. They are naturally a fairly long lived little fish. They do best in small groups with little caves, seashells and similar hiding places. The salinity can be kept low enough to still be able to grow many freshwater plants, Java fern being a very good choice. In good health and set up as described they become very colorful and enjoyable little fish perfect for a small species tank set up. I am nt sure if there are any small catfish that would be good choices to help with the uneaten foods and that is why I suggest trying shrimp instead. I have'nt kept these in many years but I have been thinking about doing so soon in one of these new self-contained nano tank systems either a 6 or 12 gallon size. They incorporate built in wet/dry filters and a decent pc fluorescent lighting system that would show off thheir colors. Thers are some other small gobies that could live with them also. I think you just got weak fish and now that you know more about them why not give it another go with some healthier specimens?

They are fin-nippers if they get the chance, so no big frilly fins or slow tank-mates

Would otto cats work for the ten gal?
I am worried about shrimp cause I hear they can climb out and they tend to be costly... I don't know where I would find live food around here though, any tips?
I might move him into a smaller tank soon so that I can give him his food and do constant water changes n such till my guppies move out.
Then swap Betta into said tank and bumblebee into ten and get more for ten.
But I really like otto cats and they don't cost much so I could get a few, from a nearby store so transportation isn't a problem.
Any tips?
{I want to plan a setup for my ten gal, so that I can go to the petstore with a plan of what I need to get in terms of fliters n heaters and lights etc. this is an older tank and I don't like the current equipment.}

I explained to you that bumblebee gobies are brackiish water fish and that they are best kept in a species tank. The common glass/ghost "feeder" shrimp are very cheap and perfect companions. You can not expect Otocinclus to do well in brackish water . If you keep bumbelee gobies your options are limited. The glass shrimp are not going to climb out and your tank should be covered anyway. Live food is not a problem. You will only have to learn how to hatch out brineshrimp eggs. Don't waste your money on the tiny vials of brineshrimp eggs because those eggs never hatch. Buy a small CAN of hermetically sealed brineshrimp eggs and once you open the can store it in the refrigerator with the plastic lid firmly place back on the open can and the eggs will last for years. Do NOT put them in the freezer section of the refrigerator, that will kill the eggs. As you have access to the internet, do a Google search on your Bumble bees so you can better understand their requirements or move on to a less complicated fish to keep.

Sorry if I am being stubborn in my thoughts here, I don't know what type of water otto cats take...

I will check up on the shrimp, I might have to order off of the net though cause I have yet to see anything related to a shrimp for less than $50.

and would mail order work? I have pondered doing that but I often worry that they will arrive dead or with some disease that kills everything.

Hi
I know you are in Canada but if you have WalMart near you the glass shrimp here cost 26 cents each and the are just as much fun to keep as a $50 shrimp. I am only aware of certain reef shrimp that cost that much!!
The best thing to do is choose the theme or type of fish that you really want to keep and then start building around that fish's needs and then think about or ask what else can I keep with it in such a way all the plants and animals around your favorite. You can have a very interesting aquarium built around the Bumblebees. Learn all you can about the Bumblebees. then if you still want them I gave you some other things to work in that I thought could be done with very little money. Bumblebees have very particular needs but they are easily met. Just proceed carefully as you become more familiar with them. Go slow.
in the end you will be rewarded.

Yeah.
I went and talked to the lady at our local Pet Valu.
And she said she can get the shrimp for me. And she is talking to the guy that she uses that is really smart with fish so they are going to help me get the right salt and such.

Though I could ask right here:
Aquarium salt?
Or does non-idiozed salt work.
And how much should I put in?

Hello,

I'm going to give a shot at this, but really don't have much more experience with this species aside from keeping them in shop tanks.

At the point I was selling them, I normally mixed the water in a bucket to a specific gravity of ~1.012 Salt used was Instant Ocean, but I assume that any marine salt would work. Actually trying to provide these fish with an optimum environment can be a bit more taxing, but I think is really worth it given that their color and attitude really come through when they're happy.

Larry Vires

yeah I just threw up an emergency tank and put in some non iodized salt
tis all I had
he responded within five minutes and was swimming happily
now all I need is the food {I hope to get it tomorrow}
how do you tell how much weight it is? o.O

To measure the specific gravity, you need to use a hydrometer. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrometer

Of course, there's also the method of measuring the conductivity and from that determining the salinity. This is a more precise method, but also more expensive, as you need conductivity meter.

As has been noted before, you should really use sea-salt (and not the kind sold in the supermarket - you never really know what that contains). For a small tank, you don't need a huge bag, as you only need a small amount of salt per gallon of water to make it sufficiently brackish. Sea-salt contains mostly the same salt as we eat with our food, but it has some other minerals mixed in which makes it more suitable for the fish, mostly magnesium salts.

--
Mats

Mickey,
Please read my first response to you questions. You will see that I specifically recommended that you should use a marine mix salt. It provides the perfect ionic balance,trace elements and buffers to provide the ideal water chemistry for the Bumblebee Gobies. Instant Ocean is a very good brand and you need to get a hydrometer as Matts said to be able to measure the salinity and control it so that your water chemistry and salt content remains stable. Just do some research on keeping a brackish water aquarium and fish. Plain salt will not provide the optimal conditions. You seem to be stubbornly resisting the advice of experienced aquarists to the point where we are wasting our breathe. The brackish water aquarium is a special type of environment. If you aren't willing to research this on your own so you better understand it you should'nt even try it. Buy some goldfish or start taking this seriously.
This is planetcatfish.com not the beginner's Bumblebee gobie corner. Try visiting http://www.fishaholics.org forum for more help on this topic please.

Sorry I am taking this seriously just last night I didn't have the option of going out to buy sea salt seeing as my parents aren't with me on this whole fish thing it's more like if I can fit in I will but otherwise I'm screwed and the only thing I had was that salt... {I am listening to what you said just I often act stubborn for some stupid reason, so sorry}

And I know it is planetcatfish just I didn't know where else to go but thank you..
and I am getting to the petstore today to try and get everything, I am just hoping that it lives...

sorry for being stubborn, I have just felt kinda panicky with that fish cause I don't want it to die.. sorry I will double check previous posts before asking questions.

matsp: thanks

also I have been trying to do research just I have yet to come up with anything that I would consider solid... cause what I mostly find is tiny pages made by one person who could be lieing...

but yeah thanks for everything you have done and I am really sorry for appearing so stubborn...

just so you guys know what is happening
I visited both of the pet stores in this town
neither of them have a hydrometer
and neither of them had the brine shrimp eggs
so instead I ended up with bloodworms
and yay neither had marine salt either

the nearest pet store aside from the ones in town are over an hour away so that option wasn't available to me sorry to say
I have to wait for a weekend when my parents don't go for a trip to the lake...

sorry for being so stubborn and everything, I can't get anything better for him right now...

One option for both salt and hydrometer would be to purchase them on the Internet.

A hydrometer may also be available in shops that sell homebrewing equipment (either wine or beer). Marine salt is NOT available in those types of shops, however.

--
Mats

Hi Mickey,
I think I have a much better idea what difficulties you are having and why now. There are times went it plain sucks being young and trying to do the best you can with what you have and having to depend on the parents to get you around to the right fish shop so you can get the things you need and want.
I think you already understand that keeping bumblebees is a little more involved than guppies or zebra danios but now that you have one ? you are trying to give it proper care and no-one at home is much help.
If you can't get to a store for a small bag of marine aquarium salt the best stuff to use is plain rock salt.
About 1/2 to 1 tablespoon per gallon. Tablesalt contains stuff in it to keep it easy to shake and prevents the salt from lumping up from moisture. If you use it it won't hurt the fish but it tends to leave your water cloudy looking. If not then that's great.
Feeding them is often hard because that won't eat flkes or pelleted tropical fish food. Sometimes you can collect tiny water critters from a local pond or lake either swish a fine mesh net throgh the water or areas with underwater weeds and just pick out things with an eye dropper and try them out. This is a good way to find live food but there are some bugs that can eat your fish. That's why I suggest that you only try bugs small enough to pickup with an eyedropper.
For some more information that is true and correct visit the following site on the internet:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile59.html
This is good information and not some one talking trash.
I hope this helps you out. Even if you don't have good luck this time try not to get all bummed out and give up on fish keeping. Also visit the library and check out a few of the tropical fish books that have sections that describe and show each fish. The library will help you learn more about keeping aquariums, and how things work and why.
I hope that you are able to save your bumblee bee goby and enjoy him but please keep in mind that it is not the easiest fish to try to keep when you are still just learning about how to keep tropical fish. In fact many people have trouble keeping them for very long. So don't use Bumblebee gobies as a measure of whether you are doing things wrong in case it dies.
Larry

Thanks for all the info, and I would buy off of the net but I can't because of my parents not letting me use a credit card even if I pay them... I am working on it though.

And yeah I have been raising up my guppies for a few months now and I hope that when my guppies are out of the ten gallon that I can make a successful tank for them... and I will go check out the pond at my aunts house.
Thanks for that tip.
I will read that page when I get back from work, and I have already read through the books about tropicals from the library, I never noticed a bumblebee goby, though I am gonna try again.
But thank you so much... and I just hope that this guy can live cause it's not fair that it suffers and dies just because it got sold to the wrong store then to the wrong person
I am confused as to feel guilty for not being prepared for it, or relieved that atleast I am offering sort of proper water conditions...
But yeah I have to go to work, thank you so much for your help.
{MatsP thanks too.}

Mickey,
You are doing the best you can. No matter how experienced we become as aquarists we all lose fish for one reason or another. I've lost enough fish over the years to stock a big fish store. I just bought 4 YoYo loaches to help eat up a bunch of snails 2 days ago and one of them jumped out last night. He's not the first and he won't be the last fish I'll lose. Should have cover the hole in the lid, he found it, and I found him on the floor about an hour too late.
You might be a very lucky guy and find daphnia and bloodworms in the pond. Also some times you can even collect some glass worms when it gets colder. Not everybody has a pond to explore ffor live fish food and there is nothing better for fish than live foods. It adds another dimension to keeping fish to learn about and collect your own live food.
Larry

Yeah, I will see what I can do tomorrow, it is really dark now so I can't go out.

But yeah, the hard part of taking care of fish is losing them... easy part is all the hard work.><

But yeah thanks, I just hope that when I go home tomorrow I find that the dried bloodworms failed.
I just hope Lucky is still alive, he has been lucky so far, I hope it continues.

Including, what do you know of would kill snails?
I have a ten gal that needs to be cleared before being changed and getting the plants, there are baby guppies and a whiptail in it right now {I am trying to think of a place to give the whiptail too, he doesn't enjoy living in the small tank anymore....}

Yeah, Lucky is gone now.
Guess I should have braved the darkness...


But yeah, I still plan on making that bumblebee tank.
Only I will do it right.