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Bumblebees


JJWooble

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I bought a group of 6 bumblebee gobies last Sunday for my hardwater 30 litre tank (previously just had guppies in it). They were a bit nippier than expected, so I moved the guppies out and was originally unsure if I'd be able to keep them long term. Thankfully the guppies now have their own separate set up so I can keep them :D They're currently in a 30 litre rectangular tank but will be upgraded a little bit to a 50 litre hexagonal once I reseal it. Substrate is aragonite, filtration is a sponge filter, plants are java fern. I will get a refractometer (better than a hydrometer I was told?) and start converting them to brackish over the next few months. 

Question is-- they seem content to munch down their frozen bloodworms but I'm aware this is unhealthy for them long term. Is it worth trying repashy products with them/has anybody tried this previously? If not, I'm planning on setting up a culture of whiteworms and trying them on that and some frozen BBS to see what works. 
Also-- from what I've read on them they form territories and these territories are largely based around caves. I've given them plenty of caves to choose from but so far the only thing that anyone has fixated on is the largest rock in the tank which (naturally) the largest bumblebee has taken up residence on. Does this territorial behaviour regarding caves only occur when breeding or will they form these territories over time as they settle in the tank? 

 

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  • 7 months later...

Hiya.

What is repashy and where do you get It?  I have a group of 4 bb gobies in a 21ltr tank, and they have done very well. Originally I had them in a 21 ltr with 5 pea puffers, they did very well there too, but I  decided I wanted to give them their own tank, and they became very active once in their tank. I love the way they "perch" on things. I have a piece of spiderwood in their tank, and they perch on it like a little flock of underwater birds. Mine have lived all their lives on frozen bloodworms, but I  would really like to find something else that they will eat, to give them variety, and because it is just unhealthy eating the same thing all the time.

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Thanks for the link Ira. The repashy actually looks quite good. Given the number of fish I have, it may be a more economical option. And the fact that it doesn't disintigrate quickly... some of my tanks I have to overfeed to make sure the shy bottom dwellers get fed. A lot gets wasted, as well as making a mess in the tanks. This looks like a really option. Also something new for the turtles. I've ordered a few different ones to try out, will see how it goes.

I am going to try hatching brine shrimp as well for the bb gobies, see if they will eat those. Have you tried those, JJ? If so, how did it go?

your bbs have really good colouring. Have you converted them to brackish yet? That was one of the reasons I separated them from the pea puffers - I wanted to convert them to brackish.

Edited by zombieworm
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The repashy I ordered arrived today. I got the Bug Pie for the gobies, and man do they love it! They went wild over it, no encouragement necessary. I'll have to be more careful where I drop it though. The piece landed right next to one of the empty apple snail shells, and the "owner" of that shell wasn't too impressed about all the others so close to his cave. He kept popping into the shell to make sure no one else had taken over.

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I am going to try hatching brine shrimp as well for the bb gobies, see if they will eat those. Have you tried those, JJ? If so, how did it go?

your bbs have really good colouring. Have you converted them to brackish yet? That was one of the reasons I separated them from the pea puffers - I wanted to convert them to brackish.

Re: hatching brine shrimp, I didn't but I'd imagine they'd go down well. I've never been much a fan of baby brine shrimp as a regular food source just because of the process of setting it back up again after using the batch. I gave them microworms which they seemed to love, and mosquito larvae was always appreciated also. 

I had to give these guys up recently :( I've gone down from 8 tanks to 2 tanks just because I wasn't coping and giving all my fish the best care I could manage whilst also working full time. Their new owners have converted them to brackish last I heard and they're doing well though :) I didn't get to convert them to brackish and if I get the chance to keep these guys again I will. May be some time in the future though. I'd love to hear how your guys go with it :) Mine had plenty of cover and a high pH, though I imagine they would only have improved with the conversion. 

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The repashy I ordered arrived today. I got the Bug Pie for the gobies, and man do they love it! They went wild over it, no encouragement necessary. I'll have to be more careful where I drop it though. The piece landed right next to one of the empty apple snail shells, and the "owner" of that shell wasn't too impressed about all the others so close to his cave. He kept popping into the shell to make sure no one else had taken over.

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So glad to hear they liked it :) Also lol at the little guy with his shell. Yours look really happy, how many do you have? 

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I originally started off with 12 pea puffers and 8 bb gobies in a large tank, which ended up a total disaster. The puffers waged a bloody war on each other, and the gobies had difficulty finding enough food in the chaos and large sized tank (160 ltr). After a few weeks, I was left with 5 puffers that got along, and 4 bb gobies. A couple weeks later, dispairing over the few tiny fish in a ginourmous tank, and knowing I couldn't put anything else in there with them, I moved the surviving fish into a 21 ltr tank, where they settled into a good little community, and all did very well, although I hardly saw the gobies. They stayed hidden most of the time.

Recently I decided to move the gobies into their own tank, and they became very active once on their own. Since they had done fine (in terms of the bioload) in a 21 ltr tank with 5 bioload-heavy puffers, I decided to get another 4 gobies, as I know they like to be in larger groups. So now I have 8. Other than being territorial over their little shell caves, which is mostly in the evenings and at night, they are very sociable with each other. 

They are all at the bottom in pic because it's feeding time, but during the day they swim all over, from top to bottom. The piece of spiderwood I have in there goes right to the top and then back down, giving good perching, and once the plants get bigger, there will be even more non-bottom-of-the-tank perching areas. 

8 seems to be a good number for the 21 ltr tank (its an AquaOne EcoStyle 37). Everyone I've heard from previously seems determined to keep them in a large tank, and what I've been able find in reading seem to encourage that, but mine have done very well in a small tank.

Edited by zombieworm
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  • 6 years later...

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