# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna >  Tankmates for Bumblebee goby

## libra04ts

Hi,

I had just setup a 2 feet tank. I currently have a bumblebee goby, wanted to add tankmates when my 2 feet tank is ready.

What tankmates can I get? How many fishes should I get for my tank? My tank is 2 feet length, about 60 litres volume.

I had got substrate, what tankmate can I get to clean up the debris?

Thanks.

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

Posted the above for quite some time, but seems like no reply. Did I post in the wrong area? Where should I ask if it's in the wrong area of the forum?

Thanks. :Smile:

----------


## Quixotic

If it's in the wrong forum, the moderators would move it accordingly. So, your thread is in the right forum, not to worry.  :Smile:  Probably the members do not have much experience in keeping Bumblebee goby.

If you want fish that school in the top to middle level of your tank, these fishes should be okay, http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=38460

If you want bottom level fish that helps to clean up uneaten food, Corydoras would be a good choice but note that they are better off in groups of 5 or more.

However, as Bumblebee gobies aren't very active eaters (they don't rush for food unless the food is near them) and that other fishes can be voracious eaters, you need to ensure that the gobies get their share of food.

I read that you just added GeX soil into your 2 feet tank, which I presume is the tank you will be housing them. I would suggest to let the tank and plants settle down for a while first before stocking the fishes. I forsee some more changes to your tank may be necessary (will comment in your plants thread).

I read that GeX can leach ammonia into the water column (can be lethal to fish) but once the plants have settled down, they will do their job to remove the ammonia.

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

Yes, you have replied in my plants thread, that is my tank which I had setup recently. I will let it cycle before getting fish. So in the meantime, I'm trying to get more info, so that by the time my tank is cycled, I would have info for fishes.

Currently I have 1 bumblebee goby in another small tank, so I will be going to put it into the 2 feet tank after cycled.

I will take a look at the link that you have given and you info. Thanks for your help. I will do a study on the info. 
If there's more advice, do post it.

Yes, I using GEX, have not test ammonia yet. Will be doing it, already got the test kit.


Thanks.  :Smile:

----------


## vstudio

Currently my 2ft tank has the following faunas:
1 bumblebee goby
3 pygmy corys
1 borneo sucker
2 glass shrimps
2 baby garra rufas
1 dwarf pipefish
4 _Indostoums paradoxus (though I hardly see more than 2 at a time coz mine is a heavily planted tank:P)_

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I will take your list as reference/info and do some more research. 

I see that you have in total 14 funas, 2 feet tank is big enough for them? Just asking, because I know some funas require more space.  :Smile: 

If I put in puffer? Is it ok?

Thanks.

----------


## vstudio

No, puffers are best put in a species tank as they tend to be quite aggressive fin nippers :Smile: 

As you can see from my list, I purposely keep small faunas so as to prevent overloading of bio-waste :Smile:  Changing water weekly (abt 30&#37 :Wink:  plus keep lotsa plants help too! :Smile: 

For affordable plants, you can visit Petmart at Serangoon North Av 2 or Far East Aquatic Plants near Kovan MRT station. For variety and price, you can also visit the farms but you gotta drive there :Smile: 

Hope this helps :Smile:

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,
Thanks for your reply and info.

For puffer, i read in some sites that people do keep them in community tank, or is there some species fauna that can go together with puffer? I will do more research into this as well.

For the plants, there are some advice from people from this forum as well, I will be doing more research into the aquatic plants before going down to the LFS. I will take note of the LFS that you mentioned.

Thanks alot for your help.
I will still be posting here after I do more research.  :Smile:

----------


## vstudio

Keeping puffers in a community tank is likened to keeping a fish shredding time bomb with your fishes:P The thing is, we'll never know when it the exact moment the puffers will 'lose it' and start treating their tankmates as food! :Smile: 

For dwarf puffers, some say that Otos are possible candidates but I'm not taking the risk with mine:P 

All the best in your research! :Smile:

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

I just did a pH test on my tank water and the reading was 6.0.
So low, i thought it should be around 7.0 - 8.0 since I'm using tap water.

I just put in a driftwood the day before, is it due to the driftwood? I treated the driftwood using hot water and soaking in a seperate pail for 1 week before adding to the tank.

I intend to shift my bumblebee over to the new tank which needs about 8.0 pH. What can I do to increase the pH and maintain at that level?

Thanks  :Smile:

----------


## FishSoup

Driftwood leaching would normally result in the water taking on a brownish hue from the tannic acids. 

What substrate are you using? ADA soils and GEX substrate have pH lowering capabilities.

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

The water is clear, no brownish hue colour.

I'm using Gex as substrate. In this case, what shall I do to raise the pH and maintain at certain level?

Thanks for your help.  :Smile:

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

I read in the web that is it better to have a constant pH than changing pH of water and causing it to fluctuate alot. So for me to keep bumblebee and tankmates of average pH of 8.0, now my current water pH is 6.0, is it ok to stick to my current water pH? Or should I raise it to about 7.0 to 8.0?

Thanks. :Smile:

----------


## Quixotic

Generally, the pH requirements are within a range instead of a single value (8.0). It also depends on what is the species of your bumblebee goby as there are at least 9 valid species, some needing different requirements (e.g. brackish water).

A lot of the parameters quoted on the websites may not be exactly accurate because it is generally difficult for the common aquarists to tell what species they had, plus there isn't much information available for some species. So there may be a lot of guesswork involved.

If there are doubts, try keeping them in neutral pH (7.0 or thereabouts), which is actually also suitable for a community tank setup. I previously kept mine in pH +-7.0 and they did fine, lived for about 2.5 years. Can't really tell how well they will do in pH 6.0, but personally, I would probably not try with anything below pH 6.5.

You can try with pH 6.0, but need to understand the risks involved and manage it. If they are observed to be not doing well (e.g. fin rot, diseases), do be prepared to rehouse or isolate them. Otherwise, you can try putting a handful of coral chips in the filter to raise the pH a little.

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

Where can I get the coral chips? Can I use seashells? Will it do the same?
Can I also use a pump to pump air into the tank to get rid of CO2? Does the CO2 from the plants also will reduce the pH level?

When the pH level is raised, how can I maintain it at that level?

Thanks. :Smile:

----------


## Jungle-mania

CO2 does reduce the pH, but a lower pH is more suited for a freshwater setup, unless you are doing a malawian or estuarine setup. Coincidentally, the bumblebee goby is actually more of a estuarine fish, they don't really do very well in freshwater, eventhough they are sold as one. I recommend the most ideal setup is an estuarine pond with mangrove seedlings to be the best biotope for them, the only other estuarine fishes that get along with them and sold in freshwater LFS are spotted scats, black finger and monos, since the goby can't feed into their mouth.

----------


## libra04ts

Hi,

I read in website that bumblebee goby's pH range is from 8.0 - 8.2, so what range should I keep the bumblebee goby? 

My current water pH is about 6.0.

Thanks. :Smile:

----------


## Jungle-mania

As indicated in my earlier post, they should be kept ideally in an estuarine condition, which happens to have a pH of 8. It is not really necessary for them to be in such high pH range, 7.5 to 7.8 can be sufficient. As they are found in estuarine areas, they can tolerate easily high fluctuation in pH. So you can keep them in planted tank for a while, but the longer you keep them, the higher the mortality rate. I kept one for 6 months in freshwater with no ill effect, but you will only see them being very lively in more saline conditions.

I forgot to add another alternative means of creating an estuarine tank, is you can use Java ferns too, as they are actually found in estuarine areas in the wild. Tankmates can be ghost shrimps and mollies, both of which are actually estuarine animals and can be in full saltwater conditions. 

A rockscape with fine grain sea sand, along with java ferns and mangrove saplings will look very nice for a bumblebee goby setup. Just take note that the java ferns cannot take full saline conditions well.

----------


## beetlejuice403

Hi, just bought 2 pieces of Bumblebee gobies today as really found them very cute... placed them inside my 1-foot cube together with 2 otos, 2 ramshorn snails & 2 guppies. [Do they make good tankmates for one another?] Are the fauna currently overloaded for a 1-foot cube? Intend to use this cube as my Cherry tank once I'd gotten my Cherry Batallion...  :Smile:  [Intend to place in 3 endlers also after I'd collected from a kind bro in here too...]

Please warn me if I'd again overloaded my tank as I do not wish to harm any more faunas...  :Embarassed:  Thanks!

----------


## jon409

> Hi, just bought 2 pieces of Bumblebee gobies today as really found them very cute... placed them inside my 1-foot cube together with 2 otos, 2 ramshorn snails & 2 guppies. [Do they make good tankmates for one another?] Are the fauna currently overloaded for a 1-foot cube? Intend to use this cube as my Cherry tank once I'd gotten my Cherry Batallion...  [Intend to place in 3 endlers also after I'd collected from a kind bro in here too...]
> 
> Please warn me if I'd again overloaded my tank as I do not wish to harm any more faunas...  Thanks!


is your 1 footer with any filteration? planted? if so i think its ok with the amount of fauna *you* have :Smile:

----------


## Quixotic

> Intend to use this cube as my Cherry tank once I'd gotten my Cherry Batallion...  [Intend to place in 3 endlers also after I'd collected from a kind bro in here too...]


The cherry shrimps should be fast enough, but given half a chance, the Bumblebee gobies will gladly appreciate them as snacks, especially newly born shrimplets.

In case you haven't found out, there are three recommended rules to observe when keeping Bumblebee gobies. Firstly, they will take live and/or frozen food only. Secondly, they cannot compete with very active fish at feeding time. Finally, Bumblebee gobies need good filtration and plenty of oxygen.

----------


## beetlejuice403

Had to seperate my 2 pieces of Bumblebee Gobies today as they were fighting (had personally observed a few times during feeding of BWs...). The worst case was today when I noticed that one of it had its tail torn & ripped from the fight (they seems to be bumping at each others body...)

Sigh! Thought that they are supposed to be gentle fish in a tank... [Now staying with my Goldfishes, anyone with bad experiences??]  :Sad:

----------


## Panut

> The cherry shrimps should be fast enough, but given half a chance, the Bumblebee gobies will gladly appreciate them as snacks, especially newly born shrimplets.
> 
> In case you haven't found out, there are three recommended rules to observe when keeping Bumblebee gobies. Firstly, they will take live and/or frozen food only. Secondly, they cannot compete with very active fish at feeding time. Finally, Bumblebee gobies need good filtration and plenty of oxygen.


what makes baby crs such a tasty snack?  :Sad:  :Sad:

----------


## Verminator

maybe the fish know they're called "cherry" red shrimps  :Grin:  Yum yum!

----------


## Quixotic

> what makes baby crs such a tasty snack?


It shouldn't be a surprise. It's the food chain, crustaceans make up part of diet for many fishes in the wild.




> Had to seperate my 2 pieces of Bumblebee Gobies today as they were fighting (had personally observed a few times during feeding of BWs...). The worst case was today when I noticed that one of it had its tail torn & ripped from the fight (they seems to be bumping at each others body...)
> 
> Sigh! Thought that they are supposed to be gentle fish in a tank... [Now staying with my Goldfishes, anyone with bad experiences??]


These fishes are territorial, so having some hiding places and large enough tank helps. These territorial disputes don't cause any real harm. Torn fins are really normal (they will grow back in time to come).

I hope I haven't written too late to find out that the Goldfishes have gobbled them up. Never put fish small enough to fit in the mouth of the Goldfish with them.

----------


## ShadyFish

> Had to seperate my 2 pieces of Bumblebee Gobies today as they were fighting (had personally observed a few times during feeding of BWs...). The worst case was today when I noticed that one of it had its tail torn & ripped from the fight (they seems to be bumping at each others body...)
> 
> Sigh! Thought that they are supposed to be gentle fish in a tank... [Now staying with my Goldfishes, anyone with bad experiences??]


oh yah i had 3 bumble bees.... they squabble amongst themselves....it got really bad until they nip my tetras fins...that i have to give them away...they are not suited for community tanks....

----------

