# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna >  What does Bumblebee Goby eat?

## notebook

Hi was trying to feed them normal fish food but then it seems they are not eating.

Do they eat only bloodworms or anything else?

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## Quixotic

Live/frozen food (tubifex, bloodworm, brine shrimp etc) only. They will generally ignore dry food to the extend of dying from starvation.

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## notebook

!

Ok i get it tomorrow then
Thanks..

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## chuaclarence

Oh, beware, they also eat small shrimp. Like cherry shrimp. one week after i put in the gobys, half of my cherry population disappeared. so i took them out altogether! beautiful fish, but small and deadly to me. haha. from my experience they are quite voracious eaters.

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## doppelbanddwarf

I think they do eat a bit of dry food along with live food. I've some in a 2 ft with young apistos, lemon tetras, pencilfish and wild guppies. 
I feed my fishes daphnia once every 2 weeks. The rest of the time i feed them tetrabits and aquadene micropellets. The bumblebee gobies havegotten so used to the micropellets that they rush for the sinking micropellets.

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## Quixotic

Although there are reports of bumblebee goby being acclimitised to take dry food, I would be wary of them.

I had some of them that do take pellets initially, but in the long run - I really took lots of time to observe them - they will spit them out, or passed out through the gills.

Needless to say, they didn't survive very long, possibly lasted for about six months or much less. The oldest that I have kept on live food is about 3 years old.

I do believe that they will eventually pass on dry food in the long run, so I would always advise on live food for them. And it won't go wrong if your thoughts are in line with the goby experts.

http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquar....html#gobiidae

Regardless, just make sure they really EAT (open mouth, take food, swallow and possibly poo).  :Laughing:

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## doppelbanddwarf

Oh i didn't know they can't survive long on dry foods. I'm quite sure they do not spit out the micropellets though. Oh and i believe they along with the apistogrammas are feeding on young guppies.

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## Quixotic

Well, that's just my experience but your mileage may vary. One of the problems was that some will go on hunger strikes after some time. But as long as they are eating something, then I think there isn't a major problem.

And yes, they do gobble up things that can fit in their mouth. Yummy...

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## newman

i used to have some bumblebee goby once
they are really cute bunch of creatures
however their looks are rather deceiving.
there was once when my goby took a bite at my rasboras while they are resting

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## Quixotic

Lest someone get the wrong impression that they are fearsome fishes, well, they are not. They do not bite as in taking a chunk out of other fishes.

Bumblebee gobies need to establish their own territories and will chase away any fishes near them. Hence the biting action, which does nothing more than torn fins at worst, and even so, this is extremely rare (torn fins).

They will, though, eat fries as would other fishes, as long as it is something that fits their mouths.

Mine mixes well with fast fishes like rasboras and tetras, but need to be sure that they get to eat. Most food would be quickly eaten up by other fishes, so there are occassions where you may need to spoon feed them, literally.

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## LTL

tink they only prefer live feed... Frozen BW are accepted after some training...

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