# Bumblebee goby diet



## lainealex (Sep 27, 2009)

I have a FW bumblebee goby who is doing fairly well in my 20g community tank, however, he will only eat frozen brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms. I have tried many other foods to no avail. I have to move the food in front of him with a turkey baster, or blow it around, and if I don't do this, he won't eat. Every couple of weeks he gets pale and weak, and I can see that somehow he hasn't had enough to eat, so I try harder and he pops back to life.

My concern is that he is not getting enough vitamins and minerals with just the two frozen foods.

Can someone confirm that this diet is OK for him, or do I need to add something I haven't thought of?

Thank you all,

Lainey Alexander


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## JoePhish (Oct 23, 2009)

I love it.... One of my favorite fish.

BummbleBee Gobies are predators. More specific, they are "ambush" predators.
What this means is that they usually sit in one place and wait for their prey to come swimming by.

Now, In the aquarium, this poses a problem. The problem is that when you feed your fish, you get fish swimming all over the place eating all the food that their is. the top water feeders are gulping air and food and the same time, the mid water feeders are right under them waiting for whatever they miss. The bottom feeders (unless you feed heavily) will somtimes comeuyp into the mid water colomn to get the food.

All the while, your poor little bummble bee gobie is sitting thier on his favorite leaf, rock or piece of wood "waiting" for his dinner to some right in front of him.

Now, to answer your question?????? I can't really. Mainely because I don't know what you have in the tank with him.

"ANY" schooling type of fish will QUICKLY devour all the food and leave your gobie (mine is named grumpy) with nothing to eat.

Here is what I did. And I now have "Grumpy" swimming up to the top of the water looking for food when I approach the tank.
~Side note...... 10g Planted. 15+ Male guppies, 1 Panda cory, 1 Clown loach, 1 Otto, 1 bummble bee gobbie (grumpy)~

First. I observed where his favorite place was. In other words, what his tereritory was. I then would feed my fish as I normally do. At the same time, I would place a couple of flakes (I was trying to get him to eat flake foods) in the water just about an inch or two above where he was sitting. After about three days, he started to take the flake that floated down in fron of him. Keep in mind, I '"DID NOT" feed him anything different than what I was feeding the rest of the tank. My thoughts were that he needs to learn the "smell" of the food.

I did this same thing for a couplew of weeks. Every other day, I would drop hi food a little further from him, making him come off hisd rock to get his dinner.

This went on for about a month, then low and behold, one night, I went to the tank to give them their nightly feeding, and guess what, o'le "Grumpy" swimms right up to the glass, to the top of the water, and EATS as I feed the other fish.

Now, everytime, I walk up to the tank, he swimms right up to the glass and acts like he's starving, just like the rest of the fish.

I feed flake twice a day and frozen blood worms once a day.

BTW. Bummble Bee Gobies are fin nippers. So be carefull about what you put in the tank with them. If you don't believe me, you should see the tails of my guppies.


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## lainealex (Sep 27, 2009)

I know about the ambush feeding which is why I target feed him with a turkey baster, and he does come after the baster now, but the trouble is, he won't eat anything other than frozen brine or frozen bloodworms. And it's not an issue of him being "spoiled" by these foods because he comes close to death from starvation every couple of weeks. He is dead serious about not eating anything other than these two foods. I even had my LFS order me all this crazy stuff just to see if I could tempt him. He's not being outcompeted; he actually puts other foods into his mouth and instantly spits them out.

I am just not sure if brine and bloodworms is enough to sustain life for very long?


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## JoePhish (Oct 23, 2009)

Try this....... And I dont know if this will work............. and I don't know if this is good advice.


FEED LIKE MAD. In other wards. feed so much that all yourt other fish can not eat it all. This will ensure that some gets to the gobie. once he is used to eating this food, you should be able to cut back.

Inbetween feedings, I would recomend a light vacuum of the substrate to get ride of any excess.

Bumblee Bee Gobies are great, I love them. But the feeding habits of them make them a little (but not too much) difficult.

I would suggest a species only tank. You can actually breed these vibrant little characters quite easily.


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## leviathan0 (Oct 6, 2007)

There's no need to overfeed the tank, or train it to go to one spot, a turkey baster works fine. They aren't ambush predators either, they're just slower swimmers than the typical fish.

I'm actually using frozen bloodworms almost exclusively for BBGs for the past few years.. occasionally I'll use blackworms, glassworms, mysis and brine shrimp to mix things up. I've haven't come across any problems yet. The real problem with BBGs is that what they'll eat seems to depend on the individual fish. IME, bloodworms and blackworms never fail, but after that, it's really a hit or miss - some might take mysis, some might not, some might take brine shrimp, some might not, etc.


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## JDowns (Mar 6, 2008)

Mine get a steady diet of frozen bloodworms with the rest of their tank mates, Embers, DP's, Pencils, and Galaxy Rasbora's. I also throw in once a week a dozen Isopods cultured on spirulana. Those days are treat days for the DP's and Goby's. Both of them love the live moving food and stalking thier prey.


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## lainealex (Sep 27, 2009)

Is it possible to purchase frozen blackworms?

Thanks,

Lainey


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## jsamps (Oct 31, 2009)

I always though Bumble bees were brackish, perhaps this is the problem can they live in fresh, if so whats the preference?


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## anastasisariel (Oct 4, 2009)

I would think the easiest way to supplement his diet would be to add Endler's or Guppies since they will tolerate the brackish conditions and breed like crazy. Then he could be the ambish preditor he is meant to be! :icon_mrgr


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## BradH (May 15, 2008)

My bbg's eat flake food and live in fresh water.


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

How about raising grindal worms? That and frozen bw's is all my dario darios will eat, and they are real healthy.


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## adrianng1996 (Dec 1, 2009)

BBG's are cute...but i didnt get them coz of their feeding habits...


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## biscuit2014 (Jul 17, 2013)

i am researching these cute little grumpy fish, and i am in the line of thinking that with a few guppy or live bearing fish they should be able to eat the fry? and be supplimented with frozen brine shrimp too.....am i wrong in this thinking?


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## Stone454 (Jun 1, 2013)

There are 2 kinds of gobies being sold as bumblebee gobies, from what I know the ones with unbroken black bands can tolerate freshwater easily, the other is specifically brackish, they are cute little fish I would not mind having some


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## Aquatic Delight (Mar 2, 2012)

try frozen krill. they are little bigger and using the baster or tongs, you simulate the swimming motion of it across where he is.


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## Dina-Angel (Jun 20, 2013)

My bbg eats everything I put in the tank. I do not feed him special, but I try to have a good variety and for sure he prefers the frozen food. Since I have platies and mollies in as well, he might eat the fry because I never see any. But he has been pretty easy when it comes to food, thank god.


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## MrodNanos (Dec 29, 2020)

lainealex said:


> I have a FW bumblebee goby who is doing fairly well in my 20g community tank, however, he will only eat frozen brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms. I have tried many other foods to no avail. I have to move the food in front of him with a turkey baster, or blow it around, and if I don't do this, he won't eat. Every couple of weeks he gets pale and weak, and I can see that somehow he hasn't had enough to eat, so I try harder and he pops back to life.
> 
> My concern is that he is not getting enough vitamins and minerals with just the two frozen foods.
> 
> ...


Mine love Hikari Micro pellets! Hikari micro pellets amazon


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