With faces like pugs and a ‘can do’ attitude, bumblebee gobies make the perfect nano project. Just avoid the common water chemistry pitfall, writes Gabor Horvath.
GABOR HORVATH Gabor is an adept fish breeder with an impressive eco-friendly fish house.
WHEN BROWSING THE offering in a bricks-and-mortar fish store I’m usually looking for a sudden burst of colour or unusual shape to grab my attention. A tank full of bright black and yellow ‘midgets’ buzzing around definitely fulfils these criteria. Bumblebee gobies have a certain charm and their cuteness is hard to resist, but purchasing them on the whim without researching their requirements could be disastrous, leading to the loss of lives. If you’re sold by their uniqueness and are willing to go the extra mile, giving them your best care then please read on. You may have just found your new favourite fish.
Gobioids—the fishes belong to the suborder Gobioidei—are among the most diverse groups of vertebrae, comprising over 2000 species (and counting). There are eight families belonging to this suborder. Most of the gobioids are relatively small, making them ideal for aquaria, but some of the sleeper gobies cand reach over 90cm in length.
The family Gobiidae contains most of the species; there are presently 248 genera in it with around 1900 species. While they mainly inhabit the shallow coastal zones of tropical and temperate seas, you’ll find gobies well adapted to living in brackish or even fully freshwater environments.
A common feature of the members of this family is the fused pelvic fins, forming a suction cup, allowing gobies to hold onto corals and rocks (or even to aquarium glass) in the often-turbulent coastal waters or rivers. They’re mostly bottom dweller micropredators, hunting for everything that fits in their mouth.
Marine gobies are among the most sought after and frequently traded species, but the freshwater offering is somehow limited. Within this latter group you will most probably find Stiphodon, Rhinogobius and Brachygobius gobies for sale.
Meet the bees
Bumblebee gobies—I intentionally used the plural as there are several species traded under this moniker—are relatively regularly offered for sale. They all belong to the Brachygobius genus containing (according to FishBase) 9 described species: B. aggregatus, B. doriae, B. kabiliensis, B. mekongensis, B. nunus, B. sabanus, B. sua, B. xanthomelas, and B. xanthozonus.
