# betta VS. bumblebee gobies?



## c0rrosion (Jan 29, 2005)

hi, i'm a first-time fish owner and recently just set myself up a 5gal tank with 2 bumblebee gobies. this tank was originally going to be for a male betta fish, but while i was browsing the pet store fish section i spoke to some employees about possible tank-mates for the betta, and they said the BBGs would be fine. 
i brought them home (the betta wont be joining us for another week since i'm waiting for my local pet store to recieve some halfmoon bettas) and got them settled, and started doing some more in-depth research online. some places say that bettas and BBGs are NOT compatible, while some say to take caution because both types of fish can be aggressive. 
at the pet store the BBGs were described as peaceful bottom-dwellers, whereas i found out online that they're prone to being slightly territorial (the two BBGs i have in 5gal are thriving side-by-side just fine and are not aggressive towards _eachother_, though). 

have i made a big mistake, or is there still hope?

also, the pet store employee told me that the BBGs do well in fresh water to moderately brackish water (and they were being kept in FS at the pet store), but my online research says that they are brackish fish. i've been introducing a little salt into their water (about 2 tsp. in my 5g tank), but how much salt can i safely add without hurting the betta i plan to add to the tank? and how much salt-to-water ratio constitutes brackish water?

thanks, and i apologize in advance for n00by questions.


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Don't think you're gonna find your redemption here. Never had any myself, but from what I can take from your research and some quick 'googleing' they do seem to thrive best in a species tank. Seems to be another one of those instances where an employee rather have a sale then to provide solid advice. 

Brackish water = any salt added, it's just the degree that matters with some species. Your bumblebees seem to be ok with slighly brackish already (1 tsp/g). But you may want to have someone confirm that who knows about this species.

One thing that struck me though, did you see that they don't do well on flakes or frozen food? Hope you prepared for that.


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## c0rrosion (Jan 29, 2005)

> One thing that struck me though, did you see that they don't do well on flakes or frozen food? Hope you prepared for that.


actually i read that they're generally picky eaters and only go after live food, _but_ i find that if i take some freeze-dried blood worms and sprinkle them right under the stream of my waterfall filter, the current will push the worms down and make them flutter around in the water, and the gobies go after them voraciously. they'll also take some flake food, but they LOVE the worms, heh. so i lucked out, at least in that respect.


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. Since most lps don't carry live foods, it could've been a doozy. Wish you good luck with them, they do seem like an interesting species.


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