# help me identify my gobies



## Whitney (Oct 23, 2006)

Hi,

I just got two freshwater gobies from a local aquarium shop.....They were labelled as "clown" gobies- but clown gobies listed on the web look very different and are saltwater.

I have been doing some "freshwater goby" searches and come up with nothing...perhaps you guys will be able to help.

They are about 1.5 inches long- very light, marbled grey (almost white)- with a black stripe running vertically down their bodies from their dorsal fins- and another black stripe across their faces that make them look like they're wearing sunglasses- they also have a touch of yellow on the tips of their dorsal fins. 

Thanks for your help.


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

> I have been doing some "freshwater goby" searches and come up with nothing...


Probably because there really aren't many freshwater gobies in the trade. They're almost all brackish.


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## Whitney (Oct 23, 2006)

That occured to me...but I did a search for brackish gobies too....still haven't found a matching pic.....

I'm not discounting the possibility that the store (while a very nice aquarium store) may have told me the fish were freshwater, when really they're brackish.... BUT....there ARE at least a few truly freshwater gobies, and these might be. Which is another reason why I really need to ID them.


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## Plecostomus (Jul 31, 2006)

It could be a bumblebee goby although they usually have more orange, but it could be a variant of a bumblebee goby.


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=11817

Neale Monks, brackish guru, says they are much like bumblebees and should be kept in the same type of brackish environment.


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

I just bought 2 bummble bee gobies and yours look very much like mine. Try a search on the bummble bee.


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Definitely not bumblebees.


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2006)

They resemble Bumblebees, but Bumblebee gobies have yellow on them as well...and more black than that. 

Looks like Boxermom nailed it...that link looks exactly like your goby.


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## Whitney (Oct 23, 2006)

that link does look like them...thanks boxermom


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Of the hundreds listed on Fishbase, that is the only one that looks anywhere near the one you have.


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Sometimes callled dwarf clown gobies..good luck with them. Probably wont get any bigger than they are now and usually only accept live or frozen foods.

Nice pick up though! Rarely seen in an lfs. 

(btw... ive talked with Neale and read his posts on another forum ) not all types of bumblebee gobies are strictly brackish, some are actually soft water species if I remember correctly... lmao thought id share that)


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Yes, I have softwater bumblebees doing quite nicely in pure fresh.


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## Whitney (Oct 23, 2006)

ok...well, if they're sometimes called dwarf clowns, I guess that's why the LFS labelled them as "clown gobies".....personally, considering there already ARE commonly known saltwater clown gobies, I think that they should give these guys a common name like "Stevie Wonder" gobies- since they look like they're wearing darkened sunglasses.

so...What do you all think? The website on them said that they can be seen both in fresh and brackish environments.....Is it ok, for me to keep them? I like them a lot, but I don't use aquarium salt in my tank. 

I do feed my fish frozen food about twice a week- on the other days I feed them a combination of flake and tiny sinking pellet foods. I did so this morning and they appeared to be picking at the food that had sunk to the bottom.


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## Ltrepeter2000 (Dec 6, 2006)

What other fish do you have in the tank? That will impact any advice that could be offered on whether you should keep these in freshwater or possibly transition them to slightly brackish. Do you have live plants at all as these will be affected as well?

It also appears that the site Boxermom used to identify your gobies shows another common name that seems more fitting. Rhinohorn Gobies.

Thanks
Rob


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## Whitney (Oct 23, 2006)

I do have live plants....amazon swords. 

The tank is a 30 gallon bowfront and it is stocked as follows....

6 harlequin and hengel rasboras
3 diamond tetras
1 female german blue ram
1 albino bristlenose pleco
1 juvenile yoyo loach
1 bamboo shrimp
7+ cherry shrimp

attached is a picture


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