The Puffer Forum

they are brackish rite?? jw

Some can live in FW though. Either way its best for them to be in brackish.

I had my BBG's in fresh for a year and since switching over the tank to brackish they act like a totally different fish now. They are more active, and come out alot more now. When the F8's are eating the goby's will hang out on the sidelines waiting for something to fly by snatch it up. I have even witnessed them going in after the puffers are done and thrashing away on the clam themselves. In freshwater they never acted this way, hid all the time and just basically waited for the food to come to them. So basically I believe that they act more naturally in brackish water and are healthier

okay thanks

This is from the Journal of the International Goby Society, Vol. 2 No. 4 July 2003; I believe it's an answer written by Naomi Delventhal who was the editor of this particular Journal at the time (and may well still be).

B. doriae can survive in water that is entirely fresh to over 1/4 strength seawater. Usually, I prefer to keep them in the lower range, since in nature they are found primarily in freshwater. A little salt does help prevent disease, especially in softer water; 1-3 teaspoons per gallon is appropriate.

Frank Schaefer in the Aqualog book on brackish water fishes also makes the point that BBGs are found in blackwater habitats where the water is acidic and there is virtually no mineral content in the water at all.

I've kept them in acidic conditions and they seemed to do fine; there was, unfortunately, some sort of bacterial infection that killed off all my gobies over the course of a year (not just BBGs but also Rhinogobius and Awaous spp. but nothing else). So I can't really confirm the success of this either way. On the other hand, I have another tank of BBGs in local hard, alkaline water with no salt and they're doing fine.

My honest feeling is that while salt may have some positive effect on BBGs, it's marginal compared with getting the fish to feed consistently. I'm sure that in most cases where people fail with BBGs, it's because the BBGs starve to death.

Cheers, Neale

Neale, what have you found BBGs to eat most readilly -- currently mine seem to gobble up small pieces prawn that i feed to my figure 8 -- i used to have success with frozen blood worms, but they lost interest eventually -- occasionally they will go for cockle and krill , but not as much

mine eat frozen bloodworms and have for over a year and they will eat the F8's left over krill, also I have seen them go in and eat some clam after the F8's leave it

My GFs eat mostly live blackworms, never turn them down.

Small chunks of prawn and live daphnia from the garden pond are the staple. They seem to like live mosquito larvae and pupae, too. No interest at all in frozen bloodworms.

Cheers, Neale

thanks neale ---

Nick wrote:My GFs eat mostly live blackworms, never turn them down.

You have more than one girlfriend that eats mostly live blackworms?

LOL, the ambiguities of American English.

nmonks wrote:Small chunks of prawn and live daphnia from the garden pond are the staple. They seem to like live mosquito larvae and pupae, too. No interest at all in frozen bloodworms.

Cheers, Neale

Interesting, my BBG's wont touch daphnie but relish Bloodworm wether it be frozen or live.

How much and how often should I feed these guys? They seem to eat quite a bit, but I noticed they stopped eating after they each had about 5 or 6 brine shrimp. I don't want to overfeed them, so I figured I'd ask.

I just feed my Puffers and they clear up the rest. Unless i find that they havent got much then ill place food on the tank floor and let them eat till they stop