Brachygobius doriae – the bumblebee goby

Introduction

Bumblebee goby female

Brachygobius doriae is one of the few species of true gobies commonly found in the hobby. Described by the British zoologist Albert Günther in 1868 its small size, bright colours and endearing habits make it a popular purchase.

Bumbleebee gobies again

My gobies have spawned again after a hiatus of around seven months. I’ve managed to catch about a dozen fry and save them from being eaten by the adults. As this and this show I’ve had fry before and been unable to raise them past three weeks.

This time I’m trying a different method using a “Super Fish Easy Breeding Box“. I’ve successfully raised Corydoras, Scleromystax and Ancistrus fry in this and have high hopes it will solve my goby problems!

More bumblebee gobies

The latest batch of goby fry have reached the stage were they traditionally pop their clogs. I’m a little more optimistic this time as they seem to be more robust and started to eat newly hatched brine shrimp rather earlier than the other batches. Nevertheless I’ve started to lose one or two. I have about 20 from 30 originals.

Here is a picture of a 17 day-old fry starting to show symptoms, note the ragged caudal fin.

Bumblebee fry at 17 daysI have a fifth batch in another tank and will gamefully try different things to keep the little blighters alive.

Bumblebee goby

Bumblebee goby

This attractive fish is a female bumblebee goby. The scientific name is not known for certain but I’m tentatively identifying it as Brachygobius doriae.

I’m keeping my gobies in freshwater and they seem to be doing fine. Adults eat live food; mainly newly hatched brine shrimp and daphnia with the odd treat of frozen bloodworm.

I’ve had some for around 18 months and they have produced 4 batches of very small fry. The fry are very tricky to raise and so far I’ve not had any live for more than 3 weeks. They seem to wither away and die from the tail up. Very frustrating.