10g Stocking Question, Betta/bumblebee Goby?

So I have 2 10 gallon tanks that I bought off of a friend.

In one of the tanks I want a betta fish, I want this tank to be heavy with silk plants in it, I know that bettas tails can be easily torn so will silk be soft enough to prevent this? (I don't want real plants in this tank because I only have real plants in my other tanks and really want to see what silk plants will look like).

I went to my LFS today and they just got in bumblebee gobies, I asked what size tank they need and they said each goby needs 5 gallon each minimum, all the research I've done says they need 20 gallon minimum each and conflicting information on whether they are brackish or not.
So is there a type of freshwater bumblebee goby and would one be alright to go into a 10 gallon ?

 

Hello!

Yes, silk plants will be fine for them . You can do the stocking test if you really want to double check.

Yes, bumblebees are definelty brackish; they won't fare too well in Freshwater for long. As for tank size, you can do 1 safely in a 10g, but 2 is possible if you scape the tank well in order to give them a place to carve out territory. As for someone whom is just starting out with them, just go with one. As for the minimum stocking in a 20g, I'm assuming that may be if people want to house multiple ones together; they are very aggressive and territorial towards one another AND considering the fact that the like a very clean environment which can be more difficult to achieve in smaller aquariums for inexperienced keepers.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Awesome, will definitely go with silk plants then

I thought that may be the case they had them in freshwater and said there were freshwater and brackish kinds but all I could find online was about brackish. I might try them I don't know anything about brackish tanks so I'll have a bit of a look on them also because they have them in freshwater would I have to work up in salt levels adding a bit at a time or would they be fine just put straight in?

 

They aren't entirely wrong. Brachygobius doriae is brackish; but they are more commonly seen/available. Hypogymnogobius xanthozona can do either, but they are less commonly seen. The problem is that they are soooo difficult to tell apart, and there isn't a perfect proven method to distinguish them. So unless you got them from someone who know for a fact the Latin name, I assume brackish (it's safer anyhow)

As for acclimating; I'd set up the 10 gallon with a salinity (use marine salt) of 1.005-1.008 and make sure the ph is high. A hydrometer is okay, but it's more preferable to use refractors which are more accurate. You will have to drip acclimate for awhile and slowly; since he's a local buy, it a lot easier (don't have to freak out too much about the ammonia), but I'd give him about 2-3 hours; you just want to slowly get him used to the salinity in the tank until the bucket and tank match, and watch like a hawk when you officially put him into the tank.

You could go slowly as well. Put him in the freshwater and just gradually raise the salinity .001-.002 everyday or so until you get the right salinity. It's probably safer if your a bit worried; but you really need to get the measurement for the right amount of salt so you don't overdose by accident.

 

My LFS is pretty good, been going there for years so I'll ask them where they got it and try to track down as much info as possible before I get one, I have a saltwater tank so have a refractometer and marine salt, I'd probably start it in freshwater and raise slowly. They're really cool looking fish so I'll do some more research into brackish tanks.

What kind of plants what you put into brackish ( like could I do plastic/silk for aesthetic purposes) I imagine normal plants wouldn't go so well ? Thanks heaps for all the info, I'm pretty excited about the idea of getting into brackish now

Do brackish tanks need anything extreme like saltwater do (such as protien skimmer ect) or can I set it up in a normal tank, because the tank I'm getting from my friend is one of those all in one filter in the hood type things