Bumblebee gobies (Brachygobius) are all small and tiny fish. The debate over which is the smallest fish species—and thus also the smallest vertebrate species on Earth—is ongoing, but with living organisms, the question always arises as to how relevant measurement data in the range of tenths of a millimeter actually is. There’s no need to delve further into that here; what’s far more important to us is to proudly present one of the smallest fish in the world, which we were recently able to import once again from Vietnam: Brachygobius aggregatus.
However, we can’t be entirely certain about this identification. B. aggregatus was described from the Philippines, while ours, as mentioned, come from Vietnam. However, our fish are not identical to the similarly tiny species B. mekongensis (https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fisharchive/brachygobius-mekongensis-2/); there are significant color differences. It is therefore possible that these dwarfs represent a species not yet scientifically documented.
Male specimens of this tiny gold-ringed goby are fully sexually differentiated—and thus sexually mature—at about 10 mm when caught in the wild, while females reach this stage at about 15 mm. Under the conditions of an aquarium, which are always much more comfortable than those found in nature, they may grow slightly larger, but this is of no consequence.
Brachygobius aggregatus is a freshwater fish and extremely easy to care for. It has no special requirements regarding water composition; moderately hard water with a roughly neutral pH is ideal. The temperature can range between 18 and 28°C. Such small fish are best fed with live Artemia nauplii. In principle, these tiny fish will also accept other live and frozen foods, but live food is often difficult to obtain and frozen food is hard to measure out. With Artemia nauplii, which are easy to hatch, you can easily feed B. aggregatus throughout their entire lives.
For our customers: these creatures are listed under code 407101 on our stock list. Please note that we supply exclusively to wholesalers.
Text & Photos: Frank Schäfer
