Brachygobius doriae (Image / wzr)
Brachygobius is a small type of goby that is widely distributed in South asia and Southeast Asia, and the trade names of species in the genus are called "little bee shrimp tiger". The name is very graphic, the color of the short shrimp tigers is as yellow and black as bees, and the individual is very small, the maximum body length is only about 4 centimeters. There are currently 9 species of fish in the genus Diplodocus, which are generally referred to as small bee goby when imported, but sometimes other gobies with yellow and black colors are also called small bee goby tigers. The distribution of this type of fish is very distinctive, most of them are distributed in the coastal areas of swamps, ponds, slow-flowing streams and other places, basically do not go deep inland. Only the Mekong short shrimp tiger (B. mekongensis) will go deep into the inland areas. Moreover, from the existing research, although the distribution sites overlap, it seems that the ecological niche occupied by different species of short shrimp tiger is not the same, and two short shrimp tigers with the same ecological niche will not appear in the same location. According to research in Singapore, two species of short goby goby in Singapore, the Babylon short goby tiger (B. kabiliensis) and the Malay short goby (B. Sabanus) between this phenomenon. The Kabiren short gobies are only distributed in vapor waters, while the Malay short gobies are only active in freshwater areas, and although the two survive in the same watershed, they do not cohabitate.
Singapore's Babylon short goby tiger and its habitat, which inhabits mangrove streams and is a soda area (Image from the Internet)
Mekong Short Goby (B. mekongensis) (image from the internet)
Mekong Short Goby (B. Mekongensis), the smallest of the short goat tiger, the maximum body length is only 1.75 cm, this short goat only lives in freshwater areas, and is the only short goat tiger that will go deep inland, distributed in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and other Mekong river basin areas. There have been imports, the commodity named Glass Little Bee Shrimp Tiger, which rarely appears in the market.
There are 2 kinds of small bee shrimp tigers that most often appear in our market, Dow short shrimp tiger and Malay short shrimp tiger, these two kinds of short shrimp tigers look very similar, not very easy to divide, and may have appeared in the market, the small bees and shrimp tigers I bought this time are Dow short shrimp tigers. The main difference between the two short shrimp tigers is that the first dorsal fin of the Dow short shrimp tiger is all black, and the black part of the pectoral fin covers more than 2/3 of the base of the pectoral fin (note that the base of the pectoral fin is not the entire pectoral fin), while the first dorsal fin of the Malay short shrimp tiger has 1 to 2 fins that are transparent, and the black part of the pectoral fin is smaller and covers no more than 1/2 of the base of the pectoral fin. Dow's adult body is also a little larger than the Malay, which can grow to 4.2 cm, and the Malay maximum is only 3.3 cm.
B. Dow's Short Shrimp Tiger doriae) (Image/WZR)
Malay short shrimp tiger (B. sabanus) (image from the internet)
Dow short shrimp tiger (top) and Malay short shrimp tiger (bottom), note the difference between the first dorsal fin and the pectoral fin. The difference between these two species of fish is really very small. Another difference is that many Malay short shrimp tigers have a saddle-shaped black spot on the back, but this is not a very reliable basis for identification, and some Dow short shrimp tigers have similar black spots.
Both species of short shrimp tigers are found in Southeast Asia, and although there is theoretical overlap, the records I have found show that the two species do not appear to be in the same place. There is reason to believe that they are fish of the same ecological niche, occupying pure freshwater waters in coastal areas. And because of the ornamental fish trade, the distribution of these two species of fish in the place of origin may also expand a lot, Singapore's Malay short shrimp tiger is very likely to be introduced into the wild by the ornamental fish trade, because the color is so bright and the number of fish is so large, if it is a native species, it is unlikely that singapore, a small and populous place, will not be discovered for the first time until 2007.
(Photo / wzr)
The color of the little bee goby is so striking that years of field research have ignored this fish that is indeed unlikely. There are four 1947 specimens of Dow's short shrimp tiger from Singapore in California, but these fish are basically determined to come from the ornamental fish trade and are not caught in the wild in Singapore.
Feeding this fish is not difficult to raise, there are data that the small bee shrimp tiger is a soda fish fresh water can not be raised for a long time, this statement is not correct, the small bee shrimp tiger, whether it is Dow short shrimp tiger or Malay short shrimp tiger, are broad salt fish, they can survive in fresh water for a long time. Of course, soda and even seawater can live, and it is not clear how long they can live.
The Dow Short Shrimp Tiger can even survive in the Blackwater Area, pictured in the Dow Short Shrimp Tiger Habitat in Sarawak, Malaysia (Image from the Internet)
The water flow of the tank where small bees and shrimp tigers are raised cannot be too large, because this fish is very small, and do not mix with very large and fierce fish, you can accept artificial feed, but you are not particularly fond of eating, like to eat meat bait such as shrimp and earthworms.
Seedlings of the Dow Short Shrimp Tiger (Image from the Internet)
Dow short shrimp tiger can be artificially bred, the larvae do not have a planktonic period and do not need to migrate into the sea, if you want to breed, you need to provide artificial caves, shells, clay pots and other hidden objects for them to lay eggs, after laying eggs, the male will protect the eggs, about 7 to 9 days the eggs will hatch.
Text: wzr
The article is transferred from: Three-eight aquarium