Dragon Goby???

[uptheiron]

Hey all, i'm quite new to this site, but i have a well established tank, about 170 litres, and have been offered a Dragon Goby that needs rehoming, i have no knowledge on this fish so any help would be accepted gratefully.
I currently have a mixture of American cichlids and shoaling fish, and have had no problems as of yet. Should i take this fish, or wait for my second tank, which is 4'*2'*2' which will be up and running in a month?

 

[CFC]

Dragon gobies are filter feeders that draw tiny foods into their mouths with huge gulps of water,they are also nearly blind and find food by smell.For this reason they should not be kept with big or greedy fish (like cichlids) or they quickly starve,starvation is the number one cause of early death for these fish They require a soft substrate of sand or fine gravel as they like to dig hollows under rocks/bogwood to call home.
We have had one in a small fish community tank for about 3 years,we feed it on daphnia (water flees) small bloodworms,glass worms and balck mosquito larvea caugt from buckets in the garden.Tankmates are tetras,small rainbow fish,algea eaters and corydoras.
Be careful of which species of dragon gobie you get,there are two main ones one of which is a brackish fish,telling them apart is a little difficult but the brackish one has more pronounced stripes down its body and a smaller head.

 

[uptheiron]

Thanks. This fish is currently in a freshwater set up so im pretty sure its ok. How big do they grow? Would he be ok in my tank until my new tanks are set up?
The new juwel is for my other half, who only likes rainbows and guppies, and so these are the only tankmates it would have.

 

[CFC]

Maximum size in the wild for Gobioides peruanus (which is the FW species) is 15" although i suspect 12" would be more likely in captivity.
Personally wouldnt recomend keeping the goby with your cichlids,can your friend keep hold of it until you have the new tank cycled and up and running properly?

 

[uptheiron]

Yeah, if not a friend of mine has a shop and he could always house it for me.
Are these fish expensive?, because mine would be a freebie and i wouldnt mind compensating him for it, as he doesnt have a clue what it's worth, nor do i. Wouldn't he be ok with some severums and rams? and maybe another couple of apistogramma species?

 

[CFC]

He would be ok with the dwarfs but the sevs are far to greedy to be kept with a slow feeding fish like the dragon.As for expensive it depends on what you class as expensive? They are normally 15 to 20 quid each for a 6" specimin.

 

[uptheiron]

ok thanx. I may put the goby in my 4ft by 15" with a couple of dwarfs and some small rainbows, and keep the larger 4ft by 2ft square for my cichlids and maybe a royal plec

 

[MamaFish]

CRAZY!!! These fish are scary! Good luck to ya, do not mean to scare ya away thou I would never keep these things!! EEK!

Or is it this and I just looked up the wrong thing?

 

[uptheiron]

Yeah its the big beasts you showed first, ill post a pic when i get it, i think theyre cool, and im gonna have to build the tank around it.

 

[MamaFish]

LFS's have told me that they are Violent Gobies. and that they are AGGRESSIVE!

Hope you have a good time. Thou someday I see my oldest son or middle son getting something that freaky. As long as I do not have to keep frogs in my house they are welcome to get almost anything, except things with pet dander. AH!

 

[CFC]

LFS's have told me that they are Violent Gobies. and that they are AGGRESSIVE!

You should change your LFS then because they obviously know next to nothing about fish! Dragon gobies are very shy peaceful fish that can even be kept with fry,ive seen more violent khulie loaches.

I believe that Gadazobe also keeps these so she will be able to back me up,your lfs is talking rubbish.

 

[gadazobe]

CFC is right all the way - they are so peaceful it's unbelievable. I've seen fry swim into their open mouths and out again - unharmed. Yes, they are ugly, but I them. I keep my 2 in a community tank. I have very fine gravel in it and they burrow into it and hide away most of the day. BTW - mine cost me about £5 each when they were very small - but now they have doubled in size. Highly recommended for a peaceful community tank. To make sure that they eat I drop food in front of them with a turkey baster. Mine will only eat frozen foods, they don't eat flakes at all.

 

[Braddah]

mama fish...thats a type of bichir and they all dont look like that i have one and he is super cool looking...he does have an appitite fo small fish but he is great...there is some pix on another thread (which look llike mine) where they dont look as dark as that....(this is my favorite fish and im building my tank around him so i get a bit defensive....) ok im done now.....

 

[CFC]

mama fish...thats a type of bichir

Braddah,please go and buy yourself a decent fish book and read it properly before posting missinformation.Dragon fish are not even distantly related to bichirs,they are freshwater gobies,as the name Gobioides peruanus tells you.All bichirs are predatory and will quickly empty the average community tank while dragon fish are peaceful plankton eaters that can even be kept with guppy fry,spot the difference?

 

[subopposite]

Are there any freshwater gobies that grow to 6" or less? I think I saw a fire goby in a fish book and it said they only grow to 6" I thought. Maybe it was a brackish one though. It looked pretty cool as it had red stripes along it I believe. I believe it said the male had the red striped coloring and the female was more or less grayish or more plain looking.