Dragon goby's

[The-Wolf]

I have seen some dragon goby's and I was
told by the guy at the lfs "they will be fine in a community tank",
Not one to belive everything told by lfs workers i want to do some
research on them.

So, before I go trawling through millions of usless internet pages, I thought i'd ask here. What are they compatable with? what size tank do i need? what do they eat?
etc etc.

 

[Joviella]

I have a dragon goby in my 4ft community tank. He is a filter feeder(apparently)....mine seems to eat anything going but prefers to eat daphnia. They are fine in freshwater....although they can go brackish. anything else you want to know? How much are they charging?

 

[The-Wolf]

£8.95 each and thay are about 6" long at the moment.

 

[Joviella]

Thats not too bad a price. Most I see are about £15. I got mine for £3.50.....but he was a bit weedy then.....nicely fattening up now though.
Cfc has a dragon goby too,so I am sure he will add his 2ps worth.

 

[ryan]

I think there are two species of Dragon Gobie, Gobioides broussonetti and Gobioides peruanus (sp?), the later being the FW fish with Gobioides broussonetti requiring Brackish water to survive. The FW fish can be told apart from the other by its lack of vertiacl dark bands. Both are filter feeders and the largest they can normally manage is fry.

 

[CFC]

I dont really need to add my 2 pence worth since the others have said most of it.

As said they are filter feeders so need to be fed small live/frozen foods every day and must not be kept with any overly competetive species which will eat all the food before they get to it, dragon gobies are nearly blind and take a long time to get to the food.
As Ryan suggests there are two species commonly available in the trade, if the fish has dark vertical bands on its flank then it is Gobioides broussonetii and is a brackish fish, if it all a blue/violet colour with no bands then it is Gobioides peruanus and can be kept in freshwater for life.

 

[The-Wolf]

Thanks to all, it looks like I may get some, seeing as
I have a spare 2ft tank at the moment
how long do they grow to?

 

[SirMinion]

Some info based on observation: (I could (and do) watch them for hours)

We have two, and we've found them to be territorial. The larger one beats up the smaller if he gets too near. This is possibly a gender thang, so yours may be different. I have no idea if we have two female, two males or one of each, and they're not telling.

But we have them in a large enough tank for them to make their burrows at opposite ends, so they don't often meet.

Ours eat, or attempt to eat any food that goes near them, including flake thats sunk to the bottom, bloodworm, daphnia, sinking catfish pellets and they'll even grab an algae wafter, retreat with it to their burrows and suck on it for hours.

They will also actively seek out food that is not near them if they catch the smell on the current. (that's when they meet)

I think sand is a must for DGs, because they are avid burrowers and spend most of their time making & enlarging burrows under objects in which to lurk. It also means that anaerobic pockets in the sand are never a problem in a tank that houses Dragon Gobies!

Our gobies are active at all times of the day and can often be seen looking for new places to make a hole or searching for food.

I have never seen one attack, hassle or even notice another fish other than each other.

Here's one of ours in feeding mode.