Hey cfc

[Isis_Nebthet]

I saw you have one of these on another thread just curious how you have it housed.

I was also wondering how big they need to get before they knock off the only eating things that move bit

 

[Paul_MTS]

they require brackish water and grow to 10" i think.

there's the extreme basic detail!!

 

[Isis_Nebthet]

I thought they are normally fresh but *could* be kept brackish and they grow to 24-30"......

 

[CFC]

Mines in fresh at the moment but will be moved to a brackish tank once it is big enough to not be eaten, i'm not sure how long they can be kept in freshwater but i suspect like other brackish fish that they only stay here as juviniles before moving to saltier water as semi adults.

Mine is about 4 inches and already taken frozen foods, with motion activated predators like these its all about how you present the food, they wont go and find a piece of krill or whitebait to eat but if you drop it right on their nose they will usually snap it up, especially if they havent eaten for a few days.

The full adult size should be in the region of about 20 inches.

 

[Isis_Nebthet]

Thanks

I keep reding they can be trained to pellets but no one has a resource as to how big they are. Mine eat bloodworms, but they don't really like krill so I've been supplementing with ghost shrimp and feeders about once a month.

Adrea

 

[Paul_MTS]

opps i was thinking of the dominatus maculatus!!

 

[SirMinion]

Preditory gobies are the best.

I just wish I had room for one.

 

[CFC]

Time to find space for another tank then Mr Minion, go on you know you want to.

 

[Paul_MTS]

once i'ved adopted Cookie you can urm upgrade that tank for a nice big goby!!

 

[Isis_Nebthet]

Mine are going into a 2x5 tank.

Incidently, I don't see them as much when I offer live food. They eat most of them (and they always leave four small fish for some reason) in one night then hide stuffed to the gills for about four days They don't hide when I give them ghost shrimp but all ten will be gone by morning.

I try to feed them worms but the little bichir troop gets most of them before the marbleds even notice it's food...and I do try to drop worms right in front of them.

They'll chase everyone off a pile of bloodworms though.

 

[fishman 1]

My Baensch's atlas state that the Oxyeleotris marmoratus is a freshwater sleeper.

Sometimes I think people sometimes get carried away when they see or read the title "brackish water fish" and just get the salt out.
I would tend to take a good look at the fish in the water is has previously been kept in and ask myself "how well does the fish look, is it feeding well and is it behaving as it should be???" Based on these results I would act if it was required.

I have a 9.5-10" eleotris vitatta in fresh water and it is doing great. The books state that this is a brackish/freshwater fish. When I bought it a few years ago it was in a semi brackish tank and it was in a bit of a state. I got it back into freshwater and it is doing fantastic. It has had best in show at a couple of events last year.

Could it be that these fish actually live in esturies or in tidal rivers?

I have bought another type of goby in a shop in a coldwater set up. I asked the shop if it was a cooler water goby etc. They told me it was and it was in fresh water. Two weeks later I saw the same variety of goby being sold in a different shop in tropical brackish water. Unfortunately I have not identified this goby as of yet but the question is which shop had it right? I still have mine in fresh, cool water and it is doing great, good colour, feeding well and seems happy in its enviroment.

So much confusion
Who has it right?

 

[mellowserra]

The LFS where I used to live had these "little" guys in all the time... haven't seen any since then. I always thought about getting one, but couldn't help picturing it growing into something massive like a large snakehead and devouring things bigger than my fists

 

[CFC]

My Baensch's atlas state that the Oxyeleotris marmoratus is a freshwater sleeper.

Sometimes I think people sometimes get carried away when they see or read the title "brackish water fish" and just get the salt out.
I would tend to take a good look at the fish in the water is has previously been kept in and ask myself "how well does the fish look, is it feeding well and is it behaving as it should be???" Based on these results I would act if it was required.

I have a 9.5-10" eleotris vitatta in fresh water and it is doing great. The books state that this is a brackish/freshwater fish. When I bought it a few years ago it was in a semi brackish tank and it was in a bit of a state. I got it back into freshwater and it is doing fantastic. It has had best in show at a couple of events last year.

Could it be that these fish actually live in esturies or in tidal rivers?

I have bought another type of goby in a shop in a coldwater set up. I asked the shop if it was a cooler water goby etc. They told me it was and it was in fresh water. Two weeks later I saw the same variety of goby being sold in a different shop in tropical brackish water. Unfortunately I have not identified this goby as of yet but the question is which shop had it right? I still have mine in fresh, cool water and it is doing great, good colour, feeding well and seems happy in its enviroment.

So much confusion
Who has it right?

The Baensch atlas is great for fish ID's and basic care information but is full of contradictions and false information, mainly due to bad translation from German to English. If you read the Social Behaviour section in the Oxyeleotris mamoratus profile it says that the fish aclimatises better when placed into slightly saline conditions, in other words brackish.
Baensch also describes Couis microlepis on page 802 as a brackish fish requiring up to 3 tablespoons of salt in 10 litres of water to survive, this information is tottaly wrong as Couis microlepis is a true FW fish which becomes visably stressed and uncomfortable in a SG above 1.003, the only two members of the Datnoid/Couis complex needing brackish water are Couis (Datnoids?) quadrifasciatus and Datnoids campbelli

Esturies and tidal rivers are exactly what brackish enviroments are, the word brackish simply describes any area where fresh water meets the sea and the two waters become intermixed creating a enviroment that is neither fresh nor marine. Many of the fish here will be found in both fresh and brackish waters and some in both brackish and marine and some will even be found in all 3 enviroments while others choose to live their entire lives just in brackish water, this is definately true of most of the smaller species for which migrations would be more difficult.
BUT with nearly all of these fish salt plays a important part of their body chemistry and though they seem to be surviving in pure freshwater sooner or later things start to go wrong with their health until they are moved into more saline conditions, how many seemingly healthy puffers have suddenly turned dark in colour and stopped eating after months in freshwater conditions, how many gobies have suddenly developed cloudy eyes and fungus on their bodies only to perk up almost instantly once a little salt has been added to the tank for "medicinal purposes"?

 

[Isis_Nebthet]

Let me know how these guys do in brackish once you move them will you cfc?

Everyone I've talked to has seen it either way. One guy I've talked to had his in fw for five years before giving them away. If they really can't survive longterm in fw I'll need to find them a new home I got them on the premise they were and I'm really attached to them but I can't build more than one huge tank.....