Just Brought A Dragon Goby

[pauldredge]

well saw this in lfs today. was looking for a couple of shrimps and saw this. it looked great. i asked the shop owner a few questions about it and in the end i brought it.

not knowing much about them i just looked on the internet and from the advice the shop owner gave me it looks like its gonna fit in my tank really well.

just a bit worried about the feeding but im sure it will be ok.

i also got two shrimp and two cories so today was a successful day for me on the fish front

 

[Erised]

If it's to go in the same tank as the corydoras and the other fish, then it won't go well at all.

Dragon gobies are brackish fish, and so require brackish water. You'll need to raise the SG level up to 1.004/1.005 by using marine salt. Your other fish will not tolerate this as they are freshwater only.
I really recommend you check the brackish section on this forum, you should be able to find some threads on dragon gobies and what could go in with them.

 

[Bloo]

What else do you have in your brackish tank ?

Obviously not the cories......

Edit: is this your stock list ?
(taken from one of your previous posts)

the fish i have got are:
3 black mollys
2 balloon mollys
5 tiger barb
5 cloud minnows
male and female guppy
2 corries

 

[pauldredge]

that list is very out dated. i didnt get told it was a brackish fish. i told the shop what ive got and they said it would be ok. it was kept in the same tank as what i brought as well.

 

[emma12321]

Hi,

They are definately brackish, i think they do better in groups too. google their full name Violet/dragon goby, Gobioides broussonetii
and you should get loads of information.

Emma

 

[pauldredge]

I have found that although they are primarily found in brackish, alkaline waters, they really are not too fussy about their water at all, they seem to have this ability to adapt to whatever conditions they find themselves in, this I have realized by the amount of water tests I have done over the years.

i think it will be alright. if its not i will take it back to the shop. but the place i got it from the owner is a fish vet and it is one of the best in the country. they said it would be ok as long as its got somewhere to hide away from time to time.

 

[Bloo]

No it won't be allright. It's going to die prematurely and not reach the mature age of 10+ years. It's not a freshwater fish.
What shop is this and who is the fish vet ?

Out of interest, what is your pH ?

 

[andywg]

No it won't be allright. It's going to die prematurely and reach the mature age of 10+ years. It's not a freshwater fish.

Head, meet Brick Wall. Brick Wall, Head.

I get the feeling that information alone is not going to save this fish. For example, did the lfs owner explain that the dragon goby is a filter feeder, sifting through the substrate to find food therein?

 

[AMS]

What is you location Paul? If you are located in the US or anywhere non European, it's pretty safe to say you have a brackish fish. If you are located in England or any other part of Europe, you could possibly have a fresh-brackish fish. The Violet Goby species traded in America is Gobioides broussonnetii, this is a brackish-marine fish, it should be kept in brackish water with a SG of at least 1.005 or full marine. The species commonly traded in England is Gobioides peruanus, this fish is a freshwater-brackish fish, it can be kept in hard and alkaline freshwater or slightly brackish water. Here is the ID I wrote on Violet Gobies.

Note that you can't make a clear identification as to which species you have based on your location alone, you must do a little research.

 

[nmonks]

I'll share some advice from goby expert Naomi Delventhal here... if you can't ID a "freshwater" goby -- any goby -- then keep it at SG 1.005. That won't harm true freshwater species, but will help brackish water ones considerably. I'd actually argue that G. peruvanus should be kept in at least slightly brackish water, even though it is not uncommon in freshwater habitats. For one thing, it will keep the pH and hardness high, which they like. In addition, it will allow you to leave brine shrimp in for much longer without worrying that the shrimps will die. This is great if you want to watch your goby filter feed (a sight to see... they're like a cross between a snake and a basking shark!).

G. peruvanus is best identified by it relatively weak colour banding compared with G. broussonnettii.

AMS's species index, by the way, is excellent. Most people ignore their need for algae, which is significant.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[pauldredge]

i am from england.

the fish was kept in freshwater at the lfs and the bloke that sold me the fish never mentioned its a brackish fish. yes he did say about how it eats. told me alot about the fish as i was worried it would eat my own fish.

well he seems pretty happy in my tank. had him nearly a week and he is settling in pretty well.

just a bit bad that they cant see very well at all. like he is blind or something.

 

[nmonks]

Advice from the "bloke in the shop" should always be taken as unreliable, unless that shop specialises in a particular kind of fish. There are shops that specialise in reef tanks or discus, for example, and will give solid advice on such topics. But few stores know what they're talking about when it comes to oddballs. In this case, your fish is fundamentally a brackish water species, and however happy he is now, he will never be as robust or as healthy as if kept in brackish water.

I'd urge you to keep him in at least brackish water at SG 1.003. This doesn't limit your choice of tankmates... killifish, glassfish, gobies, livebearers, halfbeaks, rainbows, flatfish... there's a tonne of stuff that'll do well in such an aquarium.

These fish are basically blind. They food they eat is smelled rather than seen, and they live in mud anyway. So eyes would be useless. There's a related genus of violet goby (Odontamblyopus) that has its eyes covered with skin, and presumably can't see much at all.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Mudfrog]

I've kept violet gobies for a while now and the first time I bought one I was also told it was a FW fish. While they will live in FW it will not live very long in fresh water. I assumed my fish was healthy as it ate like a pig and swam around the top of the tank a lot. Well he only lasted about 7-8 months before developing red tumors all over his body and dying. Later I found out that they swim at the top of the tank when they are severly stressed.

I've kept these little guys in BW now for over a year and they have not had any issues or shown any signs of stress. I keep my BW at 1.008, they are housed in a 55 which is perfect for them untill they become much larger. ATM they are 10" and 11.5" long, nice and fat too.

If I were you and you wanted to keep all of your fish then pick up a nice 20 long or 30 gallon tank and start it off as brackish. This will not house them for life but you would be set for a couple of years.

 

[the_patriot2004]

I keep mine in a warm freshwater tank about 74 degrees f. and hes doin quite well. he eats, acts well within the behavior everything ive read on the guys says he should. this guy was at least 5 years old when I got him, and he was always in a freshwater tank. they do indeed do better in brackish water, but they will live just fine in a freshwater aquarium as long as he has a place to hide, and will indeed most likely live to a ripe old age of 10+ years. all the major sites from zoos and such that I can find, as well as the fish experts around here tell me they will live just fine in a FW tank, and I have done extensive research on it as well. I wouldn't worry to much about it as long as you keep the tank stable (chemical wise, not to much ammonia, etc.) and you keep him well fed.

 

[nmonks]

I'd be interested to know who these experts are. None of the ones I trust say freshwater is as good as brackish water. Naomi Delventhal, a goby collector, scientist, and breeder, as well as author of the goby chapter in my book, considers 1.005-1.015 to be the optimum range for violet gobies. Frank Schaefer in the Aqualog book says much the same thing.

You can keep many brackish water fish in freshwater for long periods, even years. In some cases, keeping the pH and hardness high will help. But more often than not, people who keep brackish water fish in freshwater aquaria end up having to deal with whitespot, fungus, finrot, and other diseases more often than they would otherwise. The "mouldy molly" is the classic example: unreliable in freshwater, indestructible in brackish water.

Perhaps the best analogy is with figure-8 puffers, which can live 5-7 years in freshwater, but up to 15 or so in brackish water. Keep your violet goby in freshwater if you don't care about its longevity or health and are happy to allow the thing to die prematurely. Keep it in slightly brackish water if you want it to thrive. A brackish water aquarium isn't difficult and it doesn't mean you can't add tankmates. Numerous dwarf cichlids, livebearers, flatfish, glassfish, catfish, etc. will get along perfectly well in a such an aquarium.

Cheers, Neale

all the major sites from zoos and such that I can find, as well as the fish experts around here tell me they will live just fine in a FW tank, and I have done extensive research on it as well. I wouldn't worry to much about it as long as you keep the tank stable (chemical wise, not to much ammonia, etc.) and you keep him well fed.