New Dragon Goby

KathleenMae

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Hello there. I am new to this forum, but have been reading a ton about brackish water tanks and fishes and things. See, my son has a small FW tank set up (mainly used as a night light) and recently his aunt gave him a dragon goby. She said the pet store said he was a fresh water fish so of course we acclimated him for about 30 mins and then added him in. Only recently as I said I have been doing research on this little guy and found out what he really needs to be happy. We plan on getting a larger tank to put him in with maybe only a couple of mollies for company. Only I feel like I have been reading so much that I am becoming overwhealmed. I understand he needs Brackish water and would like sand to dig around in (He does have a lace rock cave I found for him). But when it comes to special lighting and heaters, the amounts of salt, filters and plants I start to feel abit lost. If someone could give be some straightforward advice about these things I would GREATLY appreciate it. I am becoming attatched to the goby and want to care for it well. Thanks so much!!
 
Greetings. Dragon gobies -- if by this you mean Gobioides spp., the big, grey-purple things with giant heads and tiny eyes -- are indeed brackish water fish. But they aren't difficult to keep. Nor is a brackish water tank difficult to look after. Apart from dissolving in a small amount of marine salt mix into each bucket of new water, everything else is the same as a freshwater tank.

So here's the deal with your goby. You can comfortably expect him to reach about 30 cm long, potentially quite a bit more, but that depends on the species you have (there are at least two species traded, one quite a bit bigger than the other). Wild fish feed primarily on two things: algae and tiny invertebrates. They hardly ever eat small fish, despite their reputation, and will only eat small fish if half starved. Under proper conditions, they are perfectly safe with livebearers of all types and few if any fry will be eaten.

Dragon gobies feed in three different ways. Firstly, they scrape algae from rocks. That's what their teeth are for. In the aquarium, algae wafers (sold for plecs and other catfish) are an ideal substitute. Secondly, they gulp plankton from the water. Live brine shrimp are the favourite for this. Watching them feed in this way is a lot of fun, and makes a good party trick for when people are wondering why you have such a bizarre looking pet. Finally, they sift the mud for worms and other small animals. Frozen bloodworms are a good substitute for this. Since you have three different ways to feed a dragon goby, you can mix it up over the week so that your goby gets a nice balanced diet.

The aquarium doesn't need to be complicated. Smooth, hollow ornaments (rather than lava rock) make the idea caves. Some people use long PVC tubes from hardware stores. Dragon gobies seem to love these. The rest of the tank should be sand of some type, ideally (smooth) silica sand or river sand. You could use coral sand if you wanted. Avoid gravel, because they can't burrow or feed properly in tanks with gravel. Don't worry about the sand becoming dirty -- the goby will keep it constantly turned over, and every time you do a water change, just stir the sand with a stick and siphon out any dirt.

Water chemistry isn't terribly important. The pH should be between 7 and 8, the hardness at least "moderately hard", and the salinity ~20-50% seawater (that's a specific gravity of 1.003 to 1.012). I'd aim for 25% salinity (SG 1.005) simply because that's easy to adjust your existing biological filter to without having to cycle it again. SG 1.005 is about 9 grammes of marine salt mix per litre of water.

Dragon gobies have no preferences for lighting, though you might choose to use quite bright lighting to encourage the growth of green algae on a selection of smooth rocks dotted about the tank. The dragon goby will happily snack on the algae. You could attach some Java ferns and Anubias to smooth rocks to create some shady spots if you wanted. These are tolerant of salty water and, being epiphytes rather than rooted plants, won't be disturbed by the goby.

As far as heating goes, the only thing to make sure of is the goby can't burn himself on the heater. Ideally, use a heater with a plastic cage around it. Some heaters come with these already. They're also available as accessories and don't cost much.

I hope that covers everything.

Cheers, Neale
 
Well then! That was painless. :) Thank you so much. I am figuring out where to get some of those plants right now... Hopefully I will be able to set this up this weekend. Maybe I'll do a "journal" like I've been other people do here. And just for clarification the "dragon fish" I was talking about is indeed Gobioides broussonnetii. Thanks again!!
 
Greetings. Dragon gobies -- if by this you mean Gobioides spp., the big, grey-purple things with giant heads and tiny eyes -- are indeed brackish water fish. But they aren't difficult to keep. Nor is a brackish water tank difficult to look after. Apart from dissolving in a small amount of marine salt mix into each bucket of new water, everything else is the same as a freshwater tank.

So here's the deal with your goby. You can comfortably expect him to reach about 30 cm long, potentially quite a bit more, but that depends on the species you have (there are at least two species traded, one quite a bit bigger than the other). Wild fish feed primarily on two things: algae and tiny invertebrates. They hardly ever eat small fish, despite their reputation, and will only eat small fish if half starved. Under proper conditions, they are perfectly safe with livebearers of all types and few if any fry will be eaten.

Dragon gobies feed in three different ways. Firstly, they scrape algae from rocks. That's what their teeth are for. In the aquarium, algae wafers (sold for plecs and other catfish) are an ideal substitute. Secondly, they gulp plankton from the water. Live brine shrimp are the favourite for this. Watching them feed in this way is a lot of fun, and makes a good party trick for when people are wondering why you have such a bizarre looking pet. Finally, they sift the mud for worms and other small animals. Frozen bloodworms are a good substitute for this. Since you have three different ways to feed a dragon goby, you can mix it up over the week so that your goby gets a nice balanced diet.

The aquarium doesn't need to be complicated. Smooth, hollow ornaments (rather than lava rock) make the idea caves. Some people use long PVC tubes from hardware stores. Dragon gobies seem to love these. The rest of the tank should be sand of some type, ideally (smooth) silica sand or river sand. You could use coral sand if you wanted. Avoid gravel, because they can't burrow or feed properly in tanks with gravel. Don't worry about the sand becoming dirty -- the goby will keep it constantly turned over, and every time you do a water change, just stir the sand with a stick and siphon out any dirt.

Water chemistry isn't terribly important. The pH should be between 7 and 8, the hardness at least "moderately hard", and the salinity ~20-50% seawater (that's a specific gravity of 1.003 to 1.012). I'd aim for 25% salinity (SG 1.005) simply because that's easy to adjust your existing biological filter to without having to cycle it again. SG 1.005 is about 9 grammes of marine salt mix per litre of water.

Dragon gobies have no preferences for lighting, though you might choose to use quite bright lighting to encourage the growth of green algae on a selection of smooth rocks dotted about the tank. The dragon goby will happily snack on the algae. You could attach some Java ferns and Anubias to smooth rocks to create some shady spots if you wanted. These are tolerant of salty water and, being epiphytes rather than rooted plants, won't be disturbed by the goby.

As far as heating goes, the only thing to make sure of is the goby can't burn himself on the heater. Ideally, use a heater with a plastic cage around it. Some heaters come with these already. They're also available as accessories and don't cost much.

I hope that covers everything.

Cheers, Neale

Well explained nmonks :good: Now I want a dragon gobby! :shout: :lol:
 
Hello there. I am new to this forum, but have been reading a ton about brackish water tanks and fishes and things. See, my son has a small FW tank set up (mainly used as a night light) and recently his aunt gave him a dragon goby. She said the pet store said he was a fresh water fish so of course we acclimated him for about 30 mins and then added him in. Only recently as I said I have been doing research on this little guy and found out what he really needs to be happy. We plan on getting a larger tank to put him in with maybe only a couple of mollies for company. Only I feel like I have been reading so much that I am becoming overwhealmed. I understand he needs Brackish water and would like sand to dig around in (He does have a lace rock cave I found for him). But when it comes to special lighting and heaters, the amounts of salt, filters and plants I start to feel abit lost. If someone could give be some straightforward advice about these things I would GREATLY appreciate it. I am becoming attatched to the goby and want to care for it well. Thanks so much!!

Well I was in the same boat as you are now. I finally decided after purchasing a new home after a year to dig out my fish tanks again. After setting up one and having five children well you know where it went from there. I now have 3 set up. We went to WalMart, and my son of course saw the only odd looking fish of the bunch and wanted it. Turned out to be a Dragon Goby. I brought it home and explained to him it was going to die, due to it being in an Octogon tank. Well, it did not appear to be doing bad the first few days, and then I began feeling sorry for it. I sat up my 29 Gallon tank, went back to WalMart and purchased a Bala Shark, Irodescent shark, 2 Angel Fish, an African Cichlid, and a bottom feeder. I transfered it to the 29 Gallon tank, and it appeared to be doing Worse. Sooooo then I went to get my 55 Gallon, and needless to say I Broke it in the Transport. Soooo, I now have it in a 10 Gallon Aquarium. Here is what i did after alot of research. I got sand for the gravel, Black, and 2 logs for it to hide in. I put alot of Aquarium salt in the water. I have the filter, and 1 air stone in the top of the tank. From what I have read, it appears that they do not like a whole lot of water movement. They sift the sand through their mouths and filter the food much like a catfish. After putting it in this tank, temp around 78 to 80 at the time and the salt, if they appear to be slimy, that is what you are to do. He perked right up, fins standing up, that is another sign of a healthy dragon, and i fed him flake food, as well as frozen brine shrimp and mini frozen blood worms. He appears extremly happy. Climbing the side of the tank, and swimming. I also read am am going to go get some Algae tablets, and a turkey baster. I watched a video of a guy feeding one with that.. I dont worry much since he is the only one in the tank, and due to them suppose to be in a larger tank, i am going to get a couple of small bottom feeders, and that is it. I feel bad now that i know he is suppose to be in a larger tank, but I have what i have to work with now. I hope that helps you some.
 
did you mean aquarium salt or marine salt? Aquarium salt is used for medication whereas marine salt is used to up the salinity.
 

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