Dragon Goby, Can someone give me more info on them?
by Aquaboy on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 | 6 Comments
Hey I saw a Dragon goby at my local fish store, and it looks AWESOME. However i want it but i didnt just buy it since i know NOTHING about it. So can anyone tell me about Dragon Gobies?
How big do they get? what do you feed them? what other fish can go with them? How big of an aquarium do you need and so on
Other articles you might like;
- Is These Pellets Healthy + More Qs-?
- Would This Hurt The Guppy Fry?
- 90g Reef Aquarium Setup Day 5
- Ideas On Fish For Freshwater Community Aquarium?
- Work Experience Melbourne 2011?
they are pretty neat fishes, my husband has one, I think they can get to about 12 inches. You have to feed them frozen blood worms or fish meal. Dragon Gobys are semi aggressive, so you cant put community fish in with them, yet they arent aggressive enough for chiclids. You could probably put gouramis in with them, or any other semi aggressive fish. you would do best with a 20 gallon and higher.
They are interesting fish that’s for sure, but don’t buy this fish on impulse!
First of all, it’s NOT A FRESHWATER FISH!! Many pet stores may well keep them in freshwater, but they need salt, they’re brackish fish. They are also very sensitive to water chemistry and temperature, any dramatic fluctuations and they will get sick.
For size, in the wild they’ll get around 24″, be more like 12″-14″ in captivity though. For that reason they really need a minimum of a 55-65 gallon tank. They need a fine and soft substrate as they are scavengers. Despite their big mouth and teeth, they’re more likely to end up being bullied than some vicious predator. They may eat small fry by accident, but they don’t go out of their way to eat tank mates.
Have a read here:
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Gobioides_broussoneti
http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Gobioides_broussonnetii.html
They get pretty large…up to about 2 feet. I’d recommend at least a 40 gallon breeder for them, but the larger, the better. They are very peaceful, and can be prone to getting picked on. They’re brackish fish, but can adapt to anything from fresh to full marine conditions (brackish works best, though). Use very fine gravel, as they sift their food out of the substrate. Feed mostly smaller frozen foods, like bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc. Tankmates will depend on what kind of salinity you end up keeping them at, but small-medium sized peaceful fish will do fine with them. If you have the space, a 3/4 filled 75 gallon brackish tank with some driftwood that comes out of the water would make a fine home for this fish, an Anableps, a couple mudskippers, and some fiddler crabs. At least that’s probably the community I’d do with them. It’s not the only possibility, though.
EDIT: darn, catx beat me by 1 second haha! All good info, though…she knows what she’s talking about.
Gobys are great little fish but they can be dificult to keep if you are not set up for them.
Its not like buyng a gold fish.I would not recomend them for a new fish keeping hobbist.
They like to eat live food that needs to be cultivated or that you already have in your tank like
copepods .
One thing though the gobys are a large family and their are some that are salt water and some that are brakish . The salt water ones are called Dragonettes but still are Gobys so I was not sure which one you meant.
Here are some resources for both types and you can choose which one was the one you were looking at but I would suggest joining a forum specifcally for fish.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/gobyfish/dragon.php
salt water one- for this little guy you want at least a 35 gallon tank
http://hubpages.com/hub/Mandarin-Fish
any how you are on the right track by looking up information before you get them! So many people get fish just to have them die because they did not know how to keep them so have fun on your journey and know you are doing the right thing by researching !
the dragon goby is often called the violet goby they are the same fish.1 goby will need a tank size of 75 gallon if you get more then one 4 or more are better a bigger tank is needed.they will eat fish that will fit in there mouth, algae waffers,and blood worms shrimp things along that line.the biggest one i personally seen was about 18 inches long and very thick. they like to hide and very shy a sand bottom in the tank is the best for them they will try to hide and bury themselves causeing damage to there scales. they will do ok in fresh water but never get to there best. salt water is a little more hard on them but they can live in it not recomended due to ammo rates and freeze dried blood worms.brackish water is the best for them they will thrive and grow quick in that water 3 tea spoons of aquarium salt per gallon is what is used for his. they are very sensitive to ammonia even a little bit will send them to the top of the tank gasping for air and even kill them. ammo is the most common killer of the fish that has to be watched very careful. the temp can be around 75 degrees f. the guy who has them has got rocks leaning on the front of the glass so they can hide and still be seen (a little trick he came up with) they need lots of cover they are very shy fish and love the low light and darkness.keep a very tight lid on the tank they will jump out as they get bigger they get much stronger than what a lot people think. he has a breeding pair of angels with some mollies and platties with them and they do fine. hoped this help out they are very cool fish to keep but easy to raise if you watch you tank chemicals.
Goby’s are also bind but only because their eyes are so small and they don’t get scares if you tap on the glass. They are very very fast swimers and are hard to catch. I have mine living with my 45 guppies and my fish who;s not a gold fish but is realted to them and is also living with a molly and 2 bottom feeders. I have found that they don’t eat much but then if you look closely he is eating every second of every day of what ever falls into his mouth. but I think he’s an awsome fish and I’m glad my friend talked me into getting him!