Dragon Fish (Violet Goby, Dragon Goby, etc)

[jrd77]

Hi all. We just got a new dragon fish and upon doing some research, have some questions.

Feeding:
Our LFS told us that it would just filter feed and we didn't have to give it anything special and it would not starve. Upon doing some research, some sites said they do eat things like brine shrimp, blood worms, blackworms, sinking pellet food, etc. Which is correct and what is the best thing to makle sure it doesn't starve to death?

Brackish water & Salt:
The LFS told us it was a brackish fish so immediatly we expressed some concern about putting saly in the tank because of our 3 bengal loaches. He said the dragon fish would be fine with a half dose and that way the loaches would be okay too. So, instead of putting 1 tablespoon per 5 US gallons, it should be 1 tablespoon per 10 US gallons. We went ahead and did this but will the dragon fish be okay with a half dose and our loaches really be okay with this too?

Temp:
Is 80F too high for it? Would 78 be better?

Is there anything else we should know about our dragon fish?

PS: Our tank info is in my signiture and FYI the tank pH is 7.0, temp is 80F, Ammonia = 0 mg/L, Nitrites at 0 mg/L, nitrates at 12.5 mg/L, gh = 40 mg/L, kh = 20 mg/L and phoshates at about 5 mg/L.

Any advice is really appreciated!!

 

[Paul_MTS]

all of fish apart from the goby and puffer can't take salty long term, it should only be used as medicinal purposes on these fish.

and it's not really advised to ass any salt for any reaskon with scaless freshwater fish such as loach.

you need to remove your non brachish fish to another tank or set up a new brachish tank for the goby and puffer but i wouldn't advise keeping the too togther as the puffer may get nipy.

then your going to need to do some large water changes to get all the salt out. doing 40% every other day for 4 days should do it.

 

[CFC]

The ammount of salt the goby needs is way more than loaches can tolerate, to even get a hydrometer to register 1.001 which is the lowest brackish level takes a amazing ammount of salt. Gobioides broussonettii ideally should be kept in the 1.006 to 1.012 range which will kill most non brackish tropical fish.

As for feeding you will need to supplement the diet with some small frozen foods as it is unlikely there will be enough microscopic food in the tank to support the goby long term, when i had mine i would feed marine freeze dried plankton once a week too.

80f is way too high for the majority of tropical fish!! Only discus and small handfull of other species need temperatures this high to survive, 72 to 74f is more than ok for keeping tropical fish.

 

[Black_Ghost_Guy]

Yes, I'm sorry to say that it won't be suitable for your tank. Also, the thing about you not needing to feed it was simply moronic. I would not give your business to, or trust that shop again.