dragon fish

[pica_nuttalli]

patriot, i imagine that the reason your violet goby has done well in freshwater is the fact that (as you mentioned in a post elsewhere) your water is very hard and contains a high mineral content.

brackish water contains many different dissolved mineral salts as opposed to just NaCl (table salt). for this reason, many fish which do best in lightly brackish water also do well in water which is just quite hard--the biggest difference between the two conditions is the absence of NaCl.

soft water, on the other hand, is lacking in dissolved minerals of any sort and thus is not an appropriate substitute condition for keeping lightly brackish fish. the aforementioned problems of chronic infections and decreased vitality will invariably become a problem and result in the premature death of the fish.

 

[barbiespoodle]

My experience with violet gobies, for what it's worth.

Around here they are sold as dragon eels, I have seen them for sale in several places, they seem to be the IN fish this year, but not one I ever intended on getting.

I ended up with my two as rescues, they were not doing well for their orginal owner, wouldn't eat, were looking pretty bad, and he was ready to flush them, I only took them to save them from this fate.

At the time I had no set up for them and not a clue as to how to keep them. I siphoned water out of my goldfish tank into a 20 gallon for them to live until I could figure out what to do.

Turns out that the very hard well water I use in my goldfish tank was to their liking, they perked right up, started eating just about anything I threw in, flakes, shrimp pellets, ghost shrimp, feeder guppies, I've even had the larger of the two eat shrimp from my fingers.

And they grew, grew fast. In the 8 months I've had them, those little 6 inch things are now almost 12 inches and close to 10 inches. Needless to say, too big for a 20 gallon. I didn't and still don't have the money for another larger tank so 3 months ago I decided to try them in the 55 gallon goldfish tank, had to try something or get rid of them. The tank only has a large oranda and a even larger ranchu, both raised from tiny babies. Don't yell at me about this set up, I know it's not proper. But I never intended to get these fish in the first place, had to make do with what I had and in the past 3 months I've been doing this, everyone is fat, healthy and growing. There is absolutly no aggression between the two goldfish and the two violet gobies, everyone minds their own business.

But where I was going with this is that from what I have read, violet gobies are brackish fish and my hard well water seems to mimic brackish enough to make them happy. Goldfish are also very tollerant of hard water, I guess I lucked out when I decided to siphon from the goldfish tank instead of the softer water in the tropical tank.

Overall it's been an interesting experiment, I have a weird looking tank, two large orange balls with long flowing fins and two long eel like things with ugly faces living together, and I saved the life of two fish. Sometimes things just seem to fall into place.

 

[Fate2006]

I work at petsmart and I can tell you don't buy it. It's a brackish water fish and 75% of the time it dies on us Blue Dragon Fish, not an arowana...

 

[pica_nuttalli]

guys, the original question was posted in 2005.

i think we can let it die.

 

[barbiespoodle]

guys, the original question was posted in 2005.

i think we can let it die.
[/quote]


Why let it die when there is still interest? These fish are still being sold and people buying them or thinking of buying them and need to know what to expect. After all, isn't that why most people come here? To get info on the fish they have or are thinking of buying. At least that is why I came here, as well to add any info I can contribute.

Sorry if I come off as rude, but as far as I'm concerned as a newbie here, there are no old topics, I didn't even notice the date on the post, it's all new to me, and that point of view goes for the next person who joins. Any post kept alive by us newbies is for the good of the fish in the long run.

Still got to figure out how to post pics, took some nice ones of my biggest Violet gobie, Drako, yes I do name some special fish, lol, would love to show how fat and sassy he is. As I said in my first post, he was a next to starved to death 6 inch thing, and is now almost 12 inches long fat and sassy thing, even getting to be a pet, sometimes takes food right out of my fingers. Kind of got to love the ugly things or at least if you give them a chance to become a pet, it is possible, or at least from my experience with them.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Why let it die when there is still interest? These fish are still being sold and people buying them or thinking of buying them and need to know what to expect. After all, isn't that why most people come here? To get info on the fish they have or are thinking of buying. At least that is why I came here, as well to add any info I can contribute.

Sorry if I come off as rude, but as far as I'm concerned as a newbie here, there are no old topics, I didn't even notice the date on the post, it's all new to me, and that point of view goes for the next person who joins. Any post kept alive by us newbies is for the good of the fish in the long run.

Still got to figure out how to post pics, took some nice ones of my biggest Violet gobie, Drako, yes I do name some special fish, lol, would love to show how fat and sassy he is. As I said in my first post, he was a next to starved to death 6 inch thing, and is now almost 12 inches long fat and sassy thing, even getting to be a pet, sometimes takes food right out of my fingers. Kind of got to love the ugly things or at least if you give them a chance to become a pet, it is possible, or at least from my experience with them.

um, yeah. that was a lot of vitriol. besides, there are species profiles and a search function to help people learn how to care for their fish. if that doesn't cover it, then you really ought to just start a new topic because obviously there's something unique about your situation.

i suggest that if you want to talk about your dragon goby that you just start fresh. i think most of the people here would prefer to see a fresh topic labeled "my beloved dragon fish" than have to wade through a 2-yr old topic with questions that have already been answered about fish that already went back to the store. don't get me wrong, we'd love to see some photos, esp. full tank ones. but most of us old timers are lazy and like to see photos in the first post

 

[fishfishfish]

my nearest petsmart also carries "dragon fish" and they are violet gobies.i dont believe petsmart would have an arrowana also.

 

[MojoDex]

bichirs are carnivores

my 10" ornate bichir eat a 3" silver shark no worries! so yes certainly carnivores

 

[Gootz]

Why let it die when there is still interest? These fish are still being sold and people buying them or thinking of buying them and need to know what to expect. After all, isn't that why most people come here? To get info on the fish they have or are thinking of buying. At least that is why I came here, as well to add any info I can contribute.

Sorry if I come off as rude, but as far as I'm concerned as a newbie here, there are no old topics, I didn't even notice the date on the post, it's all new to me, and that point of view goes for the next person who joins. Any post kept alive by us newbies is for the good of the fish in the long run.

Still got to figure out how to post pics, took some nice ones of my biggest Violet gobie, Drako, yes I do name some special fish, lol, would love to show how fat and sassy he is. As I said in my first post, he was a next to starved to death 6 inch thing, and is now almost 12 inches long fat and sassy thing, even getting to be a pet, sometimes takes food right out of my fingers. Kind of got to love the ugly things or at least if you give them a chance to become a pet, it is possible, or at least from my experience with them.

Well said! Kudos to you saving those 2 violets. Curious to hear an update on how they are doing and how big they are now. Did you ever figure out how to post pics? Hoping since this was nearly 5 years ago and you only have 6 posts that you are still around, but that is doubtful.

In the very least, hopefully this thread bump provides some useful info to other newcomers.

 

[Shovelman]

wow....that was an interesting 25 min spent trying to figure out what was going on... lol interesting info, however ive always thought of them as a brackish water species and have seen evidence of such a claim 1st hand.


btw: Usually if it is a 2 year old or however old it was post its just best to start a new thread...like its been said, there's a search button for a reason, or species profiles...

 

[Shovelman]

My experience with violet gobies, for what it's worth.

Around here they are sold as dragon eels, I have seen them for sale in several places, they seem to be the IN fish this year, but not one I ever intended on getting.

I ended up with my two as rescues, they were not doing well for their orginal owner, wouldn't eat, were looking pretty bad, and he was ready to flush them, I only took them to save them from this fate.

At the time I had no set up for them and not a clue as to how to keep them. I siphoned water out of my goldfish tank into a 20 gallon for them to live until I could figure out what to do.

Turns out that the very hard well water I use in my goldfish tank was to their liking, they perked right up, started eating just about anything I threw in, flakes, shrimp pellets, ghost shrimp, feeder guppies, I've even had the larger of the two eat shrimp from my fingers.

And they grew, grew fast. In the 8 months I've had them, those little 6 inch things are now almost 12 inches and close to 10 inches. Needless to say, too big for a 20 gallon. I didn't and still don't have the money for another larger tank so 3 months ago I decided to try them in the 55 gallon goldfish tank, had to try something or get rid of them. The tank only has a large oranda and a even larger ranchu, both raised from tiny babies. Don't yell at me about this set up, I know it's not proper. But I never intended to get these fish in the first place, had to make do with what I had and in the past 3 months I've been doing this, everyone is fat, healthy and growing. There is absolutly no aggression between the two goldfish and the two violet gobies, everyone minds their own business.

But where I was going with this is that from what I have read, violet gobies are brackish fish and my hard well water seems to mimic brackish enough to make them happy. Goldfish are also very tollerant of hard water, I guess I lucked out when I decided to siphon from the goldfish tank instead of the softer water in the tropical tank.

Overall it's been an interesting experiment, I have a weird looking tank, two large orange balls with long flowing fins and two long eel like things with ugly faces living together, and I saved the life of two fish. Sometimes things just seem to fall into place.

wait... you know goldfish are cold water fish right?

 

[thereverendturtle]

I couldn't get past the first page without wanting to throw my phone, due to the ignorance being thrown around. You're a far better man than I.