Dragon Fish

[LostOne]

Hi all!! Im kinda new at the brackish tank thing and I have 2 dragon fish. I was told to feed them frozen brine shrimp and small rosies. But they dont seem interested in the rosies at all and Im not sure if just brine shrimp will be ok for them. Anyone know what else they eat??? My temp in the tank is right about 82 degrees and my ph is right about 8.1 . Is this ok??? Thats what the Petsmart woman said anyways But well anyone thats ever been there knows they arent really that smart. She also told me to get aquarium salt for them so hense I did and to find out it was wrong. I needed marine salt. So this week they are going from their 10g holding tank to a 55g with the right salt and I am going to use sand instead of rock.. Is this sounding right??? Please help me

 

[SirMinion]

Assuming that you're talking about one of the three species of Dragon (violet) goby like the one in my avatar, then they absolutely will not eat those fish! (unless they're dead and then the goby will suck on them as they decay but that not ideal)
Dragon gobies are filter feeders and need tiny foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia and small bloodworm.
Our also are happy to take sinking flake, and will happily sock on algae wafers for hours untill they break up enough to swallow.

Your tank is WAY to warm , it needs to be around 77f (25c)
They are likely to be the brackish variety of Dragon Goby, so they do indeed need marine salt to bring the water up to the appropriate saltyness (known as specific gravity or SG and measured on a hydrometer available at fish stores.)

The sand is a good idea, as they love to burrow and are prone to getting small stones stuck in their throats.

 

[LostOne]

OHHHH ok thanks alot. So bloodworms and the brine shrimp. And a few algea wafers. Anything else that they might like to keep them happy? What about live plants? Or maybe some ghost shrimp? I just want them to be as happy and well maintained as all my other fish are. I have noticed that one of them really likes to swim around up to the top and plays a game with one of the rosies. kinda like tag but he never tries to eat it??? I suppose this is natural. What other type of fish would be ok to put in with them?? THANKS

 

[SirMinion]

They are completely fish-safe, but are vunerable to fin nippers, so any suitably sized peaceful brackish species would be fine as tankmates.
You could try live plants, but with all the digging anything in the sand would be constantly uprooted. Also most plants won't survive in salty water.

Java fern solves both these problems as it grows attatched to rocks or wood rather than in the sand and doesn't mind the salt.

 

[LostOne]

ok thanks so much for all your help. Hopefully these guys will have an almost perfect home in the next few days

 

[Paul_MTS]

my one happily chews on left over lance fish from the moray eels aswell.

i found discus mix to be a good food aswell, it's a high protein mix which breaks up into small clumps.

they will live happily with most brackish fish, orange chromides, knight gobies, mollies, flounders.

thats all i can think of at the moment but when going to buy fish make sure you can account for the SG range, some brakcish fish like lots of salt other like just a pinch!!

 

[ingo_1978]

Do you think you could house one with a GSP?

 

[jflowers]

Do you think you could house one with a GSP?

I was told GSP's are too nippy and will require a higher SG (than the DG) as they mature, I am planning to put mine in with my F8, but will still need to keep a close eye on it. Pick my DG up on sunday B)

Jon

 

[LostOne]

Hey maybe you can help me again... I have a friend that has a breeding pair of pearl arowana (sorry if misspelled) would this be ok to put in the tank with my dragon fish?? I have seen proof of babies and in fact I was kinda amazed at it. All the time and multiple tanks needed to breed them. Is a male or female better to have if I dont want them to breed?? Help... lol