Dragon Gobys? Brackish?

[simonas]

The reason I ask is I went to Pier and these were for sale. I was thinking of getting two for my brackish tank however the staff member confirmed they were kept in freshwater ? are they fresh or bracksih? I thought they were bracksih and as a result had planned to get some but I didn't want to take the chance

tehy were about 5 inches and quite full bodied but would it be a big risk to buy them and put in my brackish tank (slowly of course)?

 

[nmonks]

Kept in freshwater they may be, but freshwater fish they are not. If these are Gobioides sp., then yes, they need at least slightly brackish water (SG 1.003+) to do well.

Acclimating them to any salinity is easy. Like all brackish water fish, they can literally be dumped into water of any salinity and will adapt. They don't get any choice in the wild when the tide turns! To be nice, put them in a bucket and acclimate across 30-60 minutes by adding small portions of aquarium water every 5-10 minutes, just as you would any other fish.

Cheers, Neale

 

[simonas]

I suspected so cheers Neale. Not very good of a place with Piers reputation to be selling these as freshwater

Would 1.012sg be too high and would I make a mistake of putting them in with 2 snowflakes and 2 toadfish, the toads being about 6-7 inches long and the snowflakes being about 16 inches long? I suspect I would but I'll go with your opinion Neale?

 

[nmonks]

Can't comment on Pier Aquatics. Never been there. To be honest, even the best shops get brackish water fish wrong, and realistically keeping brackish water fish in freshwater for a few months won't normally do them any harm. The main thing is that the buyer appreciates they need brackish water in the long term.

Some people have kept Gobioides for more than a year in freshwater, so they're pretty adaptable. But long term, they just seem more prone to fungus and finrot when kept thus.

SG 1.012 will be fine.

Mixing any fish with snowflake eels is a gamble. Some people have found morays to be excellent community fish, but there are enough stories about specimens turning aggressive that I'm a bit more hesitant to recommend them than I was before. Without knowing how well behaved (or not!) your morays are, I can't really say either way.

As for the toadfish: these are fine with any fish too big to swallow. If the gobies are small enough the toadfish thinks it might be able to swallow one, it will likely try. In other words, I'd only keep toadfish with fish BIGGER than they are.

Cheers, Neale

 

[simonas]

cheers Neale

I shall heed your advice and wait till a new tank comes along... which is a few weeks away lol