Violet Gobies

[Amber]

I have obtained two violet/dragon gobies, the largest is around five inches the second slightly smaller, they are currently housed in freshwater I wondered when should I be bringing them up to brackish - right away?
Also they are a little on the skinny side, I have bought daphnia for them also the guy said they will take crushed flake - any tips on other food sources or feeding from other owners would be appreciated.

Last question - eventually I would like to house these with my bumble bee gobies & glass fish who already share a tank - can anyone foresee a problem with them being housed together?

 

[nmonks]

Amber,

There's a nice article here:

http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/article_detail.asp?id=28

But the 'executive summary' for this fish is as follows. First, they are NOT predatory unless literally starved to within a whisker of death. They eat guppies in tropical fish stores because they haven't had a proper meal for weeks. So keeping them with bumblebees and glassfish should be fine.

Second, they eat both small invertebrates AND algae. The invertebrates requirement can be met with Artemia, Daphnia, Mysis, and so on (live or frozen). The algae part of the diet can include algae wafers (like those sold for plecs) as well as allowing them to scrape green algae off rocks. If you look at the goby's mouth, you'll see it's very big but also filled with sharp teeth. The bigness is for sifting invertebrates from the plankton or mud, and the teeth are for scraping algae off things. As you've noticed, they're pretty opportunistic, and will also eat catfish pellets, soaked flake, etc.

Third, they are territorial. Although not dangerously aggressive to one another, they do need their own caves. PVC tubes, hollow ornaments, and so on will work well.

Fourth, they are burrowers. They inhabit mud in the wild, but silica sand, coral sand, or fine gravel will work fine. They can be kept with plain gravel, but they won't be very happy, and definitely avoid rough gravel that could scratch them (like spiny eels, scratches make them susceptible to infections).

Finally, they need brackish water. Anything from 1.005 to 1.015 should be fine.

Cheers,

Neale

(PS> you do realise they reach 60 cm / 2 feet in length?)

 

[Amber]

Thanks for the reply - I have them with a sand substrate which they shimmy thier bodies in to bury thenselves under the rocks, very entertaining to watch
When I bought them home I for some reason thought they were going to be hard to feed but so far they have had some mysis, flake and a couple of algae wafers & they have eaten the lot

These guys are fantastic fish