Hello everybody.
I am breaking my 90g reef tank down for a couple of years (long story ending in Hurricane Gustav). I would like to do something simpler for a few years until we move out of the apartment and into a house.
While debating about either a planted freshwater tank or a brackish water tank, I came across some information regarding Gobioides brousonnetti, aka the Dragon Goby or Violet Goby.
Information for this fish is limited and generic. Nonetheless, I was able to put a few ideas together and was wondering if anybody on this board was at all familiar with this fish. The tank would be an approximation of a brackish estuary/riverene.
1) Tank: I would re-use my reef setup, which includes 90g tank, 30g sump.
2) Lighting: I would keep my VHO and MH combo. The VHO bulbs would be changed to 110w daylight bulbs. The MH bulbs would be changed to 175w 5500-6500K bulbs.
3) Filter & Equipment: The main tank circulation is only 500 gph (5.5x). The skimmer is removed. In its place, I am thinking to retrofit the sump to a wet-dry. I will continue to run the chiller and the dual carbon chambers.
4) Substrate: The substrate is controlled by several factors. First, the dragon goby is sand sifting. Second, I want to be able to grow brackish water tolerant plants, so the substrate must be plant nourishing. Third, I would like the substrate to have some buffering capacity. Finally, I would like the substrate to be a dark grey-brown mud or similar. I will likely use primarily Eco-mud or similar mixed with some aragonite to buffer and lighten the color. I am not sure what I can use to provide a brown coloration. Would silica sand (play sand or pool filter sand) work or is this too hard for the goby? Any recommendations?
5) Aquascaping: Plenty of driftwood and some occasional large stones. I would like to arrange it to appear as though there are three old tree stumps with some branching near the top.
6) Plants: This is an area of big question for me. Obviously, I need to stick with brackish tolerant plants. I also would like to stay true to South/Central American/Gulf of Mexico plants. The only one I can come up with is Sagitaria sp.. Any other suggestions?
7) Tank mates: Again, staying with the brackish and Gulf of Mexico requirements, I am thinking of a school of mollies. Maybe 7 black mollies and 3 red mollies. Overall fish load will remain light. Any other suggestions?
8) Final issue is the dragon goby itself. If possible, I would like to keep more than one. However there is no information as to whether this is doable or not.
I appreciate any input that could be provided.
Thanks.
I am breaking my 90g reef tank down for a couple of years (long story ending in Hurricane Gustav). I would like to do something simpler for a few years until we move out of the apartment and into a house.
While debating about either a planted freshwater tank or a brackish water tank, I came across some information regarding Gobioides brousonnetti, aka the Dragon Goby or Violet Goby.
Information for this fish is limited and generic. Nonetheless, I was able to put a few ideas together and was wondering if anybody on this board was at all familiar with this fish. The tank would be an approximation of a brackish estuary/riverene.
1) Tank: I would re-use my reef setup, which includes 90g tank, 30g sump.
2) Lighting: I would keep my VHO and MH combo. The VHO bulbs would be changed to 110w daylight bulbs. The MH bulbs would be changed to 175w 5500-6500K bulbs.
3) Filter & Equipment: The main tank circulation is only 500 gph (5.5x). The skimmer is removed. In its place, I am thinking to retrofit the sump to a wet-dry. I will continue to run the chiller and the dual carbon chambers.
4) Substrate: The substrate is controlled by several factors. First, the dragon goby is sand sifting. Second, I want to be able to grow brackish water tolerant plants, so the substrate must be plant nourishing. Third, I would like the substrate to have some buffering capacity. Finally, I would like the substrate to be a dark grey-brown mud or similar. I will likely use primarily Eco-mud or similar mixed with some aragonite to buffer and lighten the color. I am not sure what I can use to provide a brown coloration. Would silica sand (play sand or pool filter sand) work or is this too hard for the goby? Any recommendations?
5) Aquascaping: Plenty of driftwood and some occasional large stones. I would like to arrange it to appear as though there are three old tree stumps with some branching near the top.
6) Plants: This is an area of big question for me. Obviously, I need to stick with brackish tolerant plants. I also would like to stay true to South/Central American/Gulf of Mexico plants. The only one I can come up with is Sagitaria sp.. Any other suggestions?
7) Tank mates: Again, staying with the brackish and Gulf of Mexico requirements, I am thinking of a school of mollies. Maybe 7 black mollies and 3 red mollies. Overall fish load will remain light. Any other suggestions?
8) Final issue is the dragon goby itself. If possible, I would like to keep more than one. However there is no information as to whether this is doable or not.
I appreciate any input that could be provided.
Thanks.