First off hi, I'm new to the forums.
My story: I'm not new to fish just new to brackish fish. I have a 35gal tank that I've had since middle school. My tank occupants have always been 1 male betta, 2 bala sharks, 1 red fin black and 1 red tail black. Some web site many years ago laid out fish types, compatibilities, tank levels etc and somehow I came up with this as a good mix. I've had 3 different sets of this group. My 1st set i dont remember what their demise was, the second I had for a while but when I went off to boot camp my dad let my little sister overfeed them which killed them. I've never had any aggression between any of my groups. My last group just recently died (2 months ago) I dont know how my betta died, then about 2 months after he died the balas got ich, then about a week later the red tail and red fin were gone so all I had left was a chinese algae eater.
I work at Wally and frequent the fish section to take care of them (even tho its not my dept but the person there isnt a animal person, much less a fish person) and I had been eyeing some, as they were labeled "dinosaur fish" because they would always died quick. So with an empty tank i figured I'd give one a shot and maybe find out why they didnt live long. I looked up a lot of info, even set up a breeder tank for feeders since they eat live food, got some plants then went to get the fish, looked at it more and found out it was mislabeled (I know, working there I should have known better) -_- Turned out to be a "dragon fish" or violet goby
So then I went out and bought sea salt for him and have been slowing adding it to the tank. I finally got my hands on a 55gal tank and stand for $100, set it up with sand and he went in last night, he's been doing great, doesn't bump into the sides of the tank for one. So once again my 35 was empty except for the CAE. We had 1 peacock cichlid I was refraining from selling to customers because it was getting aggressive to the other cichlids in the tank and if after being sold, killed other fish and was returned, we would have to flush it. So I figured he'd be a nice candidate for the 35gal. It was picking at the CAE for the first few days but now they're fine.
My question (i know about time): Since the violet goby doesnt require high salt levels would the cichlid tolerate being in the tank with the salt? I cant find any other brackish fish locally except puffers, mollies, guppies, and columbian cats. I've been looking into a brackish fish that wont get too big and will eat feeders and set out asking all of our pet shops if they would be able to order a Dusky Panther Goby or bumblebee goby but they all said no and paying $40 to ship a $10 fish is kind of...outrageous.
Any input would be greatly appreciated
A pic of my violet when he was in the 35 last month
CAE
peacock cichlid
My story: I'm not new to fish just new to brackish fish. I have a 35gal tank that I've had since middle school. My tank occupants have always been 1 male betta, 2 bala sharks, 1 red fin black and 1 red tail black. Some web site many years ago laid out fish types, compatibilities, tank levels etc and somehow I came up with this as a good mix. I've had 3 different sets of this group. My 1st set i dont remember what their demise was, the second I had for a while but when I went off to boot camp my dad let my little sister overfeed them which killed them. I've never had any aggression between any of my groups. My last group just recently died (2 months ago) I dont know how my betta died, then about 2 months after he died the balas got ich, then about a week later the red tail and red fin were gone so all I had left was a chinese algae eater.
I work at Wally and frequent the fish section to take care of them (even tho its not my dept but the person there isnt a animal person, much less a fish person) and I had been eyeing some, as they were labeled "dinosaur fish" because they would always died quick. So with an empty tank i figured I'd give one a shot and maybe find out why they didnt live long. I looked up a lot of info, even set up a breeder tank for feeders since they eat live food, got some plants then went to get the fish, looked at it more and found out it was mislabeled (I know, working there I should have known better) -_- Turned out to be a "dragon fish" or violet goby
So then I went out and bought sea salt for him and have been slowing adding it to the tank. I finally got my hands on a 55gal tank and stand for $100, set it up with sand and he went in last night, he's been doing great, doesn't bump into the sides of the tank for one. So once again my 35 was empty except for the CAE. We had 1 peacock cichlid I was refraining from selling to customers because it was getting aggressive to the other cichlids in the tank and if after being sold, killed other fish and was returned, we would have to flush it. So I figured he'd be a nice candidate for the 35gal. It was picking at the CAE for the first few days but now they're fine.
My question (i know about time): Since the violet goby doesnt require high salt levels would the cichlid tolerate being in the tank with the salt? I cant find any other brackish fish locally except puffers, mollies, guppies, and columbian cats. I've been looking into a brackish fish that wont get too big and will eat feeders and set out asking all of our pet shops if they would be able to order a Dusky Panther Goby or bumblebee goby but they all said no and paying $40 to ship a $10 fish is kind of...outrageous.
Any input would be greatly appreciated
A pic of my violet when he was in the 35 last month
CAE
peacock cichlid
