Violet Goby (dragonfish according to Petco)

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denigod

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Feb 22, 2004
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I saw a Violet Goby at Petco recently and I had to have it. I went home and researched it, but there was little on the net I could find. I have found some sites say it is brackish water, but it was kept in freshwater at the store, and it seems fine in my tank at home. i do have some aquarium salt in my tank, but it is definitely not as concentrated as a brackish tank should be. He was being harassed by a few of my other fish, so i got a castle for him to hide in, he seems to be content. mostly nocturnal, appears to be a filter feeder, although there are mixed reviews on the internet as to what to feed it. Does anyone have any real experience with these?
 

lawndart

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Dec 22, 2003
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There's not a whole lot of info about them on the net. This is the best one I've found so far. Violet goby

I've got one right now and it eats everything. I've had good luck feeding him frozen beef heart. My wife first got him before I knew anything about them, and he's been in fw for a couple of months right now. I'm in the process of setting up a brackish tank for him.
 

MonoSebaelover

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Apr 20, 2001
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As the link states they really have to be in brackish water. That is why people should never do impulse buys because 99.9 percent of the time they are wrong about the fishes habits. I would definitely recommend setting up a Brackish tank or returning him. Did you ask the fish store if he is freshwater or just assume? Just curioius as freshwater and brackish can not be told apart by the eye only a hydrometer tells that. And btw, Aquarium salt does nothing for brackish fish. Only saltwater salt (Instant Ocean and the like) are the only ones that work for brackish. Anyway, hope this helps and good luck.
 

denigod

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It was in the same tank as the bala sharks, so I assumed it was a FW fish, i asked about any special care, the employee said just to make sure the tank was covered because they like to jump. thanks for the help
 

Pufferpunk

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Thanks for that great link, I didn't have that one! definately need BW. I had one in FW & it developed tumors all over it;'s body. I now have one in BW that's doing great. It needs a SG (specific gravity--a measurement of salt density) of at least 1.005, which means a cup of marine salt/5gal. Not a few teaspoons.

Mine loves blackworms & algae wafers.
 

jacblades

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May 11, 2004
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And btw, Aquarium salt does nothing for brackish fish. Only saltwater salt (Instant Ocean and the like) are the only ones that work for brackish
i have always heard that you can use aquarium salt:( i have 2 brackish flounders and i use aquarium salt for them. they seem to be fine (actually i rarely see them because they hide under the sand all the time)-i only see them when my turtle kicks them and they go scurrying about. it is interesting when they stick to the side of the tank though. you can see their heart (or it may be their stomach-i dunno-its red though)

i really want a dragonfish. i think they require 29 gal. when i told the manager at the pet store that, she laughed and said, "no mines in a 5 gallon." i bet he is half as long as the tank too:( that lady also told me the flounders were freshwater.
(i told her she should hire me so i could educate customers on fish cause she wasnt doing a good job...she didnt like that)
 

RTR

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MonoSebaelover is correct, you must use marine mix for brackish water fish. "Aquarium salt", whatever that is, is not sufficient. You need the mixture of minerals and buffering to suit the physiology of brackish water fish.
 

big02daddy2002

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Hey guys, new to this website here, just gotta love forums! I got a dragonfish too, man i luv him, he's my go'ould from Stargate sg-1 i call him, looks alot like 'em. Anyway, i have cichlids with mine, i didn't know much about 'mixin fish. But now i do and am working on moving my cichlids to my 29 gallon tank, but i have to find about ten of them a new home somewhere, so i can change my 50 gallon tank into a brackish water tank. I haven't had any problems with feeding him, like the blackworms i usually put them into motion so they go back by him so he gets some. Ghost shrimp are all gone he more then likely ate them. Thinkin about breeding them for him and other brackish fish soon. Here's a pic of him,


hope it works first time tryin it on this site, do you think he would do alright with figure 8 puffers? one of the local fish tanks keeps them in brackish waters so i would have to wait a lil, but what do you think?
 
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