Blue dragon goby

[countrychick]

Howdy, on my sons birthday he was given a dragon goby. I do not know very much about them, so because he was in a fresh water tank at the store where he was purchased I put him in the tank with my wintering pond fish. So far I have learned that he needs brackish water, but I need to get him his own tank. I was going to add the salt to the tank, but I don't know how the pond fish would deal with that. I am also concerned that he may not be eating well. I feed him thawed shrimp brine and he does chase at it, but I think the pond fish may be eating it as well. I feed the other fish first in a hope that they will be to busy to notice the other food and the goby will have a better chance to get the shrimp. Any suggestions?

 

[jaysen]

your best bet would be to get him a different tank. goldfish eat and poo a lot = less food for him and higher need for water maintenance. you can try feeding him at night since they are nocturnal. goldfish dont like salt so i wouldnt add any(im not sure what you have in your pond but im assuming goldfish). best thing to do is look up foods for it and try it all. red lights will enable you to watch him at night and see if he is eating. it may be easier to return him for a weather loach or another similar eel-type fish that enjoys cool fresh water and is easy to feed. weigh the pros and cons and see if this is something you want, and can afford. i wanted them for a while but cant afford setting up a new tank right now.

 

[bazil323]

Here's a link to some basic info about dragon gobies. And here's one with slightly better, more in depth info.

It will need brackish water, and that means using marine salt. NOT table salt, kosher salt, or aquarium salt. It will need a good size tank since it will get quite large. Fortunately, they are also pretty sedentary, so it won't need as large a tank as a comparably sized pleco or other fish. I wouldn't go any less than a 55g, myself. They get 2 feet in the wild. While they don't commonly get quite that big in captivity, you should be aware that it isn't unheard of. I think the common size in captivity is 12-15 inches. I'd recommend target feeding him with tweezers or simply putting him in his own tank.

Btw, do you mean goldfish when you say pond fish? If so, then they definitely should not share a tank with the goby. The goldfish will not tolerate the salt, and they need slightly cooler temps than the goby.

Take good care of that gentle "monster." He could live 10 years with good care. GL!

 

[jm1212]

try feeding some bloodworms.