HELP needed with dragon fish (violet goby)

[Cookie]

Hi all. . . .

I desperately need help with my 7 inch dragon fish (i.e. violet goby.)
I purchased him from the pet store last week. The girl didn't know
much about them except that they are nocturnal and can thrive in
freshwater. Problem is, I can't get the guy to eat at all. I offer him
tubifex cubes (let them get mushy and sink to the bottom - won't eat
it when it is right in front of him), bloodworms, krill, shrimp
pellets, and feeder guppies during the day & at night. He just won't
eat anything. I am really worried because he looks kinda thin and it
has been a week since he has eaten. I called the pet store, and they
said to feed him frozen or freeze dried foods. Alot of help that was.
Temperature is 76 F, 50 gallon long tank, 7.2 pH, lots of live plants,
and a cave. HELP!


--Cookie

[blove]

they are brackish fish and wont live long in freshwater. they are also
filter feeders and ive read that they love algae wafers. here is the sites
that i found before on them. found on
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracgobioids.htm " Gobioides
broussonenti Lacepede 1800, the Dragon Eel/Goby, Violet Goby (3). Western
Atlantic, Carolinas to Brazil, Gulf of Mexico. To twenty inches in length
(largest Caribbean Goby). A difficult fish to keep due to its feeding
strategy of filtering planktonic organisms. " found this on tropical fish
forums. " Some sites will tell you that violet gobies aka dragon gobies will
eat small fish but IMO this is rubbish. They have huge mouths with what look
like teeth protruding from the front of the jaw but are actually filter
feeders which feed by taking in gulps of water and filtering the water
through the gill rakers to sieve out tiny particals of food. We have one in
a 55 community with small fish and have never had one eaten, the goby
struggles with large bloodworms let alone being able to swallow fish. This
is where the tricky biy comes in, since they are filter feeders they are
difficult to feed and need special care to keep alive. They will not take
pellet or flake foods and will need to be fed small live or frozen foods
every day, daphia, brineshrimp, black mosquito larvae, glassworm and
bloodworms will all be eaten. "
http://sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/~sholtzma/fish.html
http://boeing_dude.tripod.com/id234.htm

http://species.fishindex.com/species_910gobioides_broussoneti_violet_goby.html
http://www.whozoo.org/Anlife2001/johangus/jg_dragonfish.htm
hope this helps.

[Cookie]

"blove" > wrote in message >...
> they are brackish fish and wont live long in freshwater. they are also
> filter feeders and ive read that they love algae wafers. here is the sites
> that i found before on them. found on
> http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracgobioids.htm " Gobioides
> broussonenti Lacepede 1800, the Dragon Eel/Goby, Violet Goby (3). Western
> Atlantic, Carolinas to Brazil, Gulf of Mexico. To twenty inches in length
> (largest Caribbean Goby). A difficult fish to keep due to its feeding
> strategy of filtering planktonic organisms. " found this on tropical fish
> forums. " Some sites will tell you that violet gobies aka dragon gobies will
> eat small fish but IMO this is rubbish. They have huge mouths with what look
> like teeth protruding from the front of the jaw but are actually filter
> feeders which feed by taking in gulps of water and filtering the water
> through the gill rakers to sieve out tiny particals of food. We have one in
> a 55 community with small fish and have never had one eaten, the goby
> struggles with large bloodworms let alone being able to swallow fish. This
> is where the tricky biy comes in, since they are filter feeders they are
> difficult to feed and need special care to keep alive. They will not take
> pellet or flake foods and will need to be fed small live or frozen foods
> every day, daphia, brineshrimp, black mosquito larvae, glassworm and
> bloodworms will all be eaten. "
> http://sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/~sholtzma/fish.html
> http://boeing_dude.tripod.com/id234.htm
>
> http://species.fishindex.com/species_910gobioides_broussoneti_violet_goby.html
> http://www.whozoo.org/Anlife2001/johangus/jg_dragonfish.htm
> hope this helps.


Thank you so much for the info! Since he is small, and since I have
always in the back of my mind wanted a brackish water tank, I think
that I might look into starting up and maintaining a brackish water
tank.

Am going to start hatching brine shrimp right away.

Thanks,

--Cookie

[Elizabeth Naime]

Oh, yes, thank you from here also!

These have appeared (for quite a low price too) in a local pet store. I
wonder if it's the same chain? I'm fascinated and was considering one,
but didn't know enough to look for information on "gobies" ("dragonfish"
pulled up a lot of arrowana material and I didn't filter through it
all).

I'm still interested, but will have to think it through. How quickly do
they grow? I'm thinking a 20" fish, even an eel-shaped one, will need a
fair bit of room in time.

Gads, I hope the pet store is feeding these guys right. They're in a
tank with peacock eels. Then again, I know they feed bloodworms
regularly.


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Only know that there is no spork.