I need a bit of advice for Dragon Fish...

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misstish

Feeder Fish
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Aug 8, 2010
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I recently purchased a dragon fish from my local pet store, my fiancee bought the other one for his tank prior two weeks to this.
Mine is very skinny but is doing well as far as I can tell. I'm not entirely sure what they were feeding her/him, so I don't know its current diet. I have it currently on bloodworms, guppys and ghostshrimp.
(I had the ghost shrimp and guppys before for my green spotter puffer that recently passed)
I noticed today when I was taking snails out (the green spotter puffer ate them all the time) that one of my guppys were missing. It probably ate it but she/he wont eat anything else that I put in there. I put some salt in because it is a brackish(sp?) fish where the websites I have read.
Can someone please help me on this matter?

also, he/she is picking up rocks from the bottom and carrying them around the tank? I'm not sure if I should be concerned on this matter or not.
 
From the behavior you describe it sounds less like a dragon goby (they filter feed a lot, or eat small stuff like bloodworms, rarely eat fish because despite the large mouth they can't swallow them adequately. And they certainly don't carry rocks around.), and more like a senegal bichir (also sold as dragon fish).

The latter is not a brackish water fish (and I dunno what kind of salt you added, but brackish fish require actual saltwater tank mix, not just table salt or epsom salt).

Does it look like this http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,%20Dragon%20Goby.htm

Or like this http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile41_comment.html
 
Its def a Goby Dragon, the second link the pets store here classified as a nigerian bichler. Which I've had 4 of them before. But yeah, one of my guppys are def missing and I know I didn't just "lose" it.
It picked up a rock in its mouth a carried it a few inches and dropped it, I was like.. um?
I also used Aquarium Salt. I bought a small box of it and only put a few it in, waited a few days, put a few more because I don't want to stress is out with too much salt at once. If someone uses table salt, they need smacked.. just saying (:
 
They are filter feeders, which means very fine meaty foods, brine shrimp, and bloodworms would prolly be okay. Daphnia, cyclopeze, ect... Hydrometer would be a wise investment to make in keepeing a brackish fish. also be aware regular FW aquarium gravel that is coated.. may deteriorate under saltwater/brackish conditins and slowly leech toxins into your water. These fish also prefer a fine gravel or sand substrate. and will get fairly large. And actually table salt is fine in aquariums provideing it is iodine free, though some swear they've never had issues w/ iodized salt. Aquarium Salt also is not ideal for creating a brackish/SW system. Use SW mixes. Their are many to choose from and they are far more stable then just regular Aquarum salt imo.
 
Im going to be brutally honest and not sugar coat this statement because i have had experience with these fish.
Without constant brackish conditions this fish WILL die a horrible painful death, They will develop red sores all over there bodies and eventually not be able to sink. Its brain will then hemorage after a day or 2 and it will shake violently and die.
These guys will NOT eat feeders, they have tiny throats. I doubt shrimp too.
Im not just saying this because it sometimes happens, and they can live in freshwater sometimes. WRONG, they can live for a couple months but once they deplete the salts in their bodies prepare to watch him suffer. The only way to avoid this is having a brackish tank. Period.
Good luck and I hope you can find him a better home.

Another point id like the make. Senegals are from nigeria... Post a picture so we can give you accurate info about what fish you have.
 
FishingOut;4359432; said:
WRONG, they can live for a couple months but once they deplete the salts in their bodies prepare to watch him suffer. The only way to avoid this is having a brackish tank.
Click to expand...

I'm not advocating keeping them in FW, but YOU'RE wrong. There are several posts on here of people with very large ones living in FW that have for years (search for pics and threads). It takes specific water parameters for them to be able to survive in FW.

And for that matter my husband is one of the people that has been able to keep them in FW for many years. He had one for about 10 years in FW, in very hard Texas tapwater.

So while they are technically brackishwater fish and they are more likely to thrive in brackish you are absolutely mistaken that they will NEVER live for more than a few months in freshwater.
 
Well my fiancee keeps his in freshwater and has been for a few weeks now and its fat and healthy, eats all the food before any of his other fish get to it. I do what I'm suppose to try to keep it alive and it turns out skinny and is now looking like it was a gold tint to its body, or maybe its my lighting.
So you're saying I need to get a sand substitute? Is it fine for now that he does have rock? I don't get paid for another two weeks. I've also been using bottled water to keep the water more clean because where I live right now they basically have pool water for tapwater and its gross.
I'm about to throw the guppys out because they are eating the food before it gets to it.

and not to be rude fishing out but you don't have to be dramatic about its death. We get it, it will die.
 
misstish;4360020; said:
if you read the post earlier you would know that I said I have a Goby Dragon.
Click to expand...

And if you were a proper fish keeper you wouldnt keep a brackish water fish in freshwater. Period.
I was just pointing out a nigerian bichir is a senegal, Not a goby.
The reason i was being so brutally honest is because folks always chime in saying its fine because theirs is still alive. or lived 1/4 of its natural lifespan.
Believe what you want. "Adding a little salt" isnt helping in the least. If you would have done any research you would find your housing is completely inadequate. I mean, your suprised by the gold it for gods sake haha. Continue to raise your fish with a severely comprimised immune system and see what happens. You understand whats going to happen, but dont seem like your making any effort for the sake of the fishs well-being.
Also, I would like somebody to point me in the direction of these 10 year old FW G. brousonnetti.
I thought maybee if you understood what you fish will go through, maybee you would want to help him, but i see you'd rather try to probe yourself right.
 
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