# dragon fish



## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

Has anyone ever kept a dragon fish or otherwise known as a violet goby, are they cool fish to keep, what do they eat, any specifc requirements. I hear that they are adaptable to freashwater but prefer brakish, Now the info sites say that u put 1 teaspoon of a brand of salt called AQURIUM SALT per 5 gallons, when i put this salt will my other FW fish react to the salt and die or will the just be fine, are there any certain fish that doesnt like aquarium salt?? Thanks for all your help

( These are not arowannas )


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

if you try to keep it in fresh water i dont think it

will live as long, or active as it would in brackish.

same with your fresh water fish.


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

MR.FREEZ said:


> if you try to keep it in fresh water i dont think it
> 
> will live as long, or active as it would in brackish.
> 
> same with your fresh water fish.


so if i put some aquarium salt in my tank my freshwater fish will all die


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

i know some fish can tolerate varied amounts of salt but

they really shouldnt live in water conditions that they arent

ment to, to my understanding it shortins life and they wont

look as vibrant or be as active as they should be, thats if

your tryin to make them live a brackish enviroment, not

usein it as a treatment


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

MR.FREEZ said:


> i know some fish can tolerate varied amounts of salt but
> 
> they really shouldnt live in water conditions that they arent
> 
> ...


so u think i shouldnt get it, i hear they are adaptable, will the dragon fishes life be completly cut short if there is no salt, what do u think


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

i have heard those dragon fish are tough to keep any way

but if you do do it i think a seperate tank set up to meet its

needs specificly would be best

do you have a picture just to make sure were talkin about

the same fish


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

weird, i never heard anything about this fish. but i just got back from the pet store with one and see this topic. is this the fish you talking bout? (waiting for his tsnk to get set up)


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## Woodro (Aug 31, 2005)

keep one for about 2 years it was in fresh water all it's life


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Woodro said:


> keep one for about 2 years it was in fresh water all it's life


I think the lifespan is more than two years...









Surviving versus thriving, people... Do you want your fish to simply survive or do you want it to thrive? The choice is up to you my friends.


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

Mettle said:


> keep one for about 2 years it was in fresh water all it's life


I think the lifespan is more than two years...









Surviving versus thriving, people... Do you want your fish to simply survive or do you want it to thrive? The choice is up to you my friends.
[/quote]

yes i am talking about the fish in the pictire, hey when u had ur dragon fish in fresh water was it active or barly surviving, if i put some salt in my tank will the other fish in their suffer or will they be fine


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## SouthernBoy (Dec 15, 2005)

why dont you tell us the fish that will be in the tank with it. some fish dont mind alittle salt. i have it in all my tanks.,


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## C.D. (Jan 31, 2005)

freshwater fish are for freshwater and brackish water fish are for brackish water. and i don't think aquarium salt will get you brackish water. i think you need marine salt. and the teaspoon measurement thing isn't too trustworthy either. you need to get a hydrometer and measure the specific gravity and find out what the slainity and specific gravity for brackish water is. but don't mix fw fish with bw fish.


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

C.D. said:


> freshwater fish are for freshwater and brackish water fish are for brackish water. and i don't think aquarium salt will get you brackish water. i think you need marine salt. and the teaspoon measurement thing isn't too trustworthy either. you need to get a hydrometer and measure the specific gravity and find out what the slainity and specific gravity for brackish water is. but don't mix fw fish with bw fish.


well i dont want to have a fish that is barly surviving in my tank so i wont get it, but what really cool exotic FW fish that u guys think i should get for a 55g, make sure they wont eat everyone elses food and dont get over 20'' long, your suggestions are greatly appericiated, make sure that the fish is tolerant of other fish in the tank


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

if a fish is naturally from brackish waters, what would compel you or anyone else to put it in fresh? so what if it can 'adapt.' it's not a creature that naturally lives there and will NOT live its life to the full potential. it's like these people trying to get saltwater fish to 'adapt' to freshwater. why?

seriously, if you can't fork over 20 bucks every few months for some salt, then i don't think you deserve to own this fish.


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

hyphen said:


> if a fish is naturally from brackish waters, what would compel you or anyone else to put it in fresh? so what if it can 'adapt.' it's not a creature that naturally lives there and will NOT live its life to the full potential. it's like these people trying to get saltwater fish to 'adapt' to freshwater. why?
> 
> seriously, if you can't fork over 20 bucks every few months for some salt, then i don't think you deserve to own this fish.


i am sorry about upsetting u, i would NEVER put brackfish fish in FW without you guys giving info of approval, i am sorry for the misunderstanding, but christmas is around the cornor and i would like to get a reel cool exotic fish, like and said in a earliar post what fish would u reccomend. Thank You


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

im a terrible hobbiest


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

BTW what do i feed this thing? and i posted pics to be sarcastic i got it from pet smart they gave me some shrimp pellets and never said anything about it bein brackish so im not goin to go get rid of it to some other pet store that goin to sell it to someone else thats goin to do the same thing im goin to keep it. if it lives.. i dont know what to feed


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

"qickshot said:


> BTW what do i feed this thing? and i posted pics to be sarcastic i got it from pet smart they gave me some shrimp pellets and never said anything about it bein brackish so im not goin to go get rid of it to some other pet store that goin to sell it to someone else thats goin to do the same thing im goin to keep it. if it lives.. i dont know what to feed


any other suggestions on another fish i should get tha fits in a 55g, i have already had fahka puffers so dont even try, Thanks for all your help


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

exodons? pretty rare very agressive


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

"qickshot said:


> exodons? pretty rare very agressive


ya but they would probably eat all me other fish, anything else that is really cool


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## t_rent8 (Dec 15, 2005)

i had a dragon fish in fresh water was very active but they dont have good eyesight so you have to make sure he eats or they will starve to death. they eat shrimp pellets and they can live in brackish or fresh


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

KiLLeReDs-8 said:


> i had a dragon fish in fresh water was very active but they dont have good eyesight so you have to make sure he eats or they will starve to death. they eat shrimp pellets and they can live in brackish or fresh


so he was fine, no problems or anything and he lived in freshwater, any certain strategy to ur succese????or did u just float him in your aquarium when he arrived and then let him in.


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

metallicaRules said:


> i had a dragon fish in fresh water was very active but they dont have good eyesight so you have to make sure he eats or they will starve to death. they eat shrimp pellets and they can live in brackish or fresh


so he was fine, no problems or anything and he lived in freshwater, any certain strategy to ur succese????or did u just float him in your aquarium when he arrived and then let him in.
[/quote]

anyone??


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

my dragon got ate by the turtle this morning


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

"qickshot said:


> my dragon got ate by the turtle this morning


sorry to hear that, how big was he, was the dragon fish in brackish water??


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## kingsnar (Nov 17, 2005)

WTF!!!!!! you ppl dont read up on fish before you buy them??? never buy on impulses, plan ahead!! but anyways for the violet PM me if you want some help as I have just about every commonly traded brackish fish, including this one.


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## Feeder_Phish (Apr 15, 2005)

what kind of fish are in you tank already????


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

Feeder_Phish said:


> what kind of fish are in you tank already????


barracuda, catfish.... all the stuff in my sig. they all are not arressive


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## PiranhaKeeper (Dec 3, 2005)

kingsnar said:


> WTF!!!!!! you ppl dont read up on fish before you buy them??? never buy on impulses, plan ahead!! but anyways for the violet PM me if you want some help as I have just about every commonly traded brackish fish, including this one.


I aggree, people dont think sometimes.


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## divinelawyer625 (Dec 12, 2005)

That's a freaking waste on the dragon fish... how much did you pay for them?


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## metallicaRules (Nov 24, 2005)

Piranha Prince said:


> That's a freaking waste on the dragon fish... how much did you pay for them?


 i never bought it, i didnt want to get it because it would be cruel to keep it in freshwater. i would never want to tourcher a fish in water it was unfamilire of.


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## Dawgz (Aug 18, 2005)

damn im late for this thread, but i just found one at a near by lfs...i didnt buy it buy have it placed on hold....i have a brackish tank that has a fully grown f8 puffer in it...im debating if i should buy the dragon goby and put it in with the puffer.....any ideas?


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## The Predator (Sep 28, 2005)

they sell those at walmart

metallicarules, you got the funniest av!


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## myles (Feb 27, 2005)

I work at a pet store and we have these in all the time. all we do is use a rateo of 4 tablespoons for every 10g, and use a kh/ph booster. we keep the salt level at about .20-.24%, this is too low tho to read oh a hydrometer. and we keep the pH at about 7.5 and a kh of about 3 degrees. they seem to be doing fine, never lost one yet, very interesting fish and fairly active actually. i saw a pic of one that was 27"! i hear they like sand bottoms and are filter feeders. so they like to sift thru the sand and eat little bits of food and things, i see them all the time gulping gravel and spitting it out, we feed them frozen food mainly tho, and algae wafers. yeah i dunno how they would do in freshwater. anyway that's just my experience with them, but I'm no expert on these guys.


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