Violet Goby and ammonia

[salananstra]

Okay, so I have a violet goby and he is wonderful. he never comes out to do anything until the lights are out and only the tv lights the tank. I know that dragons are very, very sensitive to ammonia, and I am quick to drop in an ammonia detox after water changes. But lately, when lights are out, he goes to breathe air from the top of the tank, even though I've put a detox tablet in there, and saw it dissolve. If anyone else has had this problem, please help me out a bit, I don't want him to die

 

[salananstra]

Well if anyone cares, he stopped. But it's not like anyone bothered to try and give some input, thanks guys.

 

[HN1]

Sorry that was your experience. Posts get missed. It doesn't happen often, but a post after midnight eastern on a Monday can be missed.

I'm glad your goby is doing better. Can you give some information about your tank to better narrow down ideas? Brackish? Cycled? How long setup? Size? Stocking? etc.

 

[salananstra]

That's fine I would have been mad if he died, but that's not the case.

Alright, a tank overview. 10 gallons, just recently complete being cycled. I think it's been up for over a month now. It's brackish water. And the inhabitants are a figure 8 puffer, a pleco a handful of guppies, the dragon, and the newest addition of a fiddler crab. There are also ghost shrimp sometimes, but that's for food. I know it's small for the puffer and dragon, but it will soon be a 30 gallon tank.

 

[HN1]

That's fine I would have been mad if he died, but that's not the case.

Alright, a tank overview. 10 gallons, just recently complete being cycled. I think it's been up for over a month now. It's brackish water. And the inhabitants are a figure 8 puffer, a handful of guppies, the dragon, and the newest addition of a fiddler crab. There are also ghost shrimp sometimes, but that's for food. I know it's small for the puffer and dragon, but it will soon be a 30 gallon tank.

Nice. I assume you test your water so other than recommending the obvious upgrading of tank size (ASAP), all I can say is great start. Love to see some pics.

 

[salananstra]

I do, and it has been perfect for over a week now. I may post pictures in the near future.

 

[Terrance]

Hey glad to hear that all your inhabitants are co-existing happily. Try to feed the F8 only in one area of your tank. In the long-run, it will only eat in that area and will less likely eat the guppies and shrimp.

 

[salananstra]

I appreciate your input greatly, really, I love talking about my fish, but my puffer doesn't pay any attention to the guppies, and I put the shrimp in there as food. He loves the chase since the snails that he must eat every few days don't move out of fear. So sadly, your input was for null. But don't be sad, because as a fellow puffer punk, I am curious on how you take care of your puffers And yes, all of my tank mates love eat other, especially the dragon, he has earned much respect.

 

[Terrance]

I appreciate your input greatly, really, I love talking about my fish, but my puffer doesn't pay any attention to the guppies, and I put the shrimp in there as food. He loves the chase since the snails that he must eat every few days don't move out of fear. So sadly, your input was for null. But don't be sad, because as a fellow puffer punk, I am curious on how you take care of your puffers And yes, all of my tank mates love eat other, especially the dragon, he has earned much respect.

All your tank mates love each other for now, but you still have a puffer. There's a reason why all puffers are only recommended for species only or solitaire. Many will be aggressive to anything in the tank. Others are young and have not reached the aggressive stage yet. Then you have the few puffers that get a long with tank mates for weeks, months, or years (often those puffers will look like this ), but then tears up all tank mates in one night. Don't always trust those adorable faces.

I keep all my puffs alone. I don't have the extra money to experiment if another fish or same species puffer will be a good tank buddy or not

Edit: I'm not sure how much the feeding technique helps, but it does work on other intelligent animals like dogs and cats. It might help a whole lot or just a little on minimizing tank mate aggression.

 

[salananstra]

Well thank you again for the comment, but the figure 8 puffer is the least aggressive of all the puffer species, and yet, while I am aware he may go werewolf on my tanks *** one full moon and I'll wake up to a grizzly battlefield, I trust him. And yeah, like you mentioned, he is one of the young ones, and compared to one my friend has, he's almost half as small. When he gets older, he'll probably get relocated. He does attempt to nip the guppies sometimes, but only when they try to get in on one of his snails (which is a funny moment, always). So thank you, and I will keep in mind that I'll probably end up moving him in the next year or 2.