Hrafnkel
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Curious as to what they are and what their temperament is like.
What are the fish that Petsmart sells as "dragon eels?&
- Thread starter Hrafnkel
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Menagerie
Aquarium Advice Addict
Gobioides broussonnetii (Violet Goby) http://species.fishindex.com/species_910gobioides_broussonnetii_violet_goby.html
This is a brackish water fish, suppossedly can be kept in fresh, but IME with bb gobies, they do better in brackish.
This is a brackish water fish, suppossedly can be kept in fresh, but IME with bb gobies, they do better in brackish.
rich311k
Aquarium Advice Addict
Here is another link if you want a liitle more info:
http://members.tripod.com/~boeing_dude/id234.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~boeing_dude/id234.htm
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
Violet Goby (aka: Dragon Goby)?
http://www.thefishworld.co.uk/id184.htm
To the best of my knowledge, they are peaceful community fish and spend all of their time at the bottom of the tank. They are also brackish, and shouldn't be kept in FW.
HTH
http://www.thefishworld.co.uk/id184.htm
To the best of my knowledge, they are peaceful community fish and spend all of their time at the bottom of the tank. They are also brackish, and shouldn't be kept in FW.
HTH
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
LOL. Looks like we all posted at the same time... 8)
Hrafnkel
Aquarium Advice FINatic
That's what I figured they were, wasn't sure. Thanks for the quick replies.
Toirtis
God of primitive fishes
Petsmart usually sells Senegal bichirs, not violet gobies, as 'dragon eels'....sure that is what you saw?
mrcrazypants05
Aquarium Advice Freak
Toirtis... I thought this as well, but when I looked the other night it wasn't dragon eels they were labeled as Dinosaur Eels. The bichirs anyway... I believe our petsmart has Violet Gobys labeled as dragon eels or dragon fish... We had ours at wal-mart labeled as dragon fish.
Toirtis
God of primitive fishes
Ah...here I have seen violet gobies in Petsmart only once....but bichirs are a staple lately (part two years), and they call them dragon or dinosaur eels, although mostly the latter.
Menagerie
Aquarium Advice Addict
When I saw "dragon eels" a few years ago, they were gobies. I rarely see them, but I know what a bichir looks like and I have never seen them referred to as dragon eels. I guess it's all based on location.
Toirtis
God of primitive fishes
Menagerie said:
Or the savant staff at the typical Petsmart.
Hrafnkel
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Eh, might've been a bichir. I figured they were violet gobies because I've seen violet gobies called that before.. And maybe it was dinosaur eel. Come to think of it, they did look like a kind of bichir (how do you pronounce that anyway?) Can anyone give me a side-by-side comparison of a violet goby and a bichir?
Devilishturtles
Aquarium Advice Addict
The Violet Goby is blue/silver/purpleish while the bichir is more grey/black/brownish. VG is brackish and senegal prefers freshwater only. The bichir will get more than a foot long and is agressive, where as the violet goby is peacful and gets around 8 inches long. I think the most dinstinguishable characteristic at a glance would be the color.
Oh, and I always pronounched it bick-er.
Oh, and I always pronounched it bick-er.
Menagerie
Aquarium Advice Addict
beach-er is the way I have heard it pronounced.
beblondie
Aquarium Advice Activist
WHY BICHIR?
When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.
The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name.
However the correct English pronunciation is up for grabs. Several dictionaries all have their own pronunciation including the below:
bee cher
beech er
biker
bitcher
bi cher
Also known by the common name lobed fin pike,dinosaur eel.
The name Polypterus : poly=many + pterus=fins and is pronounced po-lyp'-terus.
When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.
The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name.
However the correct English pronunciation is up for grabs. Several dictionaries all have their own pronunciation including the below:
bee cher
beech er
biker
bitcher
bi cher
Also known by the common name lobed fin pike,dinosaur eel.
The name Polypterus : poly=many + pterus=fins and is pronounced po-lyp'-terus.
beblondie
Aquarium Advice Activist
never heard it pronounced beep but hey
At the petsmarts by me
Dragon eels = violet gobies
Dinosaur eels= P.senegalus
Ornate eels= P.ornatipinnis
At the petsmarts by me
Dragon eels = violet gobies
Dinosaur eels= P.senegalus
Ornate eels= P.ornatipinnis
willowthepoet
Aquarium Advice Activist
my petsmart sells violet gobies as "dragon fish" and bichers (pronunciation notwithstanding) as "dinosaur eels"
and those gobies can be aclimated to either freshwater OR marine?!?! (from the link devilishturtle posted) i didn't think that was possible!
and those gobies can be aclimated to either freshwater OR marine?!?! (from the link devilishturtle posted) i didn't think that was possible!
