Violet goby issue.

[Lutterbeck]

Hello everyone. I have been lurking on this forum for a few weeks now and finally decided to make an account and ask for some help.

I have a 31 gal tank with 2 Mickey Mouse moons, a dwarf frog and a violet goby. I have had this tank for a few months now. My first fish were the violet goby and a goldfish.. The goldfish died about two weeks ago, probably due to a spike in the temperature on my tank.

Anywho... My issue is with my violet goby (or dragon goby). I have had alot of trouble finding food for him. But just today I purchased some shrimp pellets and put a few near his little cove. I just checked and they are gone. He is usually very lazy, and sits in his little cove nearly motionless. Since the water change however, he has been floating vertically against the glass of my tank, almost as if he's dead. I poked him with my net and he began swimming around the tank almost as if he is in panic.. I'm just curious if anyone has any experience with these guys. Could he be reacting badly to the water change? Maybe the food he recently ate?
Thanks in advance

 

[Lutterbeck]

Ahh, and I might like to add, this is my first tank. So any newbie tips for what I have in my tank are appreciated.

 

[DragonFish71]

A few things here.

1) gobies are very sensitive to bad water. Any spike in ammonia or anything else is rough for them.

2) they are wild caught in brackish waters (partial salt, partial fresh). They do not do well in fresh water for extended periods. The are not tank bred like most fish. People collect them, through them in fresh water tubs, those that survive are them shipped out. Do not use aquarium salt or table salt, reef salt for salt water tanks is the best. However, your frog will not do well.

3) it's normal for them to be shy or do weird floating things. Mine do it all the time.

4) please do some in-depth research on how to keep these beautiful fish so that it can thrive or re-home it to someone who will take care of it correctly if you can't.

 

[Lutterbeck]

Yeah most of my research lately has been on their feeding habits. I'm just curious what other fish may do well in a brackish tank? I am going to go ahead and research a bit now feel free to give anymore helpfull tips, as this goby is my favorite of the tank. And I will gladly relocate him to another tank as so as I can scrounge up some extra cash

 

[DragonFish71]

In my brackish tank I have 2 dragon gobies, platies, ghost shrimp, knight gobies and sheepshead pupfish. You can have mollies, guppies, sword tails and of course platies. Depending on the size of the tank is what you can stock it with. I have an 80g. The key is to slowly acclimate them. When I get a new fish, I seriously take hours to acclimate them. Also keep in mind the adult size of the fish and the aggression. Like puffers are aggressive and do best in a species only tank.

Brackish tanks really aren't any harder than keep a fresh tank. You can have live plants, wood, rocks etc just like a fresh tank. Here's some links I used to get me started.

Starting a Brackish Aquarium, what you need and what you can keep.

BracPlants

Brackish Fish: Brackish Water Fish for Brackish Aquariums and Tanks

PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide

 

[Lutterbeck]

My god you are wonderful. Thanks for the links I have been curious about planted tanks recently. To the point to where my fiancé is sick of hearing about it. Ha I read about all of your tanks. It sounds like your house is nothing but aquariums. I would love to get to that point on day