Dragon goby in a 20 gallon FW tank

[dragon.ownd]

My son fell in love with him in the store, and we brought the cute little 'eel like fish' home. (yes, I should have insisted on doing research and going back... but I caved!) He's doing great, he's really settled in and is a really cool fish. I don't regret getting him at all (well, maybe getting him BEFORE we set up a good tank for him)

Soooo now that I've researched, I have some questions about setting up his permanent home.

I am picking up a 90 gallon tank Friday and know that I need to set it up and cycle it. Once it is set up I know that I should keep it freshwater to start. (So much for this being an $8 fish!!!)

Would it be a good idea to add water from his current tank into it and kind of switch the waters back and forth between the tanks? So that he doesn't have any kind of shock?

I was thinking of adding similar creatures and then bringing up the salinity gradually (since there seem to be a number of brackish fish sold as FW). Is this an ok idea?

What are some good tank mates for him? I have read that there are some brackish bettas, guppies (I don't think they can live together, I'm just brainstorming), bumblebee gobies, ghost shrimp, any other ideas?

If any of my conclusions are ridiculous, feel free to tell me, just be gentle!

 

[Vash]

If he is happy in fresh water there is no real reason to make it brackish unless you want a full brackish tank. There are many species that don't tolerate salt at all so you should decide that as you are cycling. I would start out with a salinity that the stock you will be using are used to now. You can always slowly adjust it later on. As long as the water in the tank you are using now is clean and disease free you can use it as a booster to help start the bacteria. I wouldn't keep switching the water back and forth. If you're doing a fishless cycle you won't need to worry about doing this at all though. Just follow the directions for the method you've chosen

To acclimate any fish to a new tank you should open the plastic bag as you float it for 5 mins. Then add a 1/2 cup of tank water to the bag. Wait another 5 min then add another 1/2 cup and so on till the bag is filled. Then you can transfer your fish as it will have acclimated to the new water conditions. I haven't studied that many brackish setups so I can't help ya with the stocking scheme, sorry about that. Just remember you can't take the salt out once you've put it in.

 

[patrickriley2010]

My son fell in love with him in the store, and we brought the cute little 'eel like fish' home. (yes, I should have insisted on doing research and going back... but I caved!) He's doing great, he's really settled in and is a really cool fish. I don't regret getting him at all (well, maybe getting him BEFORE we set up a good tank for him)

Soooo now that I've researched, I have some questions about setting up his permanent home.

I am picking up a 90 gallon tank Friday and know that I need to set it up and cycle it. Once it is set up I know that I should keep it freshwater to start. (So much for this being an $8 fish!!!)

Would it be a good idea to add water from his current tank into it and kind of switch the waters back and forth between the tanks? So that he doesn't have any kind of shock?

I was thinking of adding similar creatures and then bringing up the salinity gradually (since there seem to be a number of brackish fish sold as FW). Is this an ok idea?

What are some good tank mates for him? I have read that there are some brackish bettas, guppies (I don't think they can live together, I'm just brainstorming), bumblebee gobies, ghost shrimp, any other ideas?

If any of my conclusions are ridiculous, feel free to tell me, just be gentle!

Yikes they need way more space that that those things get huge! You need to get it algae wafers for it. And that's a brackish fish for best health it needs to be in brackish water ? How many fish are already in the tank?

It can get up to 2 feet long and need a MINIMUM of 50 GALLONS. When you are talking about a living creature that by purchasing you are consenting to care for you shouldn't just buy it without knowing its needs. And if the person at the petstore told you it would be okay in a 20 then you should find another fish store.

 

[Cactuspixie]

Yikes they need way more space that that those things get huge! You need to get it algae wafers for it. And that's a brackish fish for best health it needs to be in brackish water ? How many fish are already in the tank?

It can get up to 2 feet long and need a MINIMUM of 50 GALLONS. When you are talking about a living creature that by purchasing you are consenting to care for you shouldn't just buy it without knowing its needs. And if the person at the petstore told you it would be okay in a 20 then you should find another fish store.

You should read the OP before blasting away.

To the OP: I think you're a champ!
Now I can't help you myself, because I'm not even close to beginning my brackish tank, but your goby certainly is brackish!
A 90g tank is plenty big enough for him, and a few tank mates.
A link on the dragon goby:
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/brackish-fish/85775-care-sheet-dragon-goby.html

 

[dragon.ownd]

You should read the OP before blasting away.

To the OP: I think you're a champ!
Now I can't help you myself, because I'm not even close to beginning my brackish tank, but your goby certainly is brackish!
A 90g tank is plenty big enough for him, and a few tank mates.
A link on the dragon goby:
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/brackish-fish/85775-care-sheet-dragon-goby.html

That is a great link, thank you. My user name is a cheesy joke, I've spent more on this fish in a week than I spend on myself in 6 months!!

He is very cool though. We've been giving him wafers in the morning and thawed frozen blood worms after the tank lights go off. I love watching him.

Our 20 gallon has 2 harlequin rasboras, 3 neon tetras, and 1 khuli loach and 1 pleco.

 

[Cactuspixie]

This is a site I have bookmarked for when I am ready to stock my brackish tank:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/brlvstk_sel.htm

 

[Mudfrog]

If he is happy in fresh water there is no real reason to make it brackish unless you want a full brackish tank. There are many species that don't tolerate salt at all so you should decide that as you are cycling. I would start out with a salinity that the stock you will be using are used to now. You can always slowly adjust it later on. As long as the water in the tank you are using now is clean and disease free you can use it as a booster to help start the bacteria. I wouldn't keep switching the water back and forth. If you're doing a fishless cycle you won't need to worry about doing this at all though. Just follow the directions for the method you've chosen

To acclimate any fish to a new tank you should open the plastic bag as you float it for 5 mins. Then add a 1/2 cup of tank water to the bag. Wait another 5 min then add another 1/2 cup and so on till the bag is filled. Then you can transfer your fish as it will have acclimated to the new water conditions. I haven't studied that many brackish setups so I can't help ya with the stocking scheme, sorry about that. Just remember you can't take the salt out once you've put it in.

A fish may seem "happy" in the wrong water type but that doesn't mean there will not be long term affects

I've tried keeping DG's in FW vs BW. In FW they would live on average for a year or so, in BW I kept them for 3 years before selling them.

There is one species of DG that is FW, although they are rare they are out there. Brackish fish can also live well in Hard FW, the additional minerals in the water helps out.

If you will take the 90G to brackish you could pick up some other Gobies that are Brackish as well. Bumble Bee Gobies are good. I kept Jade Sleeper Gobies with my Dragon Gobies.

 

[dragon.ownd]

A fish may seem "happy" in the wrong water type but that doesn't mean there will not be long term affects

I've tried keeping DG's in FW vs BW. In FW they would live on average for a year or so, in BW I kept them for 3 years before selling them.

There is one species of DG that is FW, although they are rare they are out there. Brackish fish can also live well in Hard FW, the additional minerals in the water helps out.

If you will take the 90G to brackish you could pick up some other Gobies that are Brackish as well. Bumble Bee Gobies are good. I kept Jade Sleeper Gobies with my Dragon Gobies.

I do plan on going brackish. It started out as a 'holy crap what have I gotten myself in to' and I'm now actually pretty excited about it.

I will start it as a freshwater since the change needs to be gradual. (Right?). My initial goal is to make the large tank as similar to his current tank as possible.

From what I understand juveniles are fine in freshwater, so I have some time. I plan to move nice and slow in the change.

Some of the other gobies are really neat. It will be fun to stock.

I was thinking of starting off with some ghost shrimp and maybe some guppies. I see those in FW all the time but they do better in brackish right? So they would be good tank mates during the acclimation.

 

[dragon.ownd]

This is a site I have bookmarked for when I am ready to stock my brackish tank:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/brlvstk_sel.htm

Thanks!

 

[azmodan]

This sounds like an awesome build! Share some pics with us once you get him in the 90g!

Also, not sure if you're going to go down this route but in case you are here's a useful link about brackish tolerant plants.

BracPlants

 

[Mudfrog]

They like caves a lot. PVC pipe works great.