Need help with a dragon fish (violet goby)

[Mudfrog]

I had my dragon fish in my 29 gallon fw aquarium along with a few tank mates. At the time I bought him I did not know he was bw. Occasionally he would open his mouth wide kind of like a yawn. I figured this was something to do with the water type. Well I wanted to put him in a bw tank so I set my 10 gallon up for bw just until I can buy another one specifically for bw. The tank has set for a few days then I added him. At first he seemed fine but now that he has settled down from the initial "new tank exploration" he is constantly doing the yawn motion, it's almost as if he is gasping. I added 7 tablespoons? (the small spoon) of the salt that I picked up at the lfs.

Anyone have any ideas? Should I move him back to the 29 since he technically was doing alright in there? He is my favorite fish and I wanted to give him the setup that is ideal for him. (I know the 10 gallon isn't ideal but I won't be able to get a bigger tank for another month, he is about 7.5" long btw).

 

[patryuji]

First was the 10gallon cycled with bio-spira or anything of that nature (or did you just put the fish in an uncycled tank)?

Secondly, you need to slowly acclimatize the fish to brackish water by gradually increasing salinity otherwise a large change in salinity could be quite a shock for the fish.

Third you need to use marine salt and not just aquarium salt (although you did not specify what you used).

 

[Menagerie]

Is the goby eating? Does it look like he is lacking oxygen? Is he up at the top of the tank?
What are the water parameters? What type of salt did you use?

 

[amphibianboy528]

Well,I have some BW tanks and the saltinity is aroung 1.015.As I learned on this site that is good for some brackish fish.Sveral tablespoons may not be enough for the violet goby.And I agree with patryuji,you should slowly acclimate the goby to salt.And if you need a kind of salt use marine salt or seachem's brackish mix.I have only tried the marine salt.And if he is having lack of oxygen you could use live plants.Some live plants for BW are:java fern,vallis,and giant hygrophila.Good luck with goby.