Best substrate for violet goby
- Thread starter Noto
- Start date
The ideal substrate for the goby would be mud, but since that is messy most people just use sand. I'm kinda searching for a mud substrate to use in the future. Your play sand is probably fine enough.
Also make sure the tank is very large. The more I research the fish, the bigger a tank it seems to require. They get over two feet long. I have a 210 gal waiting to be set up for violet gobies. That should be plenty big. Make sure you feed it some meaty foods like bloodworms, and some algae.
What did you have in mind for tankmates?
Also make sure the tank is very large. The more I research the fish, the bigger a tank it seems to require. They get over two feet long. I have a 210 gal waiting to be set up for violet gobies. That should be plenty big. Make sure you feed it some meaty foods like bloodworms, and some algae.
What did you have in mind for tankmates?
I don't know if that's long enough. I think the most important thing is that the fish is able to stretch across the width of the tank without curling its body. That might not be necessary though. 18" is pretty close to 2 ft.
I think a 75g tank would do you fine for a long time. These guys do get big, but they aren't really active swimmers like other fish. They spend the majority of their time tucked away in a cave or under some driftwood. But when you toss some food in the tank, it'll get pretty active. And mine will swim around the tank at night. But they are still mostly bottom swimmers, only swimming up into the middle or surface area of the tank infrequently.
I started mine in a 20 long (was very misinformed when I purchased), and he got up to about 10 inches in there. I then transferred him to a 125g tank, where he has been very happy. He's now 16 inches long, and living happily on play sand.
BTW, I have my violet goby in freshwater. I understand that there are several species of violet goby, some require brackish water some don't. But I think they can all live in brackish water either way. Just wanted to make sure you knew that...
I started mine in a 20 long (was very misinformed when I purchased), and he got up to about 10 inches in there. I then transferred him to a 125g tank, where he has been very happy. He's now 16 inches long, and living happily on play sand.
BTW, I have my violet goby in freshwater. I understand that there are several species of violet goby, some require brackish water some don't. But I think they can all live in brackish water either way. Just wanted to make sure you knew that...
Thanks, Conner! I definitely want this to be a brackish tank. I'd like to try to recreate a Gulf Coast estuarine habitat. I may just wait until I can build a nice big tank, say 72" X 36", with a land area so I can keep fiddlers and maybe grow some Spartina and Salicornia...this is getting complicated already!
Conner;3002673; said:
False. There are only two species of violet goby, Gobioides broussonnetii and Gobioides peruanus. Both are brackish. It is said that G. peruanus may be able to live in freshwater, but it is (as its name suggests) native to Peru, and very rare in the hobby. Any violet goby from the Gulf Coast would be G. broussonnetii and therefore a brackish fish.
Your goby, Conner, is almost certainly G. broussonnetii. Although, if you'd like to argue that it isn't, and therefore is suitable for a freshwater tank, you could show me pictures, and I might be able to tell you.
BTW Noto, exactly which killies are brackish? I've always heard that there were brackish killies but never knew what they were.