My new Dragon Fish (Violet Goby)

guppy

Small Squiggly Thing
Apr 15, 2005
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confused, lost, and lonely
Kieranuk said:
Hi

I just got this dragon fish. Please tell me what you think :).
Very nice, I have always liked the little guys. You might consider adding a strip of very fine gravel or coarse sand to your tank and letting that part get a little dirty or even starting a colony of tubifex worms in it. Your dragon will spend time sucking it up and spitting it out. This is the way they feed in the wild and they sometimes end up slowly starving in a well kept, claen tank like yours.
 

Kieranuk

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 7, 2005
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England, UK
Thanks for the compliments. Thats a good idea about the gravel my lfs has small 2mm gravel which I could use small pieces of pvc plastic to separate out a area say about 15cmL x 5 cm wide? I havent tried tubifex worms before do they live under water and how would I start a colony of them in the gravel of my tank? Or do you mean I start a colony outside of the tank and put them in myself? It would be cool to see it looking for the worms but I bet my clown loaches would also be intrested in them :).
 

zhuangsw

Feeder Fish
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Jun 17, 2005
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Kieranuk said:
Thanks for the compliments. Thats a good idea about the gravel my lfs has small 2mm gravel which I could use small pieces of pvc plastic to separate out a area say about 15cmL x 5 cm wide? I havent tried tubifex worms before do they live under water and how would I start a colony of them in the gravel of my tank? Or do you mean I start a colony outside of the tank and put them in myself? It would be cool to see it looking for the worms but I bet my clown loaches would also be intrested in them :).
ya, use a plastic divider and change the sand to small gravels. then drop a whole group of tubifex worms, some will get eaten and some will hide inside the gravel and start multiplying..

they u can see this little beaty hunting..

btw, its a really nice fish you got there. they dont grow big rite? really look like a dragon.
 

guppy

Small Squiggly Thing
Apr 15, 2005
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confused, lost, and lonely
JUst buy a small portion from your lfs and put them in a small shallow clean plastic tub. rinse them well. breaking up any clumps, discard any dead ones and spread them out a bit to visually inspect them so you can check for leeches and planaria, if you find these just pick them out with forceps. Secure the lid on the tub and store overnight in the fridge, next day rinse and inspect them again, then you are ready to feed your fish. scatter a few pinches around the tank and them several generous pinches just over where you want them to colonize. It help to get them to stay there if you have some detritus or well decayed organic matter from your filter media mixed in with the sand, this will also be eaten by the dragon. Repeat this every day until you use up your worms, they will live several days in the fridge. Your corys and clowns will love them and I have seen both of these burrow so deep into the gravel while going after them that only the caudal fin was visible. The reason you have to go through so much hassle is that many lfs sell wild caught worms rather than farm raised, If you get a colony established you will see the little buggers sticking out of the gravel and adding an oz of them every once in a while should allow you to maintain it. They are like tiny earth worms, fully aquatic, and most small fish will eat themselves round on them.
 

Kieranuk

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 7, 2005
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England, UK
Thanks for that info. I am not sure if my lfs has them but I will go any check but I know they have the 2mm gravel. I think they max out at 15" but I am not too sure. The info you gave me is very helpful and I am definatly going to do what you said. I am not sure if I could use one of those white pvc box things without a lid. I think they are used in drainage or something. I will probably just use pvc to separate a area off. Will it matter if this area is close to the front of the tank just the dragon fish seems to prefer to be hiding with my cl's. I dont have any cory cats but I have 3 synadontis catfish (nigrita, angelicus and another small one which I cant remember the name of) which should like it.
 

Miles

Stingray King
MFK Member
Jul 2, 2005
5,538
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Spokane, WA
They max out at around 24", but no one ever makes it that far because people fail to realize that it is a Saltwater fish..
 

bosshawg

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 30, 2005
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columbus, oh
cool fish
 
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