Wondering about dragon gobies.

[Jeddi]

Hey guys! Haven't been here in a while, if anyone remembers me. Nice to be back :)

I really want one-- i'm going to be setting up a new 29g soon, and I'm considering going brackish. I see different things on the tank size for them, most saying 29g minimu, some saying 40 minimu, some saying 55g minimum. Sooo I'm not quite sure if I want one or not, we'll have to wait and see.

Few questions, though-- First one is about the tank size. Would the 30g be enough? Second, how much salt do they need, and do I have to be extremely careful with it? I'm not exactly looking forward to having to tes to make sure salt is at an exact amount, though I'm assuming since they can handle both fresh and salt water, that exact salinity isn't a huge deal. Third, since I don't want just 1 or 2 of them, what other fish can handle a wide range of salinity and similar parameters as the goby, so I can have a brackish community. That's about it, thanks :)

[smaug]

You should have a refractometer to test the salt levels to get it to 1.005. You also need marine salt,not the aquarium salt that is sold for other uses. I kept a brack tank for 2 years and it was the most boring experiance of any animal keeping ever. The fish selection is very limited and what is available you must be very careful with aggression or food selection. I have not kept the dragon goby but there water requirements are very simple,as are all brack fish,just keep the sg between 1.003 and 1.010 with no fast swings. In reality keeping the 1.005 is easy. Up until I turned my bw to sw I did not own a refractometer but started out with a hydrometer which is temp specific and not very accurate. At the end of that tanks brackish existance when I got a hydrometer it measured exactly 1.005 . Ill be honest I took lousy care of that tank but id did the water changes every 2 wks and topped off with fw when needed. The knight goby and few bumblebee gobys were healthy as were the several thousand malay snails. For fish in a 29 gal you could do the dg with a knight goby and several bumblebee goby.through in a few interesting mollys (2 to 4) and you have a fairly cool tank. You will need to cycle this tank the same as a fw before you drop many fish in there. If you will cycle with fish I recomend the mollys first. With the types of high protein foods needed make sure to be over filtered with at least an ac70 and a small powerhead keeping the gravel clear. I recomend aragonite substrate about an inch deep. Make sure th dg has a very good hiding spot,they eat small foods,whatever blows too them from what I gather. There are a few dg keepers here,hopefully they can tell you more.

[jonny5]

well dragon gobies are very tolerant of salinity changes, main thing is to keep them at at least 1.005sg, but they can take full sea water. So just keep the salinity between 1.005sg and 1.010 sg and your fine.

only thing is 29g might be a bit small. you will most likely buy one at 4-6 inches which is fine but these guys to get to about a foot long plus. However they are very slow growers so initally the 29 would be ok.

check out neal's brackish FAQ page, it has all the info you need.