# South American Dragonfish



## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

Any owners here I have two and love them because there diffrent. just wondering who else has some and how long they have had them and any tips


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## Larry-T (Jan 18, 2005)

There are a number of fish refered to as "dragon" fish, including arowanas, violet gobies, and even some brackish toadfish. Can you specify which fish you are talking about by providing either the scientific name or a photo?


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

well I have tried finding pictures of them and couldnt. It has a ell look to it gray in color long and slender. That was the name on the tag when I bought them.


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## Larry-T (Jan 18, 2005)

OK, what you probably have is the Violet Goby (Gobioides broussonnetii)

It gets up to 16"+ and is primarily a filter-feeding fish which I have kept in unheated tanks with a sandy substrate from the size of 6" to well over 14", wt which point I sold them off. Breeding is accomplished by cycling the salinity from totally fresh to almost complete seawater and adjusting the feeding to bring them into ripeness at the proper time.


Try this link: You mayve to cut and paste into your browser:

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Gobioides&speciesname=broussonnetii


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## Funran (Feb 6, 2005)

I think i have a dragon fish, i know it had the word dragon in it, and i got him at pets mart, he is really cool. Big ol mouth, i named him smaug. ( the hobbit)


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

Funran @ Sun Feb 06 said:


> I think i have a dragon fish, i know it had the word dragon in it, and i got him at pets mart, he is really cool.  Big ol mouth, i named him smaug. ( the hobbit)


thats where I got mine and thats what it looks like.


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## Funran (Feb 6, 2005)

lol, yeah his mouth opens so big, and its kinda wide, specialy for a fish.


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## leck85 (Jan 19, 2005)

yea i recently bought one of those also... they are supposed to be pretty peacefull while they are small, but when they get bigger, they will eat smaller fish... their mouths do open quite wide so be sure u dont have any neons or anything like that for him to eat


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## daniel89 (Nov 28, 2009)

i got 3 from walmart and they were called south american dragon fish. And mine are dieing and i have no idea why.... i tryed feeding them everything and they dont seem to be eating ... so what all do you guys feed yours, i done had one die and i have a second one on the way... They are in a 10gallon tank with blue rocks, i have a 5-15 gallon tank filter, a heater that is kepted half way between c and h, i also have other fish in the tank, Bala sharks , red belly pacus, and a sucker fish for any algea. tropical fish flakes, freeze dried shrimp, shrimp pellets and my dragons seems to be dieing, they were fine when i first bught them but now as there dieing there heads seem to be sucking in like there losing all there meat and fat in there heads and nothing but skull and skin is left... any help wouldbe greatful.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Daniel your tank is messed up beyond belief:
1. Your buying fish at walmart which is a mistake
2. You have a 10 gallon tank which is way to small
3. You have Bala Sharks which get over a foot long, a pacu which can get 3 feet, a sucker fish which gets 4 feet, and dragon gobies which get 2 to 3 feet.
4. Dragon Gobies like sand and brackish water, which I assume your tank has neither
Thats the answer to your tanks problems, you need a bigger tank or smaller fish, and no more dragon gobies because your tank isn't suited for them.


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