#dragon goby

[fishcommunity]

Bruce, a Dragon Goby I bought as just a skinny little thing in 2016 who grew into a big old guy over the course of 3 years, eventually reaching about 16 inches!

[mossboytobin]

Hey I want to talk about how fishkeeping has helped my mental health and wellness.

I deal with aspergers, BPD and Bipolar 1; so sometimes its hard to let myself feel like I'm doing anything right or good or whatever.

I've been keeping freshwater fish on and off throughout my life and im at a point rn where I'm working really hard to be my best self i can be.

(To preface specifically keeping fish is not the tip I'm trying to put out there, it's just how i happened upon this little life lesson so i'll be speaking from the angle of a fish daddy)

You know those days where you can't convince yourself you need to eat, or even get out of bed or really do anything? Yeah those days fucking suck, but since i've started keeping my 75 gallon community tank, on those days i know i HAVE to get up and feed my fish. Not only cause setting up a good tank is a significant financial investment, but also because i'm emotionally invested in the well-being of my dear sweet wet boiz. On those days, at least for me, forcing myself to roll out of bed for 2 seconds to sprinkle in some food or treat them to some bloodworms, forces me to have a moment where my brain can finally tell me "okay you did this right, look your fish are healthy and happy. I might not be able to do that for me right now but i know through my efforts these silly wet boiz are doing alright."

For me that one little thought that slips in can turn a shit day into an "i did something good outside of me" day. Im sure that sounds a little silly but it really helps me see im not just fucking up all the time.

So a little more on fishkeeping, I keep a 75 gallon freshwater community. I have a few species of gourami, a pleco, a Raphael catfish, silver dollars, these 2 long river lookin dudes that i can remember the name of but man they fast, a dragon goby and my favorites: 3 ropefish.

I also keep an ever growing variety of live plants in the tank cause my ropefish love weaving their snake-like bodies all arounf the stems and roots and my vegetarian fish like to snack on em.

Now for the highlights and downfalls of fishkeeping, in case anyones thinking of setting a tank up.

Pros:

Fish are pretty and very weird.

You can always show off your little chunk of nature to anyone, people tend to be down to check out your cool tank.

Sitting and watching fish swim around, at lwast for me, helps with anxiety. It can be a bit meditative. I always feel nice and calm when i get to hang out with me fish for a bit

Feeding them treats! Learning who likes what and giving them special little presents is such a fun rewarding adventure

Science! Tank maintenance requires you to learn about a closed system and how the environment impacts your critters.

Breeding, if u want to have baby fish to scream at how smol and adorable they are, theres tons of livebearing species that breed readily.

Peaceful water noises

Your cats will have a new favorite show to watch. Its pretty fun to see them bat at the glass trying to understand just wtf is going on in there. (If u have a cat make sure you cat proof your tank)

Maintenance is way easier than u think and u can control the level of effort you need to put in by selecting the right species of flora and fauna. If you learn how to balance things and adopt friends to fill the niches it pretty much takes care of itself. My tank is always crystal clear and i only have to feed them daily and then clean the tank every 2 weeks. And cleaning is very simple and easy.

You'll get to develop a friendship with critters that you normally wont interact with, i try really hard to make sure my fish are comfy with me, and since its been going for a while my fish always swim up front when i come by (because i basically am santa claus to these little weirdos) and show me their pretty colors and do cute little things unique to each fish.

Might help you find some peace in a chaotic period in life.

Its really rewarding to start with a small little nervous fella and help them grow up big strong and expressive. For example, when i got my dragon goby, he was zmall and underweight cause he hated being at the petstore and was refusing to eat. Then i brought him to his giant fun colorful new home and now he's about twice the size, nice and beefy and he went from a washed out grey-blue clor to an incredible luminescent violet-blue (also his favorite hobby is digging with his shovel of a mouth)

Theres a huge community of fishkeepers to get involved with, your automatically best pals with anyone in the fish aisle at the pet store.

Cons:

Obviously, fish arent for everyone, they take a lot of observation and dedication. Which some people simply dont have time or resources to really work well as a fishkeeper.

Bad things so happen, theres a learning curve for ev everyone, you cant just be perfect right as soon as you start (although i wanna point out that this fact helped me learn its okay to make mistakes, just learn from them and try your best to do better next time).

Depending on how you do it, it can be fairly pricey.

It is work, but its also encouraging when you manage to accomplish that work.

Thanks for reading, i hope everyone has a good day of being good to yourself and others! 💖

[cute-little-foxxie]

Dragon Gobies

Im thinking about getting one of these guys in the future. Its not in the budget right now and I'll be moving out of state and already have two Bettas to transport.

I was in Wal-Mart a while ago and saw a few of these guys hanging out and fell in love. I knew i needed to get one eventually and with me and my boyfriend moving and building our own house i figured, why not make plans for an aquarium thats big enough to accommodate one of these guys?

I do need things to be cleared up for me though so i can get the ball rolling.

Tank Size:

Ive read a lot of different things, some places say 50 gallons per goby others say 48 inches of tank and some say 50 inches. Hunting down a tank based solely on inches is a nightmare. What size tank do i need in an easy plain speak? Recommendations are welcome of course and appreciated.

Substrate:

Ive heard that sand is what is supposed to be used. Would a sand/gravel mix be fine or should it just be straight up sand?

Water:

I understand that they are a brackish fish and need brackish water to live comfortable, long, healthy lives. I plan on doing more research into this but i am kind of confused right off the bat. I had heard that any salt added to an aquarium would eventually be filtered out by the filter and that was why you shouldnt run a filter when treating fin rot. In short, any resources or information anybody has to point me in the right direction is very much appreciated.

Plant:

Are plants possible? Ive heard people say yes and ive heard people say no due to the salt. I like planted aquariums because of how natural and covered they look. Are there any plants that would survive in those waters or is that a no?

As far as water temperture goes I can do that, that may be the only thing that actually makes crystal clear sense to me.

Once again, any information anyone can give me is greatly appreciated. This by no means is me trying to get people to do work for me, i plan on doing research and learning until i feel comfortable that i know enough and have all of the materials to own one of these fish.

[thebrackishtank]

So it took about a year and 3 months, but Bruce has doubled his starting length! Back in June 2016, he was a little 5.5″ guy who could hide beneath a marimo. Today he’s finally reached a foot in length :) I expect he might grow another 4-6″ and that’s (probably) about it. Though I wouldn’t mind having him at 2 feet long eventually.

[fishcommunity]

So sue me, I’ve taken lots of Dragon Goby pictures over the years. I love them a lot! They get up to about 2 feet long but are very mellow and have lots of personality.

[thebrackishtank]

Bruce is up to about 9.5 inches now... up from the 6.5 inches I bought him at and still only about half of his anticipated length. Doing great though!

[thebrackishtank]

When I got Bruce about 5 months, he was a skinny thing. Admittedly, he got skinnier over the following month or so as I did not know how much they really needed to eat. I’ve now got him on 2-3 feedings a day (some of which are hand feeds as the Scats and Mollies are very eager eaters) and he’s gaining weight. Only added about 1.5 inches since I got him, but hopefully 2017 will be a big year for him too!

[thebrackishtank]

I had a rock in my brackish tank that I just sat on the substrate and Bruce decided to turn it into a neat little home... complete with front, rear, and side exits and a little awning over the back. Not bad, my friend.