# Dragon Goby + Sorority



## shmifty5 (May 12, 2010)

So i got myself a Dragon Goby, he seems to be doing fine as I acclimated him to the Sororities slightly salty water, he is a great clean-up fish as he sucks up all the uneaten blood-worms and pellets chunks plus he mixes up the sand and keeps it turned up. The girls leave him alone and he doesn't harass the girls at all.

Does anybody else have a Dragon Goby with their Betta? how did it work out for you?

he isn't that big right now, maybe 6+ inches, when he gets bigger I'm going to move him and the girls into my heavily planted 30 gallon (I set it up last month, it's been cycled and it is slightly salty like th ecurrent tank), will this be fine for him or should I look for a new home for him right now?

Any and all help you can provide is much appreciated.


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## karlhague (Aug 9, 2010)

shmifty5 said:


> So i got myself a Dragon Goby, he seems to be doing fine as I acclimated him to the Sororities slightly salty water, he is a great clean-up fish as he sucks up all the uneaten blood-worms and pellets chunks plus he mixes up the sand and keeps it turned up. The girls leave him alone and he doesn't harass the girls at all.
> 
> Does anybody else have a Dragon Goby with their Betta? how did it work out for you?
> 
> ...



Long Term use of aquarium salt in can cause liver and kidney failure in your bettas.

It should only be used for no more than 10 days at a time


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## shmifty5 (May 12, 2010)

all of my bettas have been kept in slightly salty water, not enough to be called brackish at all, just a pinch or 2 for flavor, it hasn't caused them any harm yet and they seem to heal faster than a totally freshwater betta.


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## Alex09 (Aug 9, 2010)

Not sure but those things look creepy! (but cool)


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

I wouldn't keep it in fresh water longterm--they will really do best in a brackish aquarium. This doesn't mean putting in aquarium salt--this means putting in marine salt. They can tolerate fresh water pretty well, but if it were me, a brackish setup would definitely be my longterm goal. I would keep the ladies where they are and then move the dragon into the 30G (preferably an even larger tank, really, many recommend a 50G for a fish of this size..) with some other brackish fish. 

Shmifty5--if there is no reason to keep aquarium salt in the aquarium, you really shouldn't use it. In the natural environment where bettas originate, there is little to no electrolyte (salt) content in the water. Their bodies weren't designed to deal with a constant salt content, so over time it will overwork their internal organs and make them more susceptible to disease and early death. The salt is not a good enough preventative to justify keeping it in your aquarium all the time.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I was told that salt can mess up the fish's osmoregulatory system.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Wait saltwater as in ocean??? No no. Aquarium salt for freshwater bettas is fine but not salt salt water. Bettas are freshwater and gobys are salt water (thoguh great cleaners BTW ;P).


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## shmifty5 (May 12, 2010)

to all the "get rid of the salt nao!" people, I'm going with what has worked for me, and the salt has worked, it keeps my fishies more ehalthy and their tank does better overall for it, if I see anything go bad with the fish or I run into a problem then I will switch them to freshwater.

Oh, and Dragon Gobys live in the swamps where the ocean meets freshwater, some of them living in the saltier more marine waters and some living in the freshwater, giving them a change in salinity has worked very well for my friend (he actually keeps these guys from time to time, I had no idea until I asked him about them today, lol), he keeps his dragons in a custom 35 gallon and the fish seem fine, it seems to me like they are similiar to turtles, growing to match the tank and what it can provide, getting larger in bigger tanks and doing worse in small tanks long-term, I'm sure he will do fine in the 30 but if he gets too big I can find a 50 gallon for about 300$ (way over-priced here, so if I don't have to I would prefer not to get it).

I was more curious about the compatability, like if the females will start bullying him later or if he will become more aggressive, that kind of thing.


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