# *pics* Just rescued a wallmart fish who isn't a betta



## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

I finally decided to go to wall mart and see the bettas, they were pretty sad but a new shipment must of come in recently because they didn't look horribly sick yet. Anyway while looking at the over stocked tiny gallon aquariums I noticed 3 long silvery fish sitting in the corner of the guppy tank, the biggest looking to be about 6 inches. My heart went out to these fish who were labelled as Dragon fish and I bought the largest who looked extra cramped.

After researching some and finding out he is a Violet/Dragon Goby who is not aggressive, has poor eye sight and often feeds at night I decided to place him in my 15g with my king until I have a bigger place for him.They do best in brackish water, but since he had been in a freshwater wall mart aquarium I'm not too worried about that at the moment since they can live in fresh and salt water. They are also prone to fin rot and body rot. I can't wait until I can give him his own home with the best kind of water conditions for him.

I felt bad for the poor Goby, but it was so funny to watch the Wallmart employee trying to catch him(With a net that was _way_ to small)
She had never needed to catch one before and they can jump, the poor fish had jumped into 3 different aquariums before she finally had him in the net. I offered to catch him for her, but she said it was fine. She was actually a really nice foreign lady, but she new nothing about fish.

I wish I could place him in my 48g, but my cichlid hates the pleco who had been in there because it had liked being on the bottom, and the goby's super soft none scaled skin would be injured easily


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## russalka (Mar 23, 2011)

Wow. How big does he get to be?

BTW - Perhaps you should name your HM King Elessar?


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

The wild dragon goby's can be up to 24 inches, but all the sites I've been reading say they grow to 15 in captivity.

I don't really like the name Elessar, but I kinda like Estel, maybe I'll name my king that XD 

And I'm really loving this new fish, he's very interesting. I need to find a good name for him.


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

He's so cute, in a wierd way. lol Update us on how he settles in in the next few days.


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## naturegirl243 (Aug 1, 2010)

Woah! He is so cool and cute, I hope it works out well with him!


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## LittleNibbles93 (Feb 7, 2011)

copperarabian said:


> the poor fish had jumped into 3 different aquariums before she finally had him in the net.


I lol'd.

He's cute! I've seen little guys similar to him at Wal-marts before...but...they had teeth. Don't know if they were the same thing.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

LittleNibbles93 said:


> He's cute! I've seen little guys similar to him at Wal-marts before...but...they had teeth. Don't know if they were the same thing.


He has some crazy looking little teeth that made me research quickly before letting him go in the 15g with my Betta. Apparently the teeth are designed to scrape algae off of rocks. and also, although they have large mouths their throats are actually very small.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

Also a little update, exept for the first 5 minutes when my betta was like "OMG what is that" he is now ignored completely, and I plan to go buy some sand to put over half the gravel tomorrow for him since I expect him to be living there for a few months.

Anyone ever have one of these guys living with their bettas before? I expect mine to be there for a few months before he is moved.


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## RayneForhest (Apr 22, 2011)

wow... My heart skipped a beat when I saw him... I'm tickled to death you can have him with your betta. 

let us know how things continue to work out.
That's one beautiful fish!!!


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## Arashi Takamine (Mar 3, 2011)

He's lovely. Kudo's for saving him! I hope he continues to play nice with your King.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

RayneForhest said:


> wow... My heart skipped a beat when I saw him... I'm tickled to death you can have him with your betta.
> 
> let us know how things continue to work out.
> That's one beautiful fish!!!


Temperament wise I can have him with my betta, but he will need his own aquarium at some point, they can do well in freshwater for a while, but they are healthiest when kept in brackish water  

I put in some algea wafers for him(They also love brine shrimp, blood worms and some other stuff) and quickly turned off all the lights in my room and went downstairs so my king betta wouldn't be able to see and eat them making himself bloated. I come back upstairs and my betta is bloated O.O He is such a sneaky little thing, I even distracted him yet he still found the wafers without any light. All the wafers were gone so I hope the dragon goby got a few. My betta had a few stress stripes and I couldn't tell if it was from being bloated or from the goby so I moved him into another aquarium. I plan to move him back once his bloating has gone down and I'm going to separate him now like I did for my pleco when I feed the goby so my silly betta doesn't make himself sick from eating to much.


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## ollief9 (Mar 16, 2011)

OK, I just did a little Googling, and found that these fish are also known as the Violet Goby. (I think.)

If so, s/he's gonna need a 65 gallon tank in the end.
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Gobioides_broussoneti


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

ollief9 said:


> OK, I just did a little Googling, and found that these fish are also known as the Violet Goby. (I think.)
> 
> If so, s/he's gonna need a 65 gallon tank in the end.
> http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Gobioides_broussoneti


Yup(I actually say both names it in the first comment)
They get to be very large, lucky for him I have many tanks in my future that I want to set up , I know I want to get a 100 for my pleco and cichlid(I plan to get more cichlids) and a 100+ saltwater tank(In the far future), and since I have him now I'll try and get a 75 brackish aquarium. And a bunch of little aquariums for my bettas of course. 

O.O I feel that I'm going to be a personal slave to parrots and fish.... and I'll need a very committed pet sitter lol


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## ollief9 (Mar 16, 2011)

lol


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## SillyCone (May 7, 2011)

Whoot he does look like one of those asian dragons.. :V!

Awesome fish, never saw one like it, hope he gets better, and.. nice finding!

You should name him Shaolin, from the Shaolin Soccer movie.. xD


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

One of my (well, not really friends ugh) got a white dragon fish, and managed to kill it within a few days. I was furious.

I thought they were salt water fish, though? Like, full salt? maybe not, but Im fairly certain freshwater is why hers croaked. (She didnt bother to research, sigh)

MOAR PICS. MOARR


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I would think about QT'ing the Betta.....more due to QT needs of the new fish especially since he wasn't in the best shape when you got him and the stress of being netted and moved-not to mention the feeding issues....if he gets sick your Betta may get sick too......I would QT him for at least 3 weeks to be safe......

Cool find by the way...good that you researched so you can meet its needs and when creating the brackish environment its best to use marine salt and not aquarium salt......


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

Oldfishlady said:


> I would think about QT'ing the Betta.....more due to QT needs of the new fish especially since he wasn't in the best shape when you got him and the stress of being netted and moved-not to mention the feeding issues....if he gets sick your Betta may get sick too......I would QT him for at least 3 weeks to be safe......
> 
> Cool find by the way...good that you researched so you can meet its needs and when creating the brackish environment its best to use marine salt and not aquarium salt......



O.O I hadn't thought of Qt at all! I'm so happy I'm on this forum so people can point out the stupid mistakes I make.... 

When I've been feeding him I move my betta into a fry container that floats in the tank so the goby can get to the food.... which takes a while, but he's still getting used to new things. I also bought some instant ocean sea salt for when I have a tank set up for him, he will need to be weaned onto it unfortunately because wall mart is filled with sadness, I don't really want to go to their fish section again...

@PewPewPew That's so sad it died, what happened?


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## AshleySpatula (Apr 8, 2008)

I have seen those in wal mart before and for some reason only wal mart. 
I've seen some nice birchirs at the lfs but thats it!

Anyways he's a gorgeous fish, I am sure he's much happier now!


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

AshleySpatula said:


> I have seen those in wal mart before and for some reason only wal mart.
> I've seen some nice birchirs at the lfs but thats it!
> 
> Anyways he's a gorgeous fish, I am sure he's much happier now!


I was really surprised after I did a little research, apparently they really aren't all that common as aquarium fish, but for some reason wallmart carries them


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

ha ha I have one I love her more power to you! you will notice they will start to come out in the day oh and if you have sand they will burry and dig holes and tunnels. Love dragon goby's (its what I know em by) and yeah I had a king betta with her and they did fine, she lives with puffers now and is very peaceful I have found. And they can live in freshwater however they live longer and change to more brilliant colors in brackish they also grow larger in brackish.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

that's one epic fish! pretty scary, and VERY dragon-like. :d sweet find!


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Were there any white ones, btw? Id only ever seen white til yours! :O

Oh, and that girl happened. She's just a fool and didnt care or take ten seconds out of her day to learn even what it ate. Ugh.

Not to mention the poor creature was in a tank that a very dead for a while lizard had been in, without really being cleaned. People make me mad D;


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

PewPewPew said:


> Were there any white ones, btw? Id only ever seen white til yours! :O
> 
> Oh, and that girl happened. She's just a fool and didnt care or take ten seconds out of her day to learn even what it ate. Ugh.
> 
> Not to mention the poor creature was in a tank that a very dead for a while lizard had been in, without really being cleaned. People make me mad D;



I've never seen a white one, sounds like it would look pretty cool. 
was it like this? or like pure white?










@Creat I added some sand the other day for him so it would be easier for him to eat and nicer to his belly


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

I am a sand fanatic its not good to my wallet I hope he loves it I think these guys are some of my favorite odd ball fish to keep


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

Creat said:


> I am a sand fanatic its not good to my wallet I hope he loves it I think these guys are some of my favorite odd ball fish to keep



at one of the LPS they sell sand for either fresh or salt water in bulk for 40 cents a pound, so I bought like 6 pounds for really cheap. all the other LPT and petco only carried live sand.... He does this funny thing where he wags the back half of his body and digs in a little XD


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Both that I saw were pure, snow white! :O


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## sayitaintso (Jun 6, 2011)

We are completely new to betta care. I've read as much as I can from several sites about care & feeding. Some reccommend NOT moving your betta from tank to tank with a net because it tears their fins. How should I move him?
From what I've seen, I think he's developed fish rot and we're trying to take care of that but I was suprised that Petco doesn't have any fish medications, so that leaves just WalMart, which of course is run by kids who have no idea what you're talking about.
Anyway- back on topic- how do I catch him to move him?
Thanks


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

Sayitaintso I suggest making a new thread small button in the top left corner

and I wish my sad was that cheap! Sheesh its like $27 for a bag for a ten gallon tank. And yeah they are super cute when they dig out a spot. Mine makes little caves to hide in as long as their is a rock or something above her.


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

sayitaintso said:


> We are completely new to betta care. I've read as much as I can from several sites about care & feeding. Some reccommend NOT moving your betta from tank to tank with a net because it tears their fins. How should I move him?
> From what I've seen, I think he's developed fish rot and we're trying to take care of that but I was suprised that Petco doesn't have any fish medications, so that leaves just WalMart, which of course is run by kids who have no idea what you're talking about.
> Anyway- back on topic- how do I catch him to move him?
> Thanks


I catch them with my hand


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## rosefoo (Feb 9, 2011)

Wow! His eyes are so tiny and cool!


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

He's swimming around a lot more now, and is less shy about the camera  I got another pic of him that I liked... shows his scary little teeth lol


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

Gah he is so cute! Is that wrong I think he is cute


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## copperarabian (Apr 27, 2011)

Creat said:


> Gah he is so cute! Is that wrong I think he is cute


I think he is cute too


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Ok. That...Kinda freaked me out a little .-. Theyre so cool, though.


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

Holy cow. He looks so different from the front. 

Wouldn't wanna get bitten by him!!


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