dragon goby??

flyinbrian

Member
I was at a lfs the other day. One that I usually never go to and have never bought livestock from. Well I saw something that was labelled as "dragon goby" but looked like a scooter blenny of some sort. Anyone tell me what it might have been. I know there is a freshwater fish called a dragon goby,but not sure about for saltwater. He was a really neat little guy. only about an inch and a half long and was picking at the substrate.
any help will do.
 
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celticsun

Guest
Hey flyinbrian,
The lil dragon gody comes with another name as well : rock moving goby. They are cool lil fish in the begining basicaly if you get one you should see him in the day but not at night. What he likes to do is gather rocks & shells and you should see a pile grow within a day or 2, at night he will look over the mound ie:his nest and dive right into it where he will sleep threw the night.
Now when he gets older he looses the cool effects on the body he should get about 5 to 6 inches long. Here is what you dont want in the tank

[hr]
>corals hard and soft it dont matter to him...lol. Now he wont eat them but he will remove them, break off pieces and drag these pieces across the bottom of the tank and place them on his mound or nest! what he is doing is hidding his home from other critters which may want to eat him. So you may come home and see you prize wining coral on the bottom of your tank the next 20min to 24hrs it is now on his mound, looking all decorated.
If you get one, this is what Will happen to your tank. I work at an aquarium in Denver and I sat and watched one for weeks changing the look of our live coral exhibit. They are still cool looking fish when they are young!
See Ya,
celticsun:D
 

jonthefb

Active Member
hey celticsun, nice to see a fellow co reefer in here. theres not many of us! p.s what are some good shops that you reccomend in the denver area? and do you work at ocean journey? anyhow, sorry about all the q's
i have what we determined to be a dragon finger fish in my 135. he looks like a giant scooter blenny, however behind his pectoral fins he has like three "legs" on either side of him. he doesnt wal on them but i think uses them to probe the sand for food. he is really goofy, hangs out on the sb all day, and comes up in the water column to feed, but at night he buries himself in the sandbed. any ideas what he might be? he never bothers the corals and inverts, just hangs out, and has beautiful bright blue pectoral fins.
im gonna get a pic of him over thanksgiving, so hopefully well have some better shots
p.s. celtic, if you wanna email me my addy is jonthan.garnett@attbi.com, or my aim handle is also jonthefb!
good luck
jon
 
Dragon gobys are rock movers BUT they are also sand sifters ! they are one of the few gobies that can back off an aggressive fish like a niger, mine did. They are also known as banded gobies. They do have a little bit of a mean streak in them so becareful what you put them with.
 
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celticsun

Guest
Hey jonthefb,
I do Volunteer at Ocean Journey....I have been there since day one it opened and still do 2 to 3 days a week...I can get you discount coupons if want some or anyone coming to denver and want to visit the aquarium. Each ticket allows upto 6 people in at a discounted price. The 2 days Im there I am considered a Journey Guide/Asst Aquarist.
Every 2 weeks I asst. the aquarists on their duties, which include and not limited too: Water testing,Water changes,Cleaning the Exhibits, Feeding the Fish & Food Prep which could be filling a 4 pound bucket of Squid,Smelt,Clam, Krill ect.... you name I have most likely cut it, chopped it and smashed it! I also feed a lot of the other critters as well. I have feed the Pacific Giant Octopus and have had 6 of the 8 arms attach to my arms and the tank while I was giving the food to the other 2 arms while it ate.....It was caught on video tape!:eek: Trush me its an eye opener when the arms come flying out of the tank and they attach to you!
The Octopus was about 8 to 10 ft at the time of that feeding!
Good Shops in Denver: Well I goto Todds marine to get my water They premix the Salt and use Instant Ocean which I really like. I went to Reef Gallery they are located on Arapaho and Dayton Kind of pricey! actully theres a strip mall there at that corner...you need to turn and head S. on dayton pass that mall area and right behind it you will see a post office, They have really nice coral selection. Reef Gallery has around 4 to 8 nice sized beautiful coral tanks, they sell live Florida, Fiji and I do believe Tonga rock not sure on the price per pound.
The best place is closer to you! Its called "Shermans Tank" They have better prices than anywhere on the net or in Denver. They are located in a run down store But they have Killer prices. Their coral tank looks nice and clean, most of their tanks look clean and they have specials all the time. Their locate at: 72nd and Federal they are on the North East side behind a seafood restraunt...lol
For instant Live Fiji Rock sells for $3.99 a pound, and Tonga coral sells for $4.99 a pound:D I only use Fiji and Tonga in my tank...I stay clear of the Florida Live Rock....I want to see the pic of your fish...Im not sure what it is...by I will look tomorrow in the Library at the aquarium.
Ask me anything...my email is willowisland@mindspring.com
celticsun:D
 
the only dragon goby ive ever seen is a brackish/freshwater they look like eels with a big head and small beedy eyes...is there another name for the goby that you guys are talking about
 
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celticsun

Guest
Hey vasilithegreek,
Nice nick by the way!:) a lot of the fish you see should have a lot of common names given to them, I really know of a couple dozen with 1 true name stuck to it.
In this case you can call them a Dragon Goby or a Rock Mover Goby or even a Rock Moving Goby depending on who you talk too, I have even heard the name Dragon Rock Mover. It can be somewhat frustrating when looking for critters you may want or just to view.
I hope you have fun looking for the fish!
celticsun:D
 

Originally posted by vasilithegreek
the only dragon goby ive ever seen is a brackish/freshwater they look like eels with a big head and small beedy eyes...is there another name for the goby that you guys are talking about

The Dragon Goby - or banded goby is all salt and has a bit of a attitude. The "Dragon Gobie" your talking about is not even a true goby. Here is a pic of the dragon/banded goby Though it really took a while to find this pic. The had several different types of goby that i know by different names called banded. :)
 

flyinbrian

Member
Snakes'n'fish:
so many common names, the one I saw almost looked like a scooter blenny , but you never know what they could name something as
 
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celticsun

Guest
Hold on.....BANG! Now I must eat the my sole!
ok I was thinking about something today....about the Dragon Goby and something wasnt sitting right with what I had said before. Then I saw the pic...and I new I had the right name to a wrong fish. So here it goes...the Dragon Goby probably does not
re-arange your tank...he isnt big enough and I dont believe it can do it.
The fish in question I thought it was, is called a "Dragon Wrasse"....or "Rock Mover Wrasse" this will re-arrange your corals...sorry for the mix up...this happens once in awhile when you try to remember all the fish at the aquarium. As for the 2nd name, I found the scientific name for you if you didnt know it.
There is like 5 or 6 fish that land in this scientific name
common name: Dragon Goby
scientific name: Amblygobius phalaena
I found some interesting information threw a story on the net, on these fish:
sandsifter gobies
I'm furious over misinformation that cost 2 fishes their lives. My 100 gallon tank has not quite live sand (inoculated with copepods, baby bristle and spaghetti worms and tiny white sand stars, but not nearly enough to get a good start in my large tank), and covered with brown algae and diatoms, do to poor circulation at that time. I really wanted something that would clean the sand. Aquacon (www.aquacon.com) had the perfect solution. They said the banded bullet goby (amblygobius phaelena) would keep the sand sparkling clean by sifting and eating all the algae. I bought 2 and for 6 weeks the tank looked like a winter wonderland. Then they died within a week of each other. I called Aquacon to order more and the lady tried to dissuade me saying the banded gobies were short lived. I got 2 more anyway, one didn't survive the shipping. That was almost a month ago.
Two days ago I bought 2 beautiful yellow-head sleeper gobies. They'd been at the lfs for over a week, and since I trust this store and I was in a hurry I broke my cardinal rule of asking to see the fish eat first. These guys went into my 40 gallon tank and began sifting sand immediately, even though the huge royal gramma was irritated at having to share his tank.
I'm mad at myself for not doing my homework first, but I might not have learned as much had I done so. I went to your book (my salt water bible), and found that sleeper gobies indeed sift the sand, but not for algae, but for meat. It dawned on me that my poor banded gobies were short lived because they starved to death! No wonder they're short lived--DUH!
So I took some frozen (thawed) brine shrimp plus and bloodworms and mixed them in the sand where the fishes are currently sifting. I don't like this very well, as I'm fighting a nitrate problem (wet/dry system) in the big tank, but it has a large sand star to help clean detritus. The little tank has less good filtration, but I want these gobies to live and prosper.
This morning I was thrilled to see the banded gobie eating food with the rest of the fish. I feel better about him. I'll continue to do everything I can to get the yellow-heads to accept given food.
Thank you for letting me vent. I know you are very busy and my little tirade doesn't need a reply unless you have advice on how to feed this sweet little pair of gobies.
<Very sorry to hear of your losses... and I urge you to offer live brine and mysid shrimp to these gobies (in the absence of substantial interstitial fauna) to sustain/fatten them... And to execute regularly (weekly) water changes (about 20%) really helps to maintain water quality with these bottom dwellers. Maybe decussatus should be suggested as hardier, more suitable species of gobies... Do offer the live foods several times a day.
This is a letter I found at this site: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/amblygobiusfaqs.htm
Lots of cool info here!
celticsun:D
 
I disagree celticsun. IMO Dragon gobies are a hardier fish than that article lets on to. I had one for well over a years in my first tank. What killed him was my own fault of adding a new fish from someone elses tank, without no quarenteen time. It brought a nasty little parisite with him. Wiped out my tank GRRRRR. I personally have had problems with golden headed sleepers , I get one and with in a week it's dead. But i am sure there are other people out there who have great luck with the golden headed sleeper but can't keep an orange spotted sleeper with simalar results as myself.
The article is good , to a point. It is the authors opinion just like this is mine. Salt water fish and corals are a strange bunch, i could keep one thing with success and you couldn't but you keep something that I can not. LOL I can't explain it , but I guess we just have to do better to keep the things we really want. This is just my opinion.
Snakes'n'Fish <climbs off his soap box and sets it for the next person> :D
 

jonthefb

Active Member
if i am thinking correctly, and you saw what you beleived to be a giant scooter blenny, then it was no doubt this dragon finger thing. they look very similar to scooter blennies but on a much larger scale. this is the fish that was sold to me as a dragon finger. there are quite a few of them but they actually belong to the mandarin family, to which the psychedellic mandarinfish belongs. if you look in dr. burgess's marine atlas, you will find them in th emandarinfish section, and i believe you will be able to positively id your specimen! thsi is where i found mine!
good luck
jon
 
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