Upon finding a different local Walmart in my general area I stumbled across a new fish I have never seen them carry before. For $6.24 you can now own what Walmart refers to as a "
Dragon Fish". Dragon Fish (
not to be mistake with an arowana) are also known by other names such as Violet Goby (
which I believe is its true name), Dragon Goby, Eel Goby, or Peruvian Goby. Often people mistake the violet goby for a bichir, eel, rope fish, or even a cigar fish.
 |
| Dragon Fish at Walmart |
These fish are docile and their tiny eyes make them nearly blind. They aren't overly active fish although they tend to be more active at night which is usually when they'll eat, and although they do have tiny teeth these teeth are used mainly to scrape off algae and scavenge for other possible tid bits of food as they're detritivores. If fed well these fish won't bother smaller fish such as guppies, but goby's should be kept with friendly fish due to their poor eyesight as it could put them at risk for being bullied by aggressive fish, and if kept with another goby they can become territorial tank mates.
Violet gobies use their large mouths to shovel through substrate in search of food and spit out anything inedible, and although they have big mouths they have small throats. A diet for them consists of foods like algae, baby brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, vegetable flakes, meaty foods, and frozen tubifex worms... just be sure they get a varied diet (
I've noticed a lot of people will feed them Hikari Carnivore when they're smaller and Hikari Massivore Delight when they're bigger). They are also prone to escaping their tanks so be sure to keep a lid on your aquarium. These fish can grow up to 24 inches in length and it's typically recommended to have them live on a soft substrate like sand as they're naturally accustom to a muddy substrate, but they can also do fine on gravel although aragonite is probably the most ideal for these fish and you can mix it with gravel to reduce glare. The fish are from North and South America and generally live in brackish swamp waters or streams, in captivity they'll usually only grow up to 15 inches in length. These fish like to have hiding places as they're typically temid. The water requires a salinity of 1.004 - 1.008sg, a water temp of 76F - 78F, hard water with an alkalinity of 10 - 20 dKh, and a pH of 6.5 - 8.5. These fish will possibly be more active and 'confident' in a tank that is 50 - 55 gallons, over small aquariums that are 29 gallons, and these fish seem to find things through water movement.
 |
| Walmart's info and price on Dragon Fish |
These violet gobies are susceptible to illnesses like columnaris and fin rot, so be sure the fish are not in an overcrowded tank, the water has plenty of oxygen, and try to keep the bio-load to a minimum. A healthy violet goby has a blue/violet shade to it and often gold patches of coloring (
unfortunately Walmarts gobies didn't have that blue/violet coloring to them, nor does the info mention how they're brackish water fish) and the fish can survive in freshwater for a short amount of time but for overall health it's not recommended to keep it in those conditions.
