My Dragonfish looks like he is gasping for air!

V

vex

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Dec 8, 2005
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HELP - My Dragonfish looks like he is gasping for air!

Hello,
First post here, long time lurker. Recently we moved our dragonfish out of or Cichlids tank into its own tank because he was being starved to death. The Cichlids were eating all his food!

Anyway now that he is in the new tank i notice he looks like he is gasping for air (water?). He sits at the bottom, puts his side fins out to the side and opens and closes his mouth and pushes water through his gills. The talk is well airiated, no amonia and good water. He is eating now and moving around a lot so I think he is getting healthy.

Has anyone seen this before? Is it normal?

Thanks,
Ryan
 
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The video isn't working for me. What are your readings for ph, nitrates, and nitrites? What is the temp? How often do you change your water and how much? How long did he go without eating before you separated him? Does he look swollen at all?
 
Beeker said:
The video isn't working for me. What are your readings for ph, nitrates, and nitrites? What is the temp? How often do you change your water and how much? How long did he go without eating before you separated him? Does he look swollen at all?
Click to expand...

Have to get the readings I am not at work now and that is where the tank is! The temp is a constant 80 F. He ate in the other tank but not alot so I can not tell. And he dosn;t look swollen he actully looked pencil thin. He is definatally eating now. I found a few dead shrimp and guppies :)

thanks for the replys. Does any one have a dragon fish? Do they sit o nthe bottom and lok as if they are gasping?
 
Vex, I have 4 Dragon fish. First of all they are brackish water fish, they will not survive real long in a Fresh Water tank. The SG should be between 1.005 and 1.010. I keep my water at 1.008. Secondly they are filter feeders. This explains what you are seeing when it looks like they are gasping for air.. They are trying to take in microscopic size food. This fish does not typically breath like that when it is stressed, when stressed they will constantly swim along the top of the tank looking for a way out.

What do you feed them? I feed mine Algae Waefers and Wardley Shrimp Pellets. Both of these foods will break apart into smaller pieces that are the ideal size for the Violet Goby (aka Dragon Goby, Dragonfish). You can also feed them brine shrimp or blood worms. I'm allergic to blood worms so I do not get this luxury.

How big is your Dragonfish? How long have you had it? Feel free to send me a PM if you have any more questions.

It took me a good year to learn what I knew about my Violet Gobies. I started with him in FW at first as this was advised by the LFS. A few months later it died and I didn't know why. Thats when I started researching it and once I got a decent idea on the lifestyle of the fish I bought another one. It grew to ~9" so I bought another and another, etc..

Click on the link in my sig for the Dragon's Lair to see my setup.
 
vex said:
He ate in the other tank but not alot so I can not tell. And he dosn;t look swollen he actully looked pencil thin. He is definatally eating now. I found a few dead shrimp and guppies :)
Click to expand...

Pencil thin is a sign of lack of food obviously.

He is not eating the guppies and shrimp. If you are finding these dead then check your water parameters, they will not eat other fish. They have giant mouths but very very tiny throats and could not possibly eat them.

Also, they are very non aggressive except to their own kind (when feeding).
 
Mudfrog said:
Vex, I have 4 Dragon fish. First of all they are brackish water fish, they will not survive real long in a Fresh Water tank. The SG should be between 1.005 and 1.010. I keep my water at 1.008. Secondly they are filter feeders. This explains what you are seeing when it looks like they are gasping for air.. They are trying to take in microscopic size food. This fish does not typically breath like that when it is stressed, when stressed they will constantly swim along the top of the tank looking for a way out.

What do you feed them? I feed mine Algae Waefers and Wardley Shrimp Pellets. Both of these foods will break apart into smaller pieces that are the ideal size for the Violet Goby (aka Dragon Goby, Dragonfish). You can also feed them brine shrimp or blood worms. I'm allergic to blood worms so I do not get this luxury.

How big is your Dragonfish? How long have you had it? Feel free to send me a PM if you have any more questions.

It took me a good year to learn what I knew about my Violet Gobies. I started with him in FW at first as this was advised by the LFS. A few months later it died and I didn't know why. Thats when I started researching it and once I got a decent idea on the lifestyle of the fish I bought another one. It grew to ~9" so I bought another and another, etc..

Click on the link in my sig for the Dragon's Lair to see my setup.
Click to expand...

The dragon is only 3-4 inches in length. I started feending it shrimp pellets and he seems to love them. I also bought frozen bloodworms but they fly all over the tank and it seems more of a mess than a good meal (maybe i am wrong) Anyway If he is not eating the guppies something is because they were stripped to the bone just the head and backbone left!

Thanks,
Vex
 
What else is in the tank with them? I have heard on occasion of them eating off of a dead fish but depending on what the fish died of this would not be a good thing. I can assure you though it is not the violet goby killing them.

With blood worms the best thing to do is to put them in a turky baster and place it right in front of the dragonfish and place the bloodworms about an inch in front of it's head. He will then smell them and eat them up.
 
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