Dragon Goby
It is native to brackish waters near the Atlantic coast of North and South America.
Also called the violet goby.
Often sold as “highly aggressive” fish, but are actually very docile and nearly blind.
They have very sharp teeth, but use their teeth to scrape algae off rocks not fighting.
They can grow up to 24 inches in the wild but seldom grow past 15 inches in captivity (The Dragon Goby pictured below is a very large specimen that is about 28 inches long as you can see it measured about 27 inches on the yard stick but about an inch of its tail was curled up).
There are no external differences between the sexes.
Males are more territorial at spawning.
Dragon gobies usually inhabit brackish swamps, streams, and estuaries with a muddy substrate.
Primarily scavengers because of poor eyesight.
Their key method of obtaining food is by scooping up mouthfuls of gravel and sorting edible material from the substrate, and then spitting out the substrate and swallowing the food particles.
Despite its fierce looks, large mouth, and many teeth, the violet goby is a predator scavenger.
If well fed, it usually will not bother smaller fish.
Any small, peaceful, brackish water-tolerant fish can coexist with violet gobies. Examples include mollies, guppies, swordtails, platies, bumblebee goby, and glass fish.
The violet goby is only kept with peaceful fish, as it has poor eyesight and may be bullied by more boisterous fish.
Violet gobies are generally healthy at temperatures between 76-78°F (24-26°C), with a pH between 6.5–8.5, and salinity at 1.006–1.008.
They eat both animal and plant-based foods, such as frozen blood worms, frozen tubifex worms, baby brine shrimp, and vegetable flakes.
Unless they are in a species specific tank, violet gobies cannot compete with other fish to find food, because of poor eyesight.
Violet gobies often feed at night.
