# water dragons and fish?



## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

i need some advice not the piss taking but i have read articles concerning keeping water dragons and having a fish tank (?) at the bottom, being a water dragon owner and a child at heart i have ventured to find out if this is true and if so how, yeah i know before i get the answers you put the fish in the bottom blah blah blah :lol: but joking aside has anyone done this if so yeah you guessed it how, ie concerning water changes, nitrate levels for the fish/water dragon etc, please help as im driving the mrs mad with this idea and she thinks im on a totally different planet to her  , please help........................i dont like visiting other planets by myself :lol: cheers


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

its ok guys dont all rush at once to give me answers :lol: :lol:


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## chocolatecolubrid (Apr 1, 2005)

I havent done it myself (for fear of the water dragon eating the fish!! or injuring itself in the attempt to eat the fish!!) though i have heard plecos can go in with them as theyre spiny and grow big, so putting a dragon off eating them, plus they keep the tank clean. 

I'd imagine as with any tropical fish tank you'd have to set the water bit up for a few weeks, at the right temp etc, then get a water test done and when all is well put the fish in. If the fish are too small they will probably become dinner for the dragon though so I'd choose wisely!!

Also I'd imagine problems occuring of the water dragon poops in the water - the nitrate levels will skyrocket! :lol: Poor fish! :lol:


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

thanks chocolatecolubird as for the nitrates that what i thought as i change the water everyday in my wds enclosure, thanks for replying though :wink:


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## Daniel (Jul 28, 2005)

there was a post a wile back i tried to find but no luck and peeps had done but the poops get eaten by the fishj and there there for not nesasery
dan
ps please correct me if im rong


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## chocolatecolubrid (Apr 1, 2005)

The fish might eat the poop but the dragon's still gonna pee which will poison the water unless youve one hell of a filter in there! lol! :lol:


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## SilverSteno (Feb 12, 2006)

Daniel said:


> there was a post a wile back i tried to find but no luck and peeps had done but the poops get eaten by the fishj and there there for not nesasery
> dan
> ps please correct me if im rong


There are certain types of fish that would do that, not sure which ones though. Plus I'm fairly sure there are certain plants that are also good at soaking up any excess nitrates.


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## chocolatecolubrid (Apr 1, 2005)

Wouldnt the dragon eat the plants too? Im just going by my gal and she tries to eat her plastic ones so Id be pretty sure shed go for any underwater too!! lol!


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## Duzzie (Dec 22, 2005)

I wouldn't recomend it. I have seen danios kept with turtles but you would need strong filtration. It is not nitrates that are poisonous, not at normal levels anyway, it would be the ammonia that it toxic, at very low levels. Personally i wouldn't, your fish might survive, but would live short stressed lives. That is of course unless the body of water is very large so as to dilute the pollutants, but from what you have said, i doubt the tank would be that big.


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## chocolatecolubrid (Apr 1, 2005)

> it would be the ammonia that it toxic


i knew there was another toxic thing i couldnt mind what it was!! :lol:


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## Andyman (May 16, 2005)

Aswell as all thats been mentioned, your all forgetting the massive temp difference for both the fish, and the reptile, i'm unsure what temp water dragons are kept at as i don't no anything about them, but surely the temp in the viv will be to hot for the fish to thrive !


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## Duzzie (Dec 22, 2005)

Thats it, the animal, fish or lizzard, pass ammonia which is toxic, this is turned into nitrites by bacteria in the filter, this too is toxic, this is then turned into nitrate which is safe up to levels of about 150ppm. This is known as the nitrogen cycle.


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## Duzzie (Dec 22, 2005)

The temp should be fine, if the air temp is in the early 30s, the water temp would be 26-28 degrees. That would be fine for most tropical fish


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## chocolatecolubrid (Apr 1, 2005)

> Thats it, the animal, fish or lizzard, pass ammonia which is toxic, this is turned into nitrites by bacteria in the filter, this too is toxic, this is then turned into nitrate which is safe up to levels of about 150ppm. This is known as the nitrogen cycle.


Cheers Duzzie! I used to know all that when I worked in the petshop but since i left I kinda forgot!! :lol:


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

thanks you guys have shown the wife and she has beaten me viciously around the head and told me not to be so ****in stupid, cheers a sulking 30 year old with a sore head :lol:


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## Guest (Feb 26, 2006)

Ok i used to keep water dragons in an 8 foot viv with a 4 foot fish tank.The tank had a fluval 4 internal filter and an under gravel filter connected to a pump that ran the water fall.In the tank i had a plec and a dozon albino corys and everything was fine.I did not have any plants in the tank as i feared the w/d would get caught up in it but i did have a lot of rocks in there so the fish could hide and the w/d could get out of the tank.

Hope this helps you mate


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## Bev (Sep 7, 2005)

the thread dan was trying to find may have been this one http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3074
Lisa B was setting up plecs in a tank in her WD enclosure, i dunno if it worked out or not tho???


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

Hiya

I am thinking of doing the same as you with a couple of fish in the water tank and I enquired at my local rep shop about keeping fish with the Water Dragons as I having quite a large heated tank in the viv. They recommeneded 'against' corydoras as per the other thread {or whatever they are called} because they have spike like defence mechanisms on their mouths that could seriously harm the Water Dragon if they were to try and eat it. They said the same about the red tail shark and any form of catfish. But they did say that plec would be ok. So looks like a dead cert that I'll be getting some plec. 

Good Luck with your tank


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2006)

There is very little chance the a water dragon could actually catch a cory they are a very fast fish and tend to keep away from the dragons


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

oops GreenPhase I wasn't referring to your reply. I was referring to the thread link that Bev posted sorry. Now that I look back it seems I was attacking your reply ... no no nooooo I was purely referring to the other thread and going by what I was told. Of course any info is always appreciated


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2006)

Breezy thats fine constructive criticsism(spelling) is what it is all about.I have actually kept the corys and plecs in a water dragon enviorement for over 9 months with no problems what so ever.I didnt even need to feed the fish although i did use algea wafers every now and then


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

I too was going to go for the cory's as well as plecs Greenphase. I have seen in many different forums that they are very useful in a Water Dragon tank and add an extra little something to the whole setup. But as I said, the lady in the rep shop kinda put me off that idea a few days ago. They know me pretty well in there now and I doubt very much if they would sell me some now that they know I was enquiring about them to go in the Dragon setup. Sad, but true lol How often do you change the water Greenphase? And is it only a half change at a time? I will be using a filter so not expecting to change it every single day. Not even every other day. It's a pretty damn big tank to be emptying too regularly lol and especially with fish in it.


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2006)

You can get the corys from any aquatic shop in all honesty mate and with my fishtank i only ever did a 25% water change once a month.As long as you get a filter that has a slightly higher capacity than you actually need you should be fine.I would strongly recommend getting an under gravel filter as well with a power head connected to it.This just keeps the water flowing and saves you a lot of time and hassle on the tank


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

Thanks Greenphase, that all sounds good to me! I'm on to it hehe  And sorry mutt for sabotaging your thread  :!:


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2006)

It wasnt sabotaged it was all in keeping with the original thread  

And your most welcome anything to help out others from my own experience


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

there has been no sabotaging here what so ever, just people who are answering my question right back at the beginning, the more answers saying yes etc have fish at the bottom etc with pictures, saves my head from another whack, thanks everybody so far who have posted though


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

In that case mutt, I will do just that {the pic thing} when everything is in place and just perfect


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

thanks breezy but just make sure it is perfect as i will have to show the wife so she can peruse it at her leisure!!! :lol:


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

:roll: lol


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## Andyman (May 16, 2005)

Does the dicloranator (don't no how to spell that lol ) not affect the water dragons? or is it better for them ?


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

Hi 

Just to let you know mutt that I transferred the 'goldfish' into the Water Dragon Tank this morning and so far so good! They seem to have been doing a little cleaning up of their own  Next week I am adding some Bristlenose to the tank also, so hopefully all will be well there too. If anything awful happens I will let you know lol So if you don't hear anything else on this subject, you can assume all is well 

This morning before I added the fish



Look At The Fishies!!!!!!!!!!


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## Andyman (May 16, 2005)

That looks fantastic i got to say, wish i could have an all in one rep, fish tank, but i'll have to make do with them all seperate :lol: looking forward to seng the outcome !


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2006)

Dont you just hate the way bog wood colours the water though  

looking good breezy and im sure your w/d will be happy as a pig in the dark brown stuff :lol:


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## Breezy_One (Jan 12, 2006)

LMAO Greenphase! Would you believe I have only had that water in the tank for less than 48 hours? lol I know my dragon's aren't that dirty so must be the bogwood discolouring the water :?: Thank You both for the kind words - and to be honest, since I put the goldies in the water tank, my '3' new WD's haven't gone in there :shock: But as they say, tomorrow is another day  If I see they don't go in the tank in the next few days, I guess I will have to take the goldies back out! lol But one is shedding and another about to shed, so I'm holding onto hope that they will


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## AvenueEnt (3 mo ago)

So I just recently put in a little sucker fish, 3 little guppies and a crab in my w/d enclosure and for the first week he was real curious on the crab and fish and kept distance but after a few weeks they all adapted pretty well just right now I walked in and the w/d is sleeping on his rock under water with all the fish I used this thread for ideas and such, just wanted to add a personal experience


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

AvenueEnt said:


> So I just recently put in a little sucker fish, 3 little guppies and a crab in my w/d enclosure and for the first week he was real curious on the crab and fish and kept distance but after a few weeks they all adapted pretty well just right now I walked in and the w/d is sleeping on his rock under water with all the fish I used this thread for ideas and such, just wanted to add a personal experience


Sadly I doubt the OP (or most of those who replied in the thread) will be able to appreciate your input as this thread is SIXTEEN YEARS OLD !!!!!!!!!


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