55 Gallon High End Brackish

[penguinpimp1990]

i am going to setup my 55 gallon tank and i want some predatory high-end brackish fish. As a stock list i was thinnking one GSP, one freshwater stone fish, one butis butis, one green wolf eel, and either a ceylon puffer or a stars and stripes puffer. I want heavy planting of vallisneria americana which I have found will do well up to 1.018, and tons of curio wood which i got for only 60 cents a pound at my LFS.

Do you think I should or with the ceylon puffer or the stars and stripes puffer? Im thinking the stars and stripes b/c its less agressive but it may get picked on by the GSP.

Is there any similary sized eel as the green wolf eel thats less aggressive?

 

[nmonks]

Vallisneria americana up to SG 1.018? Wow. Didn't know that. I have found this paper that suggests a limit of 15 ppt, which is a bit less than 50% seawater (normal seawater is 35 ppt).

www.ns.purchase.edu/envsci/ GPK/Kraemer%20et%20al.%20(Estuaries).pdf

Good question about GSP vs. dog-faced puffer. The latter are fairly mellow and often kept in community tanks with things like tangs and angelfish. Butis butis are nice, but there are quite a few large eleotrids out there. Dormitator maculatus is one, and Eleotris fusca is another. Pike livebearers will do well with anything they can't swallow.

Not sure about eels, though. Morays seem to be unreliable s community fish, though the marine species seem to be well behaved. CFC or someone would be able to confirm this, but I would imagine the invert-eating species would be safer than the fish eaters.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[AMS]

Vallisneria americana can actually go above half strength seawater, I have seen it go to 20 ppt. As for the eel, Uropterygius concolor would make an excellent choice. It's less aggressive than most moray species and is certainly less aggressive than the Wolf eel. They can go down to about 1.010 without any effects, possibly lower but personally I think 1.010 is the limit.

 

[CFC]

The vallis will start to yellow and eventually die in water with a SG above 1.010, been there tried it and pulled the withered mush out of the tank a month later, it mind withstand being in sea water for short periods but it doesnt last long term

The brackish morays are generally peacefull fish that dont harm anything they can't swallow, however i did once have a large Gymnothorax afer that managed to swallow a full grown female sail fin molly (4") and filleted the entire one side off of a shark cat in an attempt to eat it.
The real problem here is the tank size, a 55 just doesnt cut it for any of the morays, the smallest species you are likely to find is Echidna rhodocheilus which tops out around the 18" mark and the most comon species Gymnothorax tile easily reaches 2 feet.

 

[AMS]

The vallis will start to yellow and eventually die in water with a SG above 1.010, been there tried it and pulled the withered mush out of the tank a month later, it mind withstand being in sea water for short periods but it doesnt last long term

This may be the case with other Vallisneria species, but Vallisneria americana will infact tolerate a SG of 1.010 or over rather easily, this is the only vallis species that I know of that handles salt this well. I have had it go up to 1.015 before yellowing. Widgeon Grass would be a great choice for plants in your tank as it tolerates anything from almost complete FW to hypersaline waters.