Brackish Interested

[rockerBOO]

I am interested in making a brackish tank. At the moment I have a 45g tall tank (36"x24"x12"), and I am interested in some fish I can keep in here. I am looking for a good stock list, with a lot of good fish to mix together. I am finding it difficult to get a good list of fish I could have in this tank.

I am also interested in planting for this tank if possible.

Any ideas of what I could do for some fish, or plants? Right now I am going through the fishless cycle, so I have a month or so to get an idea. Thanks.

 

[nmonks]

Well, the obvious advice is to take a look at a book about brackish water fishes. I've edited one, published by TFH, and Frank Schaefer has written one, for Aqualog. They're both good books but in different ways; my book is really aimed at beginning to intermediate level aquarists and covers maintenance as well as fish topics, whereas Frank's book is more for advanced aquarists who don't need to know how to run the aquarium but do need to identify (sometimes very obscure) fish and get an immediate summary of their living requirements. You could also look over the pinned topics in this section, or my own FAQ.

The range of fishes available is enormous, but the problem is that only a subset of them are *regularly* traded. Often, brackish water fish come in once or twice a year per fish shop, and you need to be able to recognise them and act accordingly. Other brackish water fishes are traded as freshwater or marine fish, but you need to be able to identify these correctly to avoid the obvious problem of putting the wrong fish in the wrong aquarium.

Planting brackish water tanks at the low end (~SG 1.003) is not difficult, and basically any plant tolerant of hard/alkaline water will do well under such conditions -- assuming the substrate and lighting quality are good. Once you go to SG 1.005 and upwards things become less simple, but there are a few plants commonly traded that will adapt to such conditions. At the high end, there are obviously mangroves and certain palms you might use, but these are not really suitable for the home aquarium in the long term being, fundamentally, trees. Some people have had good success with seagrasses; I can't speak from personal experience here, but the key seems to be a deep substrate and very intense lighting. Either way, there's an excellent pinned topic on brackish water plants here on the forum.

Cheers, Neale

 

[smashtime105]

I'm pretty new at brackish, but it seems to me like you could maybe do 2 green spotted or figure 8 puffers (with plenty of hiding area of course). You also might be able to stock some gobies. Another great fish, one of my favorites, is mollies. They are very hardy and great for cycling your tank. They will help with some algae problems that are particularly prominent in brackish water. Mine are always eating algae of my rocks and filter. However, they do not look at all like suckerfish. In fact, they must like the brackish water a lot because they never used to eat algae in my FW tank. Unfortunately, I think monos, scats, and the big archers probably won't work. An archerfish might work if it was long, not tall. Maybe the smallest species, T.Microlepis, will work. You might try to PM Neale Monks, he gave me a lot of help with them. With a tall tank, you might be able to lower the water 1/4 of the way. I like this because it makes a waterfall effect of a brackish river. It also oxygenates the water very well, the only reason I leave my bubbler on is for the sponge filter.

As for plants, Java Fern and Java Moss are pretty much the only ones you will be able to get away with in a higher salinity tank. However, like Neale said, if your salinity is under 1.005 sg most plants will work. However, do not only go with those rules. I tried putting hornwort, corkscrew vallisneria, and water wisteria in mine when it was out 1.004 sg, and they all died. I even had ferts and CO2! I would not go and spend money on plants unless you are completely sure they will work. Java fern has been working very well for me. My tank is at 1.008 sg and it has gotten much healthier looking than when I bought it. I also recently bought some java moss. This will help with some filtration. It also makes a good carpet for driftwood/ rocks/ substrate.

My final suggestion would be to do research. I researched for a month while my tank was cycling and I STILL had problems. Like Neale said, it would be great to check out a brackish water specific book. Most other aquarium books only contain a page or two of info, if any, on brackish. There are also lots of other threads on setups for species tanks and plants. Once again, I am a beginner but this is most of the info I got from researching. Hope this helps!

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

Neal brought up an important idea, seagrass. I'd like to add a little more emphasis on the seagrass though. Ive had great success with eelgrass from the intercoastal waters in Florida. It is frequently uprooted and can be scooped up with a net. You just need to ensure the roots are attached. Eelgrass is easy but it does not tolerate fish digging in the substrate. In case you don't already know a HYDROMETER is a must!