Brackish Plants
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penguinpimp1990
Fish Addict
there are some brackish "tolerant" plants, but the only(when i say only, there are obviously true brackish plants, bu these are rarely available in stores) true brackish plants are mangroves, but these plants are not aquatic, but rather have their long roots in the water. the bulk of this plant must be out of water. but java fern and java moss may be tolerant to mildly brackish waters
Thanks but is there any clam becouse I think there neet.
I have a lank and I wounder if there are any plants that can suvive in a brackish tank. Becouse I don't really like the plastic on's and is there any clam that will survive.
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penguinpimp1990
Fish Addict
no brackish clam that i know of
Dave Legacy
Fish Crazy
I've been curious about brackish water mollusks as well. I'd love to get some sort of clams/scallops/mussells or something to put in my tank. I haven't seen any at any of the fish stores but it doesn't mean they don't exist in the wild. I'm sure there are plenty.
As for plants, I'm using silk synthetic hairgrass that looks pretty realistic in the tank. Plastic however looks really fake most of the time. Sea Garden Silk plants are pretty good quality but in my opinion I think the hairgrass they sell looks almost like dried hairgrass and very real.
Mangroves are your best bet if you have a 1/2 filled tank but they are trees and one day will grow to be huge unless you keep trimming them back and keeping them under control. The roots have been known to cause leaks in tanks.
My plan is to experiment with some different types of Marine Algaes when my SG is high enough.
As for plants, I'm using silk synthetic hairgrass that looks pretty realistic in the tank. Plastic however looks really fake most of the time. Sea Garden Silk plants are pretty good quality but in my opinion I think the hairgrass they sell looks almost like dried hairgrass and very real.
Mangroves are your best bet if you have a 1/2 filled tank but they are trees and one day will grow to be huge unless you keep trimming them back and keeping them under control. The roots have been known to cause leaks in tanks.
My plan is to experiment with some different types of Marine Algaes when my SG is high enough.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Hello,
There are lots of brackish water plants and lots of brackish water invertebrates.
Plants
Contrary to popular myth, magroves are not the only brackish water plants offered to aquarists. Several species that are widely sold as freshwater plants commonly or invariably inhabit slightly brackish waters in the wild. Java ferns are on example, but others include Bacopa monnieri, Crinum calamistratum, Cryptocoryne ciliata, and Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. All these plants will happily tolerate an SG of 1.005, and Cryptocoryne ciliata can even be taken a fair bit higher. An SG of 1.005 is plenty high enough for things like mollies, Siamese tiger fish, archerfish, figure-8 puffers, freshwater soles, glassfish, gobies, and so on.
If you're willing to keep the salinity a bit lower than that, there are many salt-tolerant plants. These are usually plants well known for being tolerant of hard, alkaline water, such as Ceratophyllum demersum, Anubias barteri, Cryptocoryne wendtii, and Vallisneria spiralis. Because you are stressing these plants by adding salt, it is essential that you make sure everything else (e.g., substrate, lighting) is spot-on. For these plants, the SG should be kept at around 1.003, which should be OK for most of the brackish water species mentioned above.
See the Brackish Aquarium FAQ plant section for more.
Invertebrates
Again, there are numerous types. The Malayan livebearing snail is one example, and very useful for cleaning up behind mess brackish water fish. It easily tolerates half-strength seawater. The Colombian ramshorn snail is another species tolerant of brackish water, but in this case the salinity should be no higher than about 20% sea water (i.e., around SG 1.005). The closely related Apple snails, on the other hand, are notoriously intolerant of brackish water.
Most of the crabs are brackish water species, most notable the red-claw crab and the fiddler crab. Many of the shrimps are from brackish rather than fresh waters in the wild. The popular Amano shrimp, for example, naturally comes from brackish swamps and will only breed in brackish water.
In a high (SG 1.010+) salinity system, you can keep things like horseshoe crabs and mangrove jellyfish, both of which routinely inhabit brackish waters. The Asian horseshoe crabs in particular can tolerate almost fresh water for short periods, but I'd recommend keeping the salinity at at least half-strength sea water. You could also try out the beadlet anemone Actinia equina. It is tolerant of warm, brackish water even if collected from temperate zone rockpools. Again, a fairly high salinity is required, around 1.015. If it does well, this anemone reproduces prolifically.
See the Brackish Water Aquarium invertebrates section for more.
Cheers,
Neale
There are lots of brackish water plants and lots of brackish water invertebrates.
Plants
Contrary to popular myth, magroves are not the only brackish water plants offered to aquarists. Several species that are widely sold as freshwater plants commonly or invariably inhabit slightly brackish waters in the wild. Java ferns are on example, but others include Bacopa monnieri, Crinum calamistratum, Cryptocoryne ciliata, and Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. All these plants will happily tolerate an SG of 1.005, and Cryptocoryne ciliata can even be taken a fair bit higher. An SG of 1.005 is plenty high enough for things like mollies, Siamese tiger fish, archerfish, figure-8 puffers, freshwater soles, glassfish, gobies, and so on.
If you're willing to keep the salinity a bit lower than that, there are many salt-tolerant plants. These are usually plants well known for being tolerant of hard, alkaline water, such as Ceratophyllum demersum, Anubias barteri, Cryptocoryne wendtii, and Vallisneria spiralis. Because you are stressing these plants by adding salt, it is essential that you make sure everything else (e.g., substrate, lighting) is spot-on. For these plants, the SG should be kept at around 1.003, which should be OK for most of the brackish water species mentioned above.
See the Brackish Aquarium FAQ plant section for more.
Invertebrates
Again, there are numerous types. The Malayan livebearing snail is one example, and very useful for cleaning up behind mess brackish water fish. It easily tolerates half-strength seawater. The Colombian ramshorn snail is another species tolerant of brackish water, but in this case the salinity should be no higher than about 20% sea water (i.e., around SG 1.005). The closely related Apple snails, on the other hand, are notoriously intolerant of brackish water.
Most of the crabs are brackish water species, most notable the red-claw crab and the fiddler crab. Many of the shrimps are from brackish rather than fresh waters in the wild. The popular Amano shrimp, for example, naturally comes from brackish swamps and will only breed in brackish water.
In a high (SG 1.010+) salinity system, you can keep things like horseshoe crabs and mangrove jellyfish, both of which routinely inhabit brackish waters. The Asian horseshoe crabs in particular can tolerate almost fresh water for short periods, but I'd recommend keeping the salinity at at least half-strength sea water. You could also try out the beadlet anemone Actinia equina. It is tolerant of warm, brackish water even if collected from temperate zone rockpools. Again, a fairly high salinity is required, around 1.015. If it does well, this anemone reproduces prolifically.
See the Brackish Water Aquarium invertebrates section for more.
Cheers,
Neale
In my brackish tank what grows best is the hair algae. Now don't scream, it's not that bad! I used to pull it out, then I got busy with other things and had to leave it alone, and now it's in rather attractive clumps and veils, some looks like moss, and SO green! When the clumps get too big it's easy to pull out. The bumblebee gobies seem to like it. And the water stays clean---no nitrate readings, anyway (I still change some water about every 2 weeks). I also have the roots of a couple of small mangroves and the pinkish-leaf pothos. The green-leaf type didn't like the salt at all. Unfortunately, I can't get java fern to stay alive.
Little Fish
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Do you have any details of how the roots of mangroves can cause water leaks in aquariums? I have twenty four mangrove pods in my tank right now. They are quite small now (about 6 months old) but I'm concerned if they could crack the tank.
Little Fish
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I have a lank and I wounder if there are any plants that can suvive in a brackish tank. Becouse I don't really like the plastic on's and is there any clam that will survive.
I was thinking about keeping clams too until I found out their larves are parasitic. They live inside the gills of fishes during the early stage of their lives. Although the chances of getting clams to reproduce in an aquarium is very low, (even if they do, larves are most likely destroyed by the filter), the thought just turned me away.
Dave Legacy
Fish Crazy
Have you ever seen huge cracks and lifts in the sidewalks when walking down the street that have been cause by tree roots? It's the same gig with mangrove trees. I have heard that the roots can get in between the silicone and the glass and seperate the glass causing leaks. I have heard that acrylic tanks wont be affected by the roots because the acrylic is bonded and not siliconed... and I've also heard that they will do damage no matter what kind of tank you have so I don't know what to think.
Some people have talked about keeping the roots under control using plastic tubs under the substrate. Look up mangroves on AquariumAdvice.com and you should see all the threads reguarding this topic.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
No, no, no.
Only a very few bivalve molluscs have parasitic larvae. To the best of my knowledge, they are all members of the family Unionidae, in the UK at least usually referred to as 'freshwater mussels' or 'swan mussels'. These are relatively easy to identify: they are large, have a very thin hinge (the bit of ligament connecting the two halves of the shell), and the shells are normally thin and covered in a horny (i.e., translucent and brownish) periostracum ("skin").
The larvae latch onto the gill filaments for a few days at most, while they're carried about by the fish to some new habitat away from the parents. It's a way of spreading about in rivers. They can't do what most bivalves do, that is, drift in the plankton, because if they did, they'd be washed out to sea. So they "hitch hike". Unless you have a lot of these in the tank, they're unlikely to do the fish any harm at all.
Anyway, the vast majority of bivalves (clams, oysters, mussles, etc.) have planktonic larvae that do not parasitise fish.
Looking at the bivalves sold to aquarists, most of the big ones (5 to 15 cm across) are swan mussels of one type or another. The smaller, round ones (2-3 cm across) are species of Corbicula. I dare say zebra mussels could be kept in aquaria, too. While the swam mussels could, potentially, produce larvae that parasitised fish, the Corbicula will not.
But you're right to avoid any of these. The swan mussels especially fare very badly in aquaria, and invariably starve to death. In the wild they live for a dozen or more years, but in aquaria I've heard of few that have lasted more than a few months. Once dead, they are gross polluters. Most need cold water, as well, and will not tolerate tropical temperatures.
Cheers,
Neale
Only a very few bivalve molluscs have parasitic larvae. To the best of my knowledge, they are all members of the family Unionidae, in the UK at least usually referred to as 'freshwater mussels' or 'swan mussels'. These are relatively easy to identify: they are large, have a very thin hinge (the bit of ligament connecting the two halves of the shell), and the shells are normally thin and covered in a horny (i.e., translucent and brownish) periostracum ("skin").
The larvae latch onto the gill filaments for a few days at most, while they're carried about by the fish to some new habitat away from the parents. It's a way of spreading about in rivers. They can't do what most bivalves do, that is, drift in the plankton, because if they did, they'd be washed out to sea. So they "hitch hike". Unless you have a lot of these in the tank, they're unlikely to do the fish any harm at all.
Anyway, the vast majority of bivalves (clams, oysters, mussles, etc.) have planktonic larvae that do not parasitise fish.
Looking at the bivalves sold to aquarists, most of the big ones (5 to 15 cm across) are swan mussels of one type or another. The smaller, round ones (2-3 cm across) are species of Corbicula. I dare say zebra mussels could be kept in aquaria, too. While the swam mussels could, potentially, produce larvae that parasitised fish, the Corbicula will not.
But you're right to avoid any of these. The swan mussels especially fare very badly in aquaria, and invariably starve to death. In the wild they live for a dozen or more years, but in aquaria I've heard of few that have lasted more than a few months. Once dead, they are gross polluters. Most need cold water, as well, and will not tolerate tropical temperatures.
Cheers,
Neale
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Look for Corbicula fluminea if all you want is something to go with guppies, mollies, or gobies. It's an Asiatic species, considered a pest in some situations, and relatively widely sold as a "tropical clam". It's 2-3 cm across at most, relatively round and globose, and has a distinctly ridged shell. A quick search on Google yielded this place, The Crayfish Shop, that has them.
This clam should handle an SG up to about 1.003 or 1.005, but no more. Acclimate it carefully. Bear in mind, virtually all clams do badly in aquaria. They need to be fed, and don't "scavenge" in any meaningful way. Consult a marine invertebrates book for tips on keeping clams alive in aquaria.
Frankly, snails are a much better bet. There's a whole variety of freshwater nerites being offered at the moment, under such names as "onion snail" and "horned snail". Check out this page for more. Most, perhaps all, of these snails do better in low to mid salinity brackish water systems than plain freshwater. Certainly most seem only to breed in brackish water. Any of these would work well in tanks with plenty of algae, and they should be easy to feed on blanched lettuce, algae tablets, and so on.
Please stop by the Brackish FAQ; there are some more suggestions for brackish water inverts that might appeal to you.
Cheers,
Neale
This clam should handle an SG up to about 1.003 or 1.005, but no more. Acclimate it carefully. Bear in mind, virtually all clams do badly in aquaria. They need to be fed, and don't "scavenge" in any meaningful way. Consult a marine invertebrates book for tips on keeping clams alive in aquaria.
Frankly, snails are a much better bet. There's a whole variety of freshwater nerites being offered at the moment, under such names as "onion snail" and "horned snail". Check out this page for more. Most, perhaps all, of these snails do better in low to mid salinity brackish water systems than plain freshwater. Certainly most seem only to breed in brackish water. Any of these would work well in tanks with plenty of algae, and they should be easy to feed on blanched lettuce, algae tablets, and so on.
Please stop by the Brackish FAQ; there are some more suggestions for brackish water inverts that might appeal to you.
Cheers,
Neale
Catfish enthusiast
New Member
there are in fact plenty of brackish tolerant plants, for the low-range salinity level that is.
Im keeping a 70 litre brackish tank with vallisneria, bacopa, java ferns and water wisteria!
So theyre are plenty jus need 2 research!
Im keeping a 70 litre brackish tank with vallisneria, bacopa, java ferns and water wisteria!
So theyre are plenty jus need 2 research!
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