Considering Brackish.

[KevM]

I've got a 72 (US) gallon bowfront - it's actually slightly more than that because it's a couple inches taller than a 72, but it's got the same footprint. Anyway, at the moment it is the home of a pair of Kribs but I'm in the process of breaking it down and starting again. Once these Kribs go I want to be ready to stock it in a new direction. I've got quite hard, alkaline water so I figured I'd do something that suits that, for a change! I got fed up of the maintenance involved in keeping softwater fish in a planted tank, you see. I've been mulling over doing a Mbuna tank but the general level of aggression, and the subsequent maintenance that will bring (removing beat up males, etc) is putting me off. I was watching a video of an Mbuna tank on youtube last night and for some reason clicked on one of the related video links and saw some amazing looking fish. Straight away I thought, it must be marine or something and then spent the rest of the night trying to find out what it was. You guys will probably laugh at me for not knowing what it was (despite having kept many, many fish, over a period of many years). It was but a humble Scat! Since then I've been consuming all the info about brackish water fish that I can (including buying Neale Monks' book for my kindle), and I'm just wondering what kind of community I could create, and if the tank would be big enough long-term. So far I am interested in the following:

Scats
Monos
Gobies (although it's mainly the bigger ones)
Mollies (the male sailfins look surprisingly nice)
Puffers (figure-8 in particular)

I'll be running an APS EF 2000 external filter. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Chad]

Mexican Sailfin Molly are actually one of my favorite fish. I had a white one for years that I just loved. When he flashed that big fit it was quite impressive. Of course I am a huge fan and frequent keeper of puffers so I highly recommend them for those prepared to love them.

 

[iliveinazoo]

I've got a 72 (US) gallon bowfront - it's actually slightly more than that because it's a couple inches taller than a 72, but it's got the same footprint. Anyway, at the moment it is the home of a pair of Kribs but I'm in the process of breaking it down and starting again. Once these Kribs go I want to be ready to stock it in a new direction. I've got quite hard, alkaline water so I figured I'd do something that suits that, for a change! I got fed up of the maintenance involved in keeping softwater fish in a planted tank, you see. I've been mulling over doing a Mbuna tank but the general level of aggression, and the subsequent maintenance that will bring (removing beat up males, etc) is putting me off. I was watching a video of an Mbuna tank on youtube last night and for some reason clicked on one of the related video links and saw some amazing looking fish. Straight away I thought, it must be marine or something and then spent the rest of the night trying to find out what it was. You guys will probably laugh at me for not knowing what it was (despite having kept many, many fish, over a period of many years). It was but a humble Scat! Since then I've been consuming all the info about brackish water fish that I can (including buying Neale Monks' book for my kindle), and I'm just wondering what kind of community I could create, and if the tank would be big enough long-term. So far I am interested in the following:

Scats
Monos
Gobies (although it's mainly the bigger ones)
Mollies (the male sailfins look surprisingly nice)
Puffers (figure-8 in particular)

I'll be running an APS EF 2000 external filter. Any advice would be appreciated!

Scats are great and entertaining fish and I would be happy with a species only tank for them especially if you get about 3+ red and 3+ silver together. In my experience they prefer mid-high (even marine) salinity so I would stay away from fish that prefer lower SG's, such as Figure 8's.

If you're toying with the idea of staying around SG1.008 then you may want to add a true Brackish Archer, such as a Jaculatrix (spelling?).

Mono's are good tank mates and thrive in the same conditions and both species will reportedly shoal together. GSP's or Ceylon's also thrive in the same conditions but they are very tempermental and may not tolerate other fish when older but you might want to risk it.

To be honest I wouldn't keep more than 5 scat sized fish in a tank of your size, so I'd either go for 5 Red Scats or 4 Red Scats with a Jaculatrix Archer.

 

[KevM]

I think I'll abandon all hope on this. Mbuna it is!

 

[KevM]

Nope; it's not over yet! I'm still up reading about Figure eights and Monos. Help me...

Where is nmonks when I need him?

edit: just worked out what it would cost me per year in marine salt. I'm done.

 

[Chad]

It isn't cheap that's for sure.

 

[iliveinazoo]

Nope; it's not over yet! I'm still up reading about Figure eights and Monos. Help me...

Where is nmonks when I need him?

edit: just worked out what it would cost me per year in marine salt. I'm done.

Monos thirve in the same conditions as Scats.

Figure 8's are low salinity species; SG1.003-SG1.005 being ideal. I keep a planted Figure 8 tank at SG1.003@25 DegC, they used to be kept with Bumblebee Gobies, it was a successful combination and one I would recommend. You can keep around 1 F8 per 15(US)G.

Other low salinity Species:
Archer (Microlepsis) - I can't decide if it would be too large for a F8 but definitely too large for a Bumblebee Goby.
Knight Goby - not to be combined with Bumblebees.
Halfbeaks - quite aggressive so get 5+ to try and keep their attention away from the puffer and other inhabitants.
Orange Chromide - I've not kept one of these so I don't know what their temperament is like.
Guppies - Fins a bit tempting for a puffer.
Mollies - Have been known to bully the F8.

Here's a link to the Nmonks FAQ page for more ideas:
http/brackishfaq.w...rackishfaq.html

If I went the Figure 8 route with your tank I'd be tempted to do a planted tank with 5 Figure 8's and lots of Bumblee Gobies (1 per 20cm diameter fottprint of the tank)
OR
Planted with 3 Figure 8 Puffers with an Orange Chromide pair
OR
Planted with 1 Figure 8, 3 Knight Gobies and an Orange Chromide pair.