Hello

[robbhp]

This is my first post, but I have been reading the forum loads over the past couple of weeks. So this is just a little hello and a run down on what I have
At the moment. I am running a small setup, its about 60 l tank, in there a have (wait for it because I think you will think I have gone mad) 4 green spotted puffers, one F 8 puffer two gold monos, two silver scats, and one white tail catfish, all living happy, a bit short on room but all happy. The catfish don’t like it to much, but the puffers like him . any way they have been this way now for about 4 mouth, and it has now come the time to get a bigger tank for them(mainly the scats). I have just got my new Fulval fx 5 ( which is larger than the tank I have at the mo LOL ) which I will be adding onto a 110 gal tank in the next couple weeks. Anyway will post some picâ€￾s of my fish, so you can see all there happy faces


Time to get flamed

 

[AMS]

to the forum!

I will not flame you, you already know the consequences. The 110 gallon tank will make a good home for the scats, monos, a couple GSP's and possibly the catfish if it is Hexanematichthys seemanni. One of the many problems you have in this tank is your SG. There is no way to accomodate the figure 8 puffer. The scats, monos, GSP's and the catfish prefer their SG at least 1.010, and closer to full marine conditions. The figure 8 puffer should never have it's tank SG surpass 1.005. Excuse me if I sound a bit rude, but 4 GSP's in a 15 gallon tank is disgraceful. GSP's need 30 gallon for each individual specimen, so you would need at least a 120 gallon tank to comfortably home them due to their extreme aggression. You can not home the figure 8 in your new tank becuase A) the SG B ) The catfish will eat it and C) The GSP's will torture it. Leaving the figure 8 in the current 15 gallon tank with an SG of 1.005 and lower while moving the rest of the fish to the larger tank will be your only option. Also, your monos and scats are schooling fish, they require at least 4 to a school to feel comfortable, although your scats and monos may be schooling together as it is.

 

[robbhp]

its 20 gal in size, i know it is small but i have had this setup before and had no problems at all before, also if any thing the catfish is the one that is getting its ass kicked not the F 8 . anyway i can see your point on the tank being to small thus me getting the bigger one for then. But like i said there is no fighting in my tank at all, and i am not just saying that also there is no niped fins , or dead fish , they all swim around very happy and never look as if they are going to kill each other.

the only problem that i am having is algy on i know that this is linked to the over stocking of fish, i do water changes ever 5-6 days, wil the larger tank help, or is there any thing i can do to stop or slow down the algy. i have heard that skimmers can help ?

many thanks

PS as i am writing this my two scats are chasing each other around the tank LOL

 

[AMS]

I believe 60 liters is 15 US gallon but I could be wrong. Algae is just brutal in brackish aquariums. You can do a few things to help it, but it will never go away entirely unless you PLANT your tank. You could try a protein skimmer, but they only work in a SG of at least 1.10, or even higher. Algae magnets are another option, but they only scrape the algae off the glass. There are some algae eating fish, but none really seem to do a job in a brackish aquarium. Boiling decor is a very good way to remove algae, but it will soon appear again.

 

[robbhp]

i was think of putting plants in as it would help, but i think my scats aon monos would try and eat them, so then i was going to put snails in but i thinnk the puffer would eat them too. LOL

i dont mind cleaning the alyg of but ithink that is just because its a small tank, i can see that when i get my big one it will be more of a pain.

 

[robbhp]

couple of pic of all my fish sorry if you dont have BB

nice and fat LOL

LAst one

 

[Nickelback]

Hi again robbhp I'm just getting a vision of your two scats chasing each other now Well your fish all look great and really healthy and well looked after They are all going to be happy in their new tank Judging by the pictures your fish look happy.Good luck with it all

 

[nmonks]

Re: algae. If you didn't have the puffers, then using a mix of olive nerites and Malayan livebearing snails would work well as algae eaters. You'd need a lot of both, but they'd do the job. Both are fine at SG 1.010, olive nerites possibly higher. Amano shrimps could probably be adapted to this salinity too, given they live in brackish water in the wild (and apparently breed in salt water) but I fear the fish would merely eat them...

The problem with algae in brackish tanks is down to (a) the lack of plants and (b) the big, messy fishes generally kept. There isn't anything particular about brackish water that makes the algae bad. Some aquarists simply accept the algae as part of the decor, and just keep the front glass clean. If I were going down that avenue, I might look into macro-algae, such as Enteromorpha spp., but since these aren't traded, you'd have to collect your own.

Cheers,

Neale

PS. Nice tank. Thanks for posting the pictures! AMS has outlined some of the issues that would worry me, too, but basically a really attractive layout with some handsome, healthy-looking fish.

 

[robbhp]

thanks mate i realy do like the tank and is set up, but like you said the big problem is the waste which is just helpping the algy on. on the snail side of thinkg are they A sexual, as i could see that beeing a problem. i had a tank with that problem and it was hell

thanks for the comment on the fish and tank, mean loads to me. just hope they like there new home just as much.

 

[nmonks]

No snails are asexual (able to reproduce without sex); but many of them are hermaphrodites (male and female sex organs in one animal), and some are livebearers as well.

Olive nerites are difficult (but far from impossible) to breed. They produce chalky egg cases that they lack on rocks and glass, and then only when kept in brackish water. When kept in freshwater (which is more normal) they will not breed.

Malayan livebearers breed readily, but they do no harm at all. They will not eat plants but do eat algae and are especially good at cleaning sand and keeping it from going nasty. If you get too many of them, use a snail trap (such as the "LimCollect") to remove some of them, or simply use a net to scrape them off the glass at night.

Cheers,

Neale