Hi Nmonks

[kanzaris]

Hi Neale
Hi Neale

Thanks for the advise. I noticed that the columbian shark is rather shy and I wondered that such a big fish is acting like this. So now I know why. We had two at the starting but thought that the tank was to small. The
other fish don't pick on him.Funny enough the knight gobys (I have 4) are the most peacefull fish in the tank.
The so called funky gobys ( thats what the shop said they are) are fighting, well the bigger one is chasing the smaller one. They are hard to describe sort of yellow with brownish stripes across the body more long only the face lookes like a goby and they dig right into the gravel. By the way my tank is 4ft 180 ltr and i am starting to think its to small for brackish as they are so territorial. We are planning to get a bigger tank about 300 ltr. At the moment the fish seem to be happy. My two Orange Chromides are trying to breed.
Two more questions !!!!!!!! PLEASE !!!!!!!!!
I also got a green spotted puffer I had him for about three month now .When I first got him he was a greedy little thing. He still eats put at feeding time he is more interested in going up and down in the bubble wall he spends most of his time there. Could it be that he is intimidated by the other fish specially the gobys at feeding time as they are a bit agrassive and he looks as so he cant be bothered with all the hassle.
Last thing I also got a (Shop called it a croaking toad fish) any tips on him ? He is feeding ok on prawns and mussles. I know you have to be carefull when handling because of the poison. Please excuse my ignorance regarding brackish fish, I am in to chiclids and when I was given this 4ft tank someone talked me into starting up a brackish tank. Your advise is greatfully received.
Thanks a lot
Sabby

 

[nmonks]

Hello sabby,

Happy to help. There are lots of people with more experience on some of these fish than me, so I hope others will read this thread! I know nothing first hand about green spotted puffers. Never kept them.

Colombian sharks are surprisingly shy, and of all the fish you're keeping they're probably the least aggressive. Put aside their size and deadly-predator-ness, and they're pussy cats!

I still have no idea what the funky gobies are. There are several gobies that dig into the sand, so I wonder if they are Awaous flavus? I have some pictures of mine at the link below. If that's what they are, they're freshwater gobies but will be fine in slightly brackish (SG 1.005). But I wouldn't keep them in anything much saltier (i.e. SG 1.010).

http/homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/Res...es/awaousc.jpeg

Your tank is a good size, perhaps not ideal for your combination of fish because of the numbers of specimens per species, but in theory at least you could keep quite a fair number of fish. A 300 litre tank would be better of course. Personally, I think 180 litres is a good size for a large number of small to medium sized fish (e.g. orange chromides, knight gobies, mollies, glassfish, etc.) whereas the 300 litre tank is a better bet for big fish (scats, monos, etc.).

The problem with brackish water is that like cichlids and catfish, many of the popular species are rather large. There are some small brackish water fish, particularly among the gobies, but they are less well known.

Puffers get bored in small / home aquaria. In the wild these fish constantly explore complex structures like mangrove roots and oyster beds. You need to create a similar thing in the aquarium. Plastic plants, bogwood, rocks, oyster shells, etc can all be pressed into service.

Funnily enough, I have an article on toadfish in this month's Practical Fishkeeping Magazine. The fish you have is, I guess, Allenbatrachus grunniens. Ideally, it needs fairly salty water, SG 1.010, so mixes fine with Colombian sharks, scats, monos, etc. I'm not convinced knight gobies and orange chromides will last long once he grows up (they reach 30 cm). Since you have him feeding, then your main problem is solved. Otherwise, these are not especially difficult fish. They aren't particularly aggressive or territorial, and simply want to be left alone. They like a bit of soft sand to dig into.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[pufferpoison]

about your GSP goes - he is bored, just like Nmonks stated, i have one in a 29 gallon tank and have a fake mangrove root (fairly large) and 2 caves and he still gets bored and swims up and down the glass. Make sure you are feeding him snails to keep his beak filed down, if not it will grow too long and he won't be able to eat and starve to death. Any snails will work except the Malasian trumpet snails. Most LFS will just give you some snails since most are a pain for them anyway. a few things about these fish is never take them out of water in a net, they could puff up while in air and ingest that air and a lot of times would have a hard time "unpuffing" because of the air which could be fatal. They will eat a variety of things such as :crab legs, mussels, crayfish, shrimp, Krill, and of course, snails. make sure they are getting plenty of variety, mine is picky and mostly eats freeze dried shrimp so i will soak it in Vitachem (vitamins for fishys). most that i have ran across won't touch anything prepared like flakes or frozen but some ppl have had luck with frozen, just not me. a good substrate for them is Crushed Coral, since it acts as a buffer and keeps your PH up, puffers like a PH around 8 but i've got mine to 8.2 (we have 7.8 out of the tap here) it also isn't a bad idea to "switch up" the things in the tank once in a while to help him with this boredom, just move things around and he thinks that he's in a different place. good luck with him. also the most important thing with GSP's are that they are intolorent of bad water. Things like ammonia and nitrite that even in low dosases that most fish it might stress out, it will kill them, they need perfect water and are very messy eaters so please for the sake of the fish, do the equivant of 50% water change per WEEK. i do a fifty at least twice a week sometimes 3 times, but i am a clean water fanatic, but so is your puffer.