New To Brackish.

[Jake Jackson]

Okay, so I left my first post over in the newbie area, and here I am. I'll probably be here in this Brackish area quite a bit, and alot of questions, hope you regulars will pick on me to much.

On to the post...

I have a rather small setup, it has small fish. I know I need to get a bigger setup, and I'm working on it, but the female counterpart finds other "more constructive" ways to spend the extra cash... well thats not the point.

I have a 10 gallon tank now, gave the Mrs. the 20 gallon. So I have a spotted green puffer, 3 tiger barbs, 3 black skirt tetras, a hifin spotted pleco(atleast thats what Petsmart told me, can't find anything anywhere on them) 1 shark catfish, 1 dragon goby, and 1 black ghost knifefish. I suppose its alot now that I actually type it all. I've been trying to put together a nice ensemble of fish to accompany a few African Cichlids (no, not anytime soon. I dont even have the cichlids yet, what are you thinking?)

But these are my questions... Would these fish be able to hold their own if I were to put them with some Africans? They all seem to be doing fine, catfish might be depressed (on my way to catfish forum after this) So are they all kinda sorta brackish fish? and finally, maybe the most important of them all! How exactly do I make sure I'm getting a brackish setup? Petsmart lady told me to buy this little milk carton of freshwater salt and put some into the water and BAM! Its now brackish. Was she right?

And if it wasn't... sadly I brought the milk carton, threw a few spoonfuls in my little tank, and then bragged to the Mrs. I had a brackish tank.... I feel so bad the more I think of it. lol

 

[Jake Jackson]

Alright, so I read the posts pinned at the top, and figured I'd leave my post here about the shark catfish.

Seems like once again I wasn't informed properly by the people at Petsmart. Because I have him alone. Now the first few weeks he would chase his reflection in the glass, obviously because of his schooling nature. But now, after adding the black skirt tetras he just lays on the bottom of the tank in the same spot daily. Feeding time comes and he is as active as ever, but after a few reflection chases he's back to lying in the corner. All the other fish are during fine.

Any thoughts? I figured he was depressed, cause this be because there are no other catfish? And if so, would a pictus catfish be a good addition for him?

 

[stang1]

Pictus catfish aren't Brackish fish and need to be in groups of three or more. A 10G tank is far too small as they are very active and need a lot of swimming space.
Most of the fish you listed don't appear to be Brackish but someone else may help you there.
Sadly, your tank is overstocked. The Black Ghost Knifefish will get quite large and will need a lot bigger tank as will the Pleco. Your shark catfish will also get to about 14" so will also need a bigger tank. They really have given you bad advice.
To keep all of these fish I should imagine that you will need at least a 75+gallon tank so if you can I would take some of them back.
As for setting up a brackish tank, hopefully someone with the right experience can help you out.

 

[ac106]

I have a 10 gallon tank now, gave the Mrs. the 20 gallon. So I have a spotted green puffer, 3 tiger barbs, 3 black skirt tetras, a hifin spotted pleco(atleast thats what Petsmart told me, can't find anything anywhere on them) 1 shark catfish, 1 dragon goby, and 1 black ghost knifefish. I suppose its alot now that I actually type it all. I've been trying to put together a nice ensemble of fish to accompany a few African Cichlids (no, not anytime soon. I dont even have the cichlids yet, what are you thinking?)

But these are my questions... Would these fish be able to hold their own if I were to put them with some Africans? They all seem to be doing fine, catfish might be depressed (on my way to catfish forum after this) So are they all kinda sorta brackish fish? and finally, maybe the most important of them all! How exactly do I make sure I'm getting a brackish setup? Petsmart lady told me to buy this little milk carton of freshwater salt and put some into the water and BAM! Its now brackish. Was she right?

And if it wasn't... sadly I brought the milk carton, threw a few spoonfuls in my little tank, and then bragged to the Mrs. I had a brackish tank.... I feel so bad the more I think of it. lol

short answer is no

in a ten gallon, you should limit yourself to the tiger barbs and the tetra. thats it.

aside from that, the dragon goby and GSP need moderate to high end brackish, which your other fish cannot tolerate.

The Africans will need hard alkaline water which is bad for the plec, ghost knife, and tetra.

You need marine salt (of any brand) not aquarium salt and a hydrometer to measure the salinity. the cheap instant ocean hydrometer for less then $10 at petsmart will be fine.

so really, your tank is a mess

Option 1: Keep the ten gallon freshwater with just the barbs and tetra. Rehome the rest of your fish

Option 2: Buy a 30G-55G tank, add real marine salt to the appropriate specific gravity , cycle it and then add the GSP and Dragon goby. rehome the rest

Option 3: same as #2 but get a 90G+ tank and add a shoal of shark catfish since they hate being alone. rehome the rest

Option 4: rehome all fish except the ghost knife. post in the oddball section about their care since its not a fish for the novice

Option 5: Rehome all your fish and set up an african cichild tank since it sounds like thats what you really want.

....your tanks are cycled right?

 

[DarkEntity]

Please dear god tell me you havent got all those in a 10 Gall?

Your tank is a mess, you really need to rehouse all of the fish except the black skirt tetras. You currently have a ridiculous combination of predators and shoaling fish. Green Spot Puffers are Brackish water to full marine saltwater at adulthood, 8" fully grown will destroy every other fish in that tank if they live that long, 30 Gall tank for him alone. Ghost Knife are predators also and grow larger than your tank is.

infact you should just take everything back to the shop and then do some research on small tetras and rasboras.

Tbh your tank isnt big enough for African Cichlids either really.

 

[Jake Jackson]

Okay....

So now that we have clearly restated what I stated to begin with, it is very clear I need a bigger tank. Thanks.

Sarcasm aside, thank you all very much as I have truly been duped because I was told the puffer would only be 4-6 inches, and the Fig. 8 was the puffer that reached 8in. Also, I was told the shark catfish would do perfectly fine on its own. So that he will get rehomed until I can get him somwhere else. The tetras and barbs dont really care about, only added them to add a little more excitement in the tank, so they will get a new home as well.

That leaves the goby, the knife fish, and the plec. And yes, I still remember I need to get a bigger tank. Thanks.

So would these selections be able to coexist? From what I've read, goby and knife will only try to eat others if they are underfed, or smaller than the fish's mouth. Is that tru? Will they just kill to kill?

 

[ac106]

Okay....

So now that we have clearly restated what I stated to begin with, it is very clear I need a bigger tank. Thanks.

Sarcasm aside, thank you all very much as I have truly been duped because I was told the puffer would only be 4-6 inches, and the Fig. 8 was the puffer that reached 8in. Also, I was told the shark catfish would do perfectly fine on its own. So that he will get rehomed until I can get him somwhere else. The tetras and barbs dont really care about, only added them to add a little more excitement in the tank, so they will get a new home as well.

That leaves the goby, the knife fish, and the plec. And yes, I still remember I need to get a bigger tank. Thanks.

So would these selections be able to coexist? From what I've read, goby and knife will only try to eat others if they are underfed, or smaller than the fish's mouth. Is that tru? Will they just kill to kill?

no dude and it doesnt really have anything to do if they will eat each other

the dragon goby is a hard/alkaline/brackish water fish. the plec and knife are soft/acid/pure freshwater fish.

 

[Jake Jackson]

Thanks.

I really do appreciate it.

I'm going to try and head over to the other forums so that i can ask a few questions regarding the knife, cichlids, and others.

But please one more question.

My woman brough home a dwarf puffer. I have him in a new 10 gal tank, cause I like reptiles, so I got a few tanks... Just nothing really big enough to support water, and yeah anyway...

Can I house the spotted puffer w/ the dwarf puffer until I can get a suitable space setup for him, or a suitable home?

 

[Puffdaddy]

That is a bad Idea. The GSP will eat the dwarf. Then the GSP may die frow the toxin

 

[Jake Jackson]

Just covering tracks here, with a little update.

I've now removed all of the fish, and returned to a local pet store for store credit. With some of that credit I picked up some sand, and rock along w/ a pair of 2 inch pictus catfish in the 10gal. I also have plans to move the pictus over to a 55 gal in a week or two. And add a few african cichlids, a few months later. After the pictus get some size and I'm sure they are healthy.

Once again, thanks to everyone, and if I ever stepped on any toes, truly I am sorry, and I do take all posts into consideration. Imagine the look on the petsmart guys face when I told him that brackish was more than just a few spoonfuls of freshwater salt.

Yeah, I was at Petsmart buying a few books on african cichlids. So, I'll more than likely be over in that forum for a while to come...

Once again, thanks everyone.

 

[nmonks]

Why do you want to keep Pimelodus pictus with African cichlids? P. pictus wants soft to moderately hard, slightly acidic to neutral water. African cichlids -- by which I assume you mean mbuna and Tanganyikan cichlids -- want very hard, moderately alkaline water. P. pictus in general does not do well in hard, alkaline water in the long term. To keep African cichlids you need to add coral sand or similar to the system to raise the hardness and buffer the pH. So one set of fish will be happy but not both.

Far better to choose some nice South American cichlids that will relish the same conditions as the P. pictus; I'd suggest green or blue acara, festivum cichlids, or even angelfish. If your selection of cichlids is limited, riverine Africans such as kribs or dwarf mouthbrooders would be suitable, too. P. pictus also works well with medium to large size soft water tetras, such as congo tetras, silver dollars, black widows, silver hatchetfish, etc. Obviously corydoras and plecs would work well, too.

In terms of pufferfish, a trio of South American pufferfish would *probably* work well with P. pictus. On the other hand P. pictus will simply eat dwarf puffers. I keep SAPs with certain catfish, and P. pictus has the speed to avoid being nipped too often.

Cheers, Neale

I've now removed all of the fish, and returned to a local pet store for store credit. With some of that credit I picked up some sand, and rock along w/ a pair of 2 inch pictus catfish in the 10gal. I also have plans to move the pictus over to a 55 gal in a week or two. And add a few african cichlids, a few months later. After the pictus get some size and I'm sure they are healthy.