Newbie, Compatabiltiy Question.

[The Dude]

I started a FW about a year ago. 150g. I have the following fish...
1 Gold Gourami
1 Red Flame Dwarf Gourami
Fred (Pleco)
2 Tinfoil Barbs
3 Columbian Sharks
3 Bala Sharks
3 Rosy Barbs 2m/1f
3 Tiger Barbs, Standard/Albino/Green
2 Black Mollies
2 Silver Mollies (Sailfin)
2 Orange Mollies (Lyertail)
3 Dalmatian Mollies
2 Sunburst Platys
2 Marigold Platys
3 Full moon Gold Platys
2 Red Wag Platys
2 Bruised Platys
2 Mystery Snails
1 Red Clawed Crab (likes to eat my plants)

I bought the shark cats about a month after set and they have been doing well. They have grown from a skinny 2 inches to fat 6 inches. I do add some aquarium salt but I have switched to very small amounts of IO salt instead. (I ran out of the aquarium salt) Come to find out this is better anyways.
So I was thinking about getting into a BW set up. I know I have to ditch a lot of my live stock but with a 150g I will have a lot of room for more fish. I will keep the mollies and the Columbians but my question is, "Has anyone every housed any of these other fish in a BW set up? I don't know what my SG is right now. But all my fish are thriving. Even with the salt added. I thought it might be cool to get a F8 or a GSP but I'm not totally sure about compatibility. I like my sharks and mollies but I want some other fish too.

150g
2 Penguin 350 Bio wheels.
1 Fluval 305
Huge air pump with wands and stones through out.

 

[nmonks]

The only brackish or even salt-tolerant fish on your list are shark catfish (obviously), the mollies, and the crab (assuming it's Perisesarma bidens). Salty water at a salinity favourable to your shark catfish in the long term will quickly kill all the other fish. And no, a GSP isn't an option here. Adult GSPs need -- minimum -- around 50% normal seawater salinity to thrive. The crabs would simply be food, obviously. The mollies would likely be harassed by the pufferfish. Shark cats are generally ignored by puffers, but they are quite sensitive fish and easily bullied. I'd not mix then. As for figure-8s, sometimes they work fine in communities, sometimes not so much. It's always worth having a Plan B when adding these puffers to your community tank. In a big tank, I personally recommend things like Arothron hispidus as a more reliable community resident.

Cheers, Neale

 

[poopsydrew]

The only brackish or even salt-tolerant fish on your list are shark catfish (obviously), the mollies, and the crab (assuming it's Perisesarma bidens). Salty water at a salinity favourable to your shark catfish in the long term will quickly kill all the other fish. And no, a GSP isn't an option here. Adult GSPs need -- minimum -- around 50% normal seawater salinity to thrive. The crabs would simply be food, obviously. The mollies would likely be harassed by the pufferfish. Shark cats are generally ignored by puffers, but they are quite sensitive fish and easily bullied. I'd not mix then. As for figure-8s, sometimes they work fine in communities, sometimes not so much. It's always worth having a Plan B when adding these puffers to your community tank. In a big tank, I personally recommend things like Arothron hispidus as a more reliable community resident.

Cheers, Neale

Hi Neale,

What about the platies being salt tolerant, I was under the impression they were as well. Educate me please

Drew

 

[nmonks]

Hello Drew,

Platies are salt-tolerant, certainly up to SG 1.003 without any fuss, and if adapted carefully to around 1.005 depending on the hardiness of the strain being kept. (In my personal if limited experience, some strains of platy, like sunset platies, seem to be a bit less hardy than others.) But platies aren't "brackish water fish" in the wild, and though feral populations of Xiphophorus spp. have become established in some (slightly) brackish waters, I don't think platies can tolerate middling to high salinity levels of the sort shark catfish would want. Mollies are much better for that.

Cheers, Neale

What about the platies being salt tolerant, I was under the impression they were as well. Educate me please

 

[poopsydrew]

Hello Drew,

Platies are salt-tolerant, certainly up to SG 1.003 without any fuss, and if adapted carefully to around 1.005 depending on the hardiness of the strain being kept. (In my personal if limited experience, some strains of platy, like sunset platies, seem to be a bit less hardy than others.) But platies aren't "brackish water fish" in the wild, and though feral populations of Xiphophorus spp. have become established in some (slightly) brackish waters, I don't think platies can tolerate middling to high salinity levels of the sort shark catfish would want. Mollies are much better for that.

Cheers, Neale

What about the platies being salt tolerant, I was under the impression they were as well. Educate me please

Neale,

Thanks. I understand now. It is something I had to force myself understand that "brackish" fish can really range from full salinity to complete freshwater and everywhere in between.

So for the most part, would it be fair to say most platies naturally occur in freshwater?

Drew

BTW, Enjoyed your recent "Search for the Peaceful Puffer" article in TFH, always a good read.

 

[nmonks]

Drew,

Glad you enjoyed the TFH article, and thanks for saying so. It means a lot to get feedback.

In the wild, at least in their natural habitat, platies are 100% freshwater fish. By the time the rivers reach the sea and become brackish, the platies and swordtails (Xiphophorus spp.) get replaced by guppies and mollies (Poecilia spp.). More or less. I simplify a little, as there are obviously lots of other fish there as well. But basically that's the pattern, with mollies being the Head Honchos in lowland, coastal areas of Central America, hence their taste for slightly salty water, even in aquaria.

What we mean by "brackish" varies. Brackish water environments are a spectrum running from only slightly saline habitats where it's 10% normal seawater salinity through to water almost as saline as the sea. So what you define as a brackish water fish depends really on the salinity of your tank.

If you're keeping glassfish and bumblebee gobies at SG 1.002, you could also keep kribensis and x-ray tetras, both of which tolerate this low level of salt in the wild as well as in captivity. But SG 1.010 would quickly kill both kribs and tetras. But if you're using brackish water fish from the marine end of the range, like dog-face puffers or blue-legged hermit crabs, then SG 1.010 would be the minimum.

So it's complicated. I prefer to talk about low-end brackish (SG 1.002-1.005), middling brackish (1.008-1.010), and high-end brackish (SG 1.010-1.015) when looking at what fish want in a brackish water tank.

Cheers, Neale