Some Info Required

[Kizz]

Well very soon i'll be movin tanks about and getting a 8/9" Columbian shark to go into my 42G tank ...Now i've never kept brakish and the shark itself has never been kept in brakish water (OH didn't know it was a brakish fish)

So first question ? Do i raise the SG slowly to let it get used to the salinity or just start at 1.005? I've researched info on him like mad and have read he likes good flow and may convert fully to marine So do i need a Powerhead for the flow ? Filteration will either be 2 305's or a FX5 . I've seen the flow from an fx5 so if i get one of those will i still need to get a power head?

Basically the whole tank is getting set up around him . He's 8 years old so really don't want it all to crash and burn and me to fail miserably ! lol

So next questions are about stocking .Obviously due to his size i know i can't keep smaller fish with him but would any of the following be suitable with him
Monodactylus Argenteneus
Monodactylus Sebae
Terapon Jarbua


I know the Mono's Require Sg of 1.010+ . Really don't want to add molly's to tank i want weird and wonderfull lol

And the last lot of questions
Which plants are suitable for Brakish Aquariums?
Can i keep bogwood etc with them ?
Are there any kind of inverts i can keep that he won't eat? or that won't try to eat him !
And prob the most important one ...What the hell do i use to measure the SG ?

When doing water changes i take i just fill bucket with fresh dechol'd water and add salt til i get the same SG as the tank ?

Hopefully someone can come along and answer those for me lol

 

[Kizz]

Bump...Anyone ?

 

[Kizz]

Someone's got to be able to answer the above questions ...Please

 

[WhiskeyTrouble]

Someone's got to be able to answer the above questions ...Please

Tall order of questions so i will do my best to answer them all.
first 49 gallons is not enough for MOST brackish fish. (with the exception of mollies bumblebee gobies and figure 8 puffers) columbian sharks reach up to 20 inches on their own and need lots of swimming room. Tank mates would not be appropriate especially mono argentus or mono sebae which are schooling fish and do best with odd numbers like 5, 7, or 9. They get reallylarge and are active swimmers as well. eventually they need a salinity pretty close to if not full marine. a fuvalx5 would be way too much power for a 49 gal aquarium. i would go with one 405 maximum (70gal filtration) that would be quite a bit of flow in your aquarium and if you really think thats not enough then maybe a small power head. to understand salinity and life cycles of brackish fish you have to understand their breeding behaviors and where they come from. some come from estuarys and stay there some just lay eggs there and make their way back to the sea some are from swamps and some are from farther up the river where just traces of salt are found and it varies with the tides. i recommend this site to understand how it works

[URL="http/badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html"]http/badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html[/URL]

as far as plants are concerned there isnt much. mangroves and java fern and some amazon sword are all i keep and i know that as my salinity increases the plants will eventually give out with the exception of the mangroves. you will be able to keep plants for a while, i would buy them now and stock your tank with what you want (so everything acclimates together) then start ajusting the salinity slowly. once every other water change i would do a small bit. i used a pinpoint digital salinity meter but a hydrometer will do. the plants will be more sensitive to the changes than this fish. you also need to be aware that the biological filtration needs to adjust to this as well slowly. I went through a mini cycle when i started increasing my salinity. i had to deal with an algae bloom you would not believe. i suggest using a little phosguard in a bag to help with this.

as far as wood that is up to you. if you can handle tea colored water all the time go for it. if you like nice clear water then use some fake root and fake woods and attach your plants to some rough rock. rubber band to roots to a wood plug and stick it in a crevace and the roots will eventually attach to the rock. java fern isnt a substrate plant.
you can try to treat your wood by placing it in a barrel of water fully sumberged and put a heater in it and crank it as hot as it will go. change half the water daily and do this for atleast 2 weeks. smaller pieces you can boild for a few hours if you have a pot big enough. you will never remove all the tannis but it helps.

now as far as mixing your water is concerned you want to use a salt like instant ocean NOT aquarium salt (a lot of places tell you that aquarium salt works, dont listen) go buy a POTABLE water garbage can like a grey brut container by rubbermade (available at homedepot) a decent submersable pump is needed to mix the salt. You will want to mix the salt the day before giving it atleast 12 hours to mix. as far as measuring the salt do not rely on things like tablespoon per gal measurments. use this to guesstimate but always measure and adjust before adding the water to the aquarium. the longer the salt mixes the more correct measurment you will get. look up a salinity table to understand specific gravity vs salinity readings and conversions.
please do check out that website. it will give you some compatibility ideas based on regions of the rivers and swamps. i think they are a little bit conservative on their tank size requiremnts but it will give you some ideas.

as soon as you start with the salt you cant replace fish without acclimating them in a seperate tank first. this includes adding more plants. be careful what you choose to do because most things even brackish fish come from the stores in freshwater. remember that you are in "inbetween land" there are very few things you can find and purchase at your local fish store.

i chose brackish because i enjoy the oddballs, the challenge, and the LARGER aquariums. please consider buying atleat a 75 gal aqurium before adding any more fish to your tank. This will save you the trouble of having to move everyone to a larger tank later (HUGE pain in the bum) and your fish will be happier.

i hope this helps. keep doing reasearch. there isnt much out there but there is some. i deffinately read everything on the internet and asked a lot of questions before trying this. im not a fan of trial and error at a fishes expense. i like to have a good idea of what is involved and feel confident in my abilities before i purchase anything or anyone.

hope this helps?

 

[Kizz]

Cheers For that info whiskey ! . The only reason i'm taking the columbian shark is due to my Boyfriends other 93Gal tank cracking and leaking so at present he has SD's Columbian Sharks a few other tropicals and goldfish in his other 93Gal he's upgrading his tank and i'm getting the 93Gal ...My community needs to move into that along with the other tropical's he has and my 42Gal is for the columbian shark ...He is 8 years old and as far as my boyfriend can see he hasn't grown in the past 2 years ! (Hence why i'm taking him )

The 405 sounds like a good idea didn't even think of that ! i currently have a eheim 2226 on the 42G but that will be moving over to the 93G and cloning another filter on that tank while giving media to the new filter on the 42G !

When the columbian shark comes down he will be the only fish in the tank for a few weeks to let filter catch up with bacteria etc .The Columbian Shark has never been kept in brackish water so i will slowly increase salinty over a few weeks with water changes.Other half was adding run of the mill aquarium salt thinking it was doing the same thing til i told him ! He can be a bit clueless sometimes.

By a submersible pump do you mean an airpump ? Got a few of those laying around and my grandad has big 20G Tub's he used when takin water from his pond so i'll steal those from him lol

I've been thinking about brackish for ages as i'm looking to go marine but feel that with keeping brackish it will give me the some experience towards going marine. Plus i like a challenge I love the planning stage and organising everything lol

I think i will prob end up keeping wood and stones as the scape ...Would any form of moss survive ? lol May try java fern see if that survives too ! lol I love the tannins from the wood gives the tank a real natural feel about it ...I boil the bits of wood over night when i added them to my community and only had 2 days of tannins added filter floss and it was gone i do miss it tho lol

I will read the link you gave Thank you so much for answering

 

[Kizz]

Is there anything i can keep with the Columbian Shark ? He's never been kept with any other sharks and is still very active

 

[WhiskeyTrouble]

Is there anything i can keep with the Columbian Shark ? He's never been kept with any other sharks and is still very active

if you honestly plan on upgrading to the columbia sharks eventual requirements then yeah. grab some juvenile monos. like i said though im hestitant to say to add anything at all before you get a larger tank. They arent expensive. I just bought a brand new 135gal (no lights or anything) for less than 300 bucks.
im a huge fan of keeping schooling fish in schools. you might wat to think about purchasing a few more columbian sharks before anything. if yours hasnt grown in a while the new ones would probably catch up fast.

and what i meant by pump is like a fountain pump not air pump but a decent sized pump. the bigger the better for mixing. just make sure you buy the right sized hose so you can fill your tank easily straight from the mixing bucket.