Stocking Suggestions For A 125 Gallon

[Ron]

Hey Guys,
I haven't posted in awhile due to school and the such.
I'm going to be getting a 125 gallon aquarium soon. I want it for my favoirte fish in the world, Puffers. Esspecially the green spotted puffer. So obviously it will be a brackish aquarium.

Anyways, I am looking for your input for stocking it. As I said before I want at least 3 GSP's in it, and some bumble bee gobies and mollies.
I'm wondering that since it's such a large tank, maybe I could get some other kinds of puffers, as well as other kinds of brackish fish. Be creative, I'm looking for any ideas! Thanks a lot!
Willie

 

[Fella]

Hey Guys,
I haven't posted in awhile due to school and the such.
I'm going to be getting a 125 gallon aquarium soon. I want it for my favoirte fish in the world, Puffers. Esspecially the green spotted puffer. So obviously it will be a brackish aquarium.

Anyways, I am looking for your input for stocking it. As I said before I want at least 3 GSP's in it, and some bumble bee gobies and mollies.
I'm wondering that since it's such a large tank, maybe I could get some other kinds of puffers, as well as other kinds of brackish fish. Be creative, I'm looking for any ideas! Thanks a lot!
Willie

I don't think I'd favour the luck of GSP's with bumblebee gobies as they grow up!

In a high salinity brackish aquarium of that size I'd keep -

Green Chromides
Shark Catfish
GSP's
Ceylon puffers
Dogface Puffer
Toxotes Jaculatrix Archerfish
Monos
Scats

It has the potential to be great

 

[nmonks]

It's also worth mentioning that if you have your heart set on a green-spotted puffer, then keeping a range of hardy marine fish becomes a definite option. At SG 1.018, most damsels, snappers, groupers, morays, lionfish, and triggers will do very well (it's actually pretty common to keep fish-only marine tanks at the "brackish" salinity of SG 1.018). Hardy marines are no more (or less) sensitive to nitrate and phosphate than green spotted puffers, so water changes and filtration remain the same. You need to watch the salinity a little more carefully, but that's really the only difference.

A very realistic option for a pseduo-brackish marine tank is the common batfish, Platax orbicularis, which naturally inhabits brackish waters as well as the open sea. But it is a huge fish, and I'm not 100% convinced even a 125-gallon tank is adequate. A lovely, friendly animal though. Other marines that inhabit high-end brackish water include stripeys (Micracanthus spp.), many of the snappers (e.g. Lutjanus sebae), some of the sharp-nosed puffers (e.g., Canthigaster compressa), and the coral reef catfish (Plotosus lineatus). I believe some of the lionfish and damsels go into brackish water, too; of the former, I cannot recall the exact species, and of the latter, the brackish water ones are as good as never sold. Some of the more violent damsels (like the black neon damsels) would probably work quite well with pufferfish, once they'd established an armed truce!

Cheers,

Neale

 

[AMS]

With 125 gallons you have quite a bit of room to play with. Since you have your heart set on Green Spotted Puffers you can throw out the idea of low-end brackish fish such as bumblebee gobies. Since you'll have multiple puffers it would be best to avoid vulnerable fish such as Violet Gobies or Toadfish. Stocking with fast moving fish such as Monos would be a good idea with with the puffers and also makes a spectacular display.

For a 125 gallon tank with multiple GSP's fish such as:

• Columbian Sharks
• Scats
• Monos
• Target Fish (just be sure not to house with anything too large)
• Freshwater Moray Eels
• Various Sleeper Gobies
• Various Brackish to Marine Puffers such as Ceylons or Stars and Stripes

would make good tankmates in terms of behavior and water chemistry.