Want To Start A Brackish Tank

[stevo_gti]

hello,can anyone tell me if a 60L tank is ok to use as a brackish tank for green spotted puffer and maybe 2 or 3 bumble bee goby?

 

[nmonks]

60 litres is not nearly enough space for either of the two green spotted puffer species in the trade (Tetraodon nigroviridis and Tetraodon fluviatilis). You really want three times that amount of space. These puffers get quite big (around 15 cm in length, but chunky) and are very sensitive to water quality problems.

Fine for bumblebee gobies, though!

Cheers, Neale

hello,can anyone tell me if a 60L tank is ok to use as a brackish tank for green spotted puffer and maybe 2 or 3 bumble bee goby?

 

[stevo_gti]

60 litres is not nearly enough space for either of the two green spotted puffer species in the trade (Tetraodon nigroviridis and Tetraodon fluviatilis). You really want three times that amount of space. These puffers get quite big (around 15 cm in length, but chunky) and are very sensitive to water quality problems.

Fine for bumblebee gobies, though!

Cheers, Neale

hello,can anyone tell me if a 60L tank is ok to use as a brackish tank for green spotted puffer and maybe 2 or 3 bumble bee goby?

cheers neale, i read somewhere on the internet that GSP like a territory of atleast 40L so thought the 60L would be fine for just 1 but i guess not,how about a figure 8 puffer i know they dont grow as big as the GSP

are there any small bottom feeder that are brackish? i will be using sand as a substrate

 

[iliveinazoo]

A figure 8 will be fine in a 60 litre. Do you mean a bottom feeder or a bottom dweller because a figure 8 will eat from the top, middle or bottom - if there's food they'll be there!

Knight Gobies and Bumblebee gobies are bottom dwellers and should do well in your tank, I would recommend 5 or so bumblebees but only one knight because they grow fairly large in comparison.

Waspfish are also bottom dwellers but its a nightmare to get them to eat anything other than live foods.

Other bottom dwellers like shrimps and snails won't survive long with a puffer around and as far as i understand it brackish water catfish need to be kept in groups and will get far too big for your tank.

I wouldn't trust a figure 8 with a flatfish either?

 

[nmonks]

That's mostly pretty good advice iliveinazoo has offered. Personally, I'd always recommend keeping figure-8 puffers in their own tank. Three specimens should get along fine, though your tank would be a bit small for them in all honesty. But that aside, in odd numbered groups these puffers tend to be fine. Because they naturally feed at all levels, you don't need "scavengers" -- puffers do this all by themselves! At best, add a few Malayan livebearing snails to clean the sand; the puffers will eat the occasional small baby snail as a treat.

Gobies aren't scavengers by any means. They're in fact very finicky and hard enough to satisfy with frozen foods, let alone leftovers!

Waspfish are fun, and while they won't eat dried or flake food, they can be weaned onto frozen foods with a bit of patience. They are lovely fish and very good fun. Don't mix them with anything else though: they are predatory, and will eat things like gobies given the chance. With bigger fish, you'll have trouble getting them to eat. At best, you'd keep them with species that stayed at the surface, such as halfbeaks or maybe glassfish.

Cheers, Neale

 

[iliveinazoo]

Ah, yes, cheers nmonks I forgot to add the warning that should come with most, if not all puffers.

That said "they" say that figure 8's are one of the less aggressive species, mine have lived with bumblebees for almost a year now without a problem however it's always in my mind that a harmonious tank today may not be tomorrow and I regularly check that they are all there, i also have peace of mind that i can move them to another one of my tanks if i spot aggression.

 

[jennybugs]

I was advised not to have knight gobies with bumblebees as the latter are small enough to be seen as food for the former.

I've got 2 F8s in a 140L overfiltered tank with 10 BBGs and wouldn't want to put them in anything smaller personally. They're messy little blighters the F8s but they also like the space to swim about alot. They love to swim along the metre long tank

I'd stick with no more than one in a 60L tank and make sure your filtration is alot more than you would technically need for a normally stocked 60L tank.

I also advise getting Neale's book about brackish water fish! A very informative read!

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

Gobies aren't scavengers by any means. They're in fact very finicky and hard enough to satisfy with frozen foods, let alone leftovers!

Cheers, Neale

I beg to differ, your garden variety gobies a re voracious feeders. Bumbblee and Violet Gobies are a challenge to feed but most other species will eat anything that fits in their mouths.

I also have no idea how people can keep bbgs with knight gobies. Personally, I have never tried it because my knight gobies used to swallow tankmates bigger than the diameter of a pencil. They were so voracious that they would suck on fishes heads untill they were ready to digest they rest of the body.

 

[iliveinazoo]

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They were so voracious that they would suck on fishes heads untill they were ready to digest they rest of the body.
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That's a beautiful story!!

I didn't mean that you should keep knights with bumblebees - i meant one or the other - but looking back i suppose you could read it that way.

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

Sorry, did not mean to jump on you! I just want more people to be aware of just how insatiable these fishes appetites can be.