Beginner to Brackish Fish

[jive_bunny]

Hi Guys,

I've been keeping general tropical fish, Cichlids and Discus for around 12 years now and thought about trying Brackish Fish before the big jump to marine. I was hoping that you guys might be able to help me regarding the basics to setting up a brackish tank. There is a tiny bit of info in the "Pinned" section but bit vague.

If its not too much trouble would you please be able to advise what is needed in terms of minimum tank size, equipment, substrate, plants and a ballpark figure on how much it would cost to set-up a small brackish aquarium.

Thanks in advance,

Add

 

[smooth_bourbon]

What kind of brackish fish are you looking at Keep in mind if you go brackish you are VERY limited on what you can put in the tank for instance plants, and algea eaters and pretty impossible to find at least around here.

 

[smooth_bourbon]

oh oh dont fall for any lfs emloyees who tell you fo rbrackish the salt you use doesnt matter. Buy a good Marine salt makes all the difference in the world.

 

[nmonks]

Hi there -

Brackish can cover virtually any size and budget. Bumblebee gobies, glassfish, etc., will all do fine in 10-20 gallon tanks, depending on the species. Likewise some of the brackish livebearers and killis, though apart from mollies and Florida flags these are often hard to find.

Giant tanks are what you need for things like archers, scats, monos, and shark catfish. Ditto garpike, morays, Siamese tigers.

In between you have stuff like sleeper gobies, brackish banjo cats (NOT the common banjo cat) and far more cichlids than most people realise (e.g., black-throated tilapia are brackish in the wild, not freshwater).

So basically you can choose your poison. You can even do a non-brackish brackish. Right now I'm doing a bunch of puffers, halfbeaks, glassfish, and gobies in a tank that looks like brackish at first glance but really isn't. (It can't be truly brackish because of my Panaque nigrolineatus.)

Personally I don't see much point to "practising" on brackish before marines. You could try getting a brackish-tolerant marine if you wanted, like a dog-faced puffer, but my experience is that once people go fully to brackish they want angels and tangs, not a bunch of scats. Keeping a fish-only marine tank isn't all that hard if you've kept, e.g., Discus.

A couple of resources worth checking out are the Brackish FAQ and the Brackish mailing list. The Brackish FAQ for example has sections on small fish, plants, suitable invertebrates, and a dozens of potential species.

http/homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/brackfaqpart1.html

http/php.indiana.edu/~pdmckinn/Brackish/brackish.html

Cheers,

Neale