Brackish Water Setups Questions

[MAM]

posted something similar in tropical chit chat, but thought i'd try here too.

want to set up a bw tank for a figure 8 puffer. been to a few sites for some research. looking for more reliable ones. any suggestions would be welcomed.

also, when you all do water changes on your bw tank, what is your process? how do you prepare teh water? and, do you add salt based on the total tank gallons, or on the amount of gallons youre adding back in after a water change??

thanks!

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

hi,
i have a figure-8-puffer and its in a 30 gallon tank slightly brakish (my spelling sucks)with a couple more fish.
it would be better if this tank was a spiecies tank but he seems fine. rite now he is very small only about an inch. Dont keep it with other fish that are community unless they are bigger, i have lost 2 dwarf gourimis because of him and the other one i had. i origonally got 2 but one died, i think it was because the ph dropped in the tank they were origanally in. but do not over feed your puffer, i have heard that they do not get a sense of being full and will eat untill their stomach bursts. mine is in water that has a ph of about 7.2
you shouldnt make ph changes to soon and adjust them slowly to the water. they can also live in freshwater but they do better in brakish. do not let them bite you, it hurts cuz they have little beaks, i have let them when i first got them and it was just enough to pinch me a bit so i know it will hurt when they get bigger. you should feed them a variety of foods. flakes will be accepted, i feed mine flakes and krill. he loves krill! they should also be fed snails or something to grind their beak down so it doesnt over grow and then they cant eat. if the petstore you go to has alot of fish you should ask one of the experts their about them. but some places they dont know anything and just want to sell you stuff. well, if my puffer dies i will post something again to tell you the info i gave you is wrong. i have had my puffer for a couple weeks and i have done alot of research before i got him.to make the water a little salty i just put some aquarium salt in the water. if you are doing a water change just put some conditioner in it. my water is well water so i dont have to worry about that much stuff. DONT ADD SALT THAT YOU USE TO PUT ON FOOD! i think.

 

[Stryker]

Mam,

First off, you need synthetic ocean salt and a hydrometer. "Instant Ocean" salt is a good brand we use here in the UK. Any other salt does not contain the extras that synthetic ocean salt has (also known as marine salt).

I dont keep fig8s but the practice is the same (assuming they are BW fish).

I keep my own tank for my GSPs at a specifig gravity of 1.005 (this is what the hydrometer is used for). That basically means a litre of water is 1000 grams and for every litre of water there is 5 grams of salt.

When doing water changes you need to prepare your new water in a bucket, pref do not do less than 25 litre change else preparing less can have weird effects. You use dechlorinator like with all other tanks. You add your salt as directed by someone who knows these fish. You mix it well. You let it stand 10 mins. then you check its specific gravity and adjust the mix till you have the desired SG. Some people airiate the water too while it stands, I dont as my tap faucet is very vicious and the salt is well stirred while I fill the bucket.

Dont bother doing a SG reading till your water is crystal clear (meaning salt has been fully disolved) and there is no salt left on the bottom.

When your happy just put it in your tank.

BTW, its best your tank is covered in order to minimise evapouration as that just complicates things..... why? because evapourated water leaves the salt behind so you start having to take that into consideration when mixing replacement water.

 

[MAM]

thanks stryker, that makes sense for prepping the salt in the water. and yes, figure 8 are bw fish (why space monkey is keeping his with fw fish, i have no idea.....).

 

[nick.w]

hey space monkey u got sum cool fish, i have a bichir to how does it survive in the brakish set up didnt no they could??