I'm Jumping In!

[Stish]

Hello everyone,
 
So I have decided to take the plunge and start my first brackish aquarium.  I have been doing a lot of research on starting one up and think that it is definitely something I would like to do.  I have had freshwater, reef and marine fish only tanks in the past.  I am now finally settled into a place that I will be staying for the foreseeable future and can't wait to get my aquarium back up and running.  All that being said I have a few questions.
 
First off I am planning on doing an archer fish tank.  These guys have intrigued me for years and I can't wait to own some.  My LFS keeps their archer fish in a freshwater aquarium /  would it be best for me let my aquarium cycle as a freshwater set up add the archers and then gradually add salt over say a period of a couple weeks until they are up to the SG I want? Or would I be better off finding a place online that sells them from a brackish set up?  
 
I ultimately would like the aquarium to be a planted aquarium.  Would I be able to do the same acclimation method I mentioned above for plants?
 
What are some good tank mates for archers?
 
Any other archer fish owners out there feel free to give me some pointers as well. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 

 

[DrRob]

Not quite managed to set up anything brackish yet, but have read a lot.

The most useful resource I've seen has been Neale Monk's site. With his links on planting here and Archers here.

 

[maurizio]

Hello Stish,
and welcome to TFF!
 
I went more or less through many of your questions, since I have pretty much the same tank.
 
First, it depends a lot on the species of archer you'll find. Read Neale Monks' list of Toxotes. Second, these fish are very well used and equipped to stand variations in salinity, so don't worry much about it, as long as changes are slow. I bet it's way easier to find them sold in freshwater, so I'd second that.
 
I personally went for T. Microlepis, they're smaller, and accept very low-end brackish. You can read of my tank in my (b)log below. What I did was to cycle the tank as freshwater, which allowed me to introduce the plants very soon. Then, once the cycle was done, I started increasing the salinity very slowly, not to upset the plants. In my case, I was aiming at barely SG 1.002 @ 25 C, which is hardly brackish at all!! Once reached that value, I introduced the fishes. The other companions were Parambassis Ranga, who didn't make it, though, because they never grew enough to survive the archers' attentions. I also had big problems with the plants (tried quite many of them), but that's because I wanted a low-tech tank (only sand, no ferts, poor things...).
 
At the moment I only have mangroves and a few Cryptocoryne (but the water is full fresh now).
 
Let me know if I can help more. A lot of my personal experience is written below.
 
Cheers
Maurizio

 

[Stish]

Great I will take a look at your blog as well as Neale's site.
 
Speaking of mangroves I have always liked the look of an underwater mangrove root system.  How long does it take to grow a decent system, with proper fertilization and lighting?
 
Or do you know of a place online that I could just purchase roots?  Either real or fake.  Of course then I would lose the benefits of having live plants as filtration.

 

[maurizio]

Hi there,
mangroves are S S S S L O W. In my case, with no ferts and 2 standard T5 39 W lamps, after about 1 year most of them were around 30 cm high, most of it consisting of the seedling's body rather than roots (with one exception, >50 cm plant, with 30 cm of ONE single root shoot: she had just started branching when whatever happened in the tank killed most of them).
 
They seem to be able to do only one thing at a time, either shooting roots (typically only ONE branch will succeed), or emitting leaves. Of course the only way to see the roots is to have them grow suspended in the water: if you plant them, only the absorbing/anchoring component of the root system will likely grow, and you're not interested in that (it's also the one that may eventually break your tank, if you're not careful!). I bet with better substrate you'll get better results, but the ideal substrate (anaerobic mud) is clearly not recommended for an aquarium. And it will take years.
 
Good reading here. See also the link to my collection of pictures of mangrove environments, and in my blog a list of very good books.
 
Dunno much about USA, but I do remember stumbling on some US wesites selling seedlings, likely from FL. It's definitely easier to find them there than in Europe (this site is a very good one: lots of info, and a shop). Fake: see this thread, where I mention links to my fake roots, and some better-looking, painfully expensive ones.
 
Hope it helps!
 
Maurizio

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Hi welcome aboard and welcome to the estuary!

 

[Stish]

Ok even though mangroves are a slow, slow grower I think I might give that a try. 
 
What are your thoughts on using Sagittaria subulata in the sand for a more serene effect?  I have heard that these typically do well in brackish water.  I will be using 2 48" 54w t5 @ 6500k for lighting.
 
Another question I had is this:  I have a powerhead in my tank right now (290gph) that is attached to a sponge filter in addition to my HOB filter(it doesn't seem to be running well with the lower water level).  It is creating quite a current, will archers tolerate this or should I just get a smaller one or use an air hose on the sponge instead.  I could downgrade to and 80 to 100 gph head in addition to my HOB filter this should provide enough hourly turnover.

 

[maurizio]

I haven't tried Sagittaria myself, but it sounds like a good option. Which SG are you aiming at? Remember that above ~1.005 @ 25 C even hardy plants will start having trouble.
 
I tried Ceratophyllum demersum, Java moss, Vallisneria Americana var. Asiatica. None of them succeeded. Now, with freshwater, the remaining Crypts seem to be more or less OK.
 
I can't help you with your last question: from what I see, as adults the archers are good, strong swimmers. But it really depends on the specific current, I guess: you can only say when you see it. Remember they usually inhabit quite calm waters... Also, for better visibility above the surface (are you planning insect-shooting sessions?), you should minimize surface ripples.

 

[Mads]

Hi Stish 
 
I've got two archers in my Brackish tank with strong current. They do fine in current, and they are even able to stay on the same spot to spit after food, often with success
 
Regards

 

[Stish]

Awesome!  I have decided that I am going to still use the powerhead but I am going to pipe it out of the tank and then through a sprayer, I have always likes that effect.  I am aiming for right around 1.002 to 1.005. atleast to start with since the fish I will be buying are going to be FW.  I may go closer to the 1.015 mark, so if that means I can't find any plants then so be it i guess.

 

[iliveinazoo]

T. Microplepsis would be fine at the lower SG's and S. Subulata will also do good (mine grows fine at SG1.003@25DegC) together with Aponogeton Crispus, Crypt Wendtii and Bacopa Monnieri.  Java Moss does fine until the temperature rises towards 30 degrees for periods in the summer.
 
I'm sure that SG1.015 is above the higher end of the tolerance levels of even the true Brackish Archers such as T. Chateurus and T. Jaculatrix with a max. of SG1.010 being more acceptable.
 
My experience of Archers (both T. Microlepsis and T. Jaculatrix) were that when kept in 2's the dominant one was too overbearing and the sub-ordinate would have been stressed to death in no time.  Adding another 2 to make 4 helped and spread the aggression around a bit but I really felt that I needed either more fish - possibly 8 - or reduce down to one.  Unfortunately I never got to try either route because they were only kept in a 120l tank and I felt that they needed a lot more volume, I had plans for future upgrading but I knew in heart of hearts that the plans were a long way down the line and may not have happened at all so I had to let them all go.
 
As for tankmates Scats would work at SG1.008+ but they grow large and need to be kept in numbers.  Maybe Knight Gobies or one of the Chromide species could be fun.
 
Apologies I haven't checked the spelling of any Latin name but hopefully they're not too far off.

 

[maurizio]

How about Monos?

 

[Stish]

 It's great to here the success of the plants at lower SG's.  Do any of you gut load your insects prior to feeding them to the fish?  If so, what do you use?

 

[maurizio]

I got a pack of some vegetable sticks for the crickets, the first time I bought them, but they never really seemed interested, so I simply fed them some fresh veggies.
 
But I never kept them for long, I usually buy small amounts of them, feed them to the fish within the next few days, and that's it. It's now quite some time I don't buy crickets, since with the changed layout there's no place where they can stand, awaiting death. Awaiting the mangroves to grow a bit...

 

[Stish]

Have any of you ever done a brackish refugium/sump tank?  I recently received a nice little 10 gallon aquarium for free.  I am thinking about turning it into a sump tank, or I may just do a little nano FW or SW setup, haven't really decided yet.