Which Fish

rusty

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Hey all i have an empty 7g can anyone help me out on which brackish fish i can keep in there im new to brackish was thinking some sort of dwarf puffer i also have a 35g freshwater tropical tank which has been running about 8 months now so i am not completely new to keeping fish oh yeah the 7g is cycled for tropical freshwater was useing it for platy fry there are 3 in it at the moment but there ready for my bigger tank now so could i change it straight to brackish and would i need any extra equipment any advice would be greatly appreciated :good:
 
Hey all i have an empty 7g can anyone help me out on which brackish fish i can keep in there im new to brackish was thinking some sort of dwarf puffer i also have a 35g freshwater tropical tank which has been running about 8 months now so i am not completely new to keeping fish oh yeah the 7g is cycled for tropical freshwater was useing it for platy fry there are 3 in it at the moment but there ready for my bigger tank now so could i change it straight to brackish and would i need any extra equipment any advice would be greatly appreciated :good:


Hi Rusty,

I don't keep a brackish tank, but I think i can offer some advice to some of the questions you asked.

Why is it you are so keen to start a brackish tank? Dwarf puffers for instance require fresh water, so you could use the already cycled tank for those (I'd recommend 2 maximum). There are no brackish puffers really suitable for a tank the size of 7g.

For a tank of that size, if you were really keen to do brackish you could keep bumblebee gobies, although it is possible to keep them in fresh water as well.

If you wanted to keep a brackish tank the main equipment you'dd need would be a hydrometer/refractometer, marine salt, and a mag float. Hydrometers/refractometers measure salinity, marine salt makes the water brackish, and a mag float would keep the glass clean 9as brackish tanks are notorious for algae.

Hope I was of some help.
 
Thanks for the advice fella it was really helpful would bummble bee gobies be ok in fresh water and how many could i keep in a 7g am i right in thinking that some puffers are brackish or am i just making this up could i keep anything else with gobies frogs or shrimp or something
 
Bumblebees can be kept in freshwater, but many aquarists have found them easier to keep in slightly brackish water. Whether they need the hardness and alkalinity, or the actual salt, is unknown: in the wild, they live primarily in freshwater not brackish. I have kept them in soft/acid water, but they did not do as well as I'd expect, so at the very least, they need hard/alkaline water.

If you're just keeping these gobies, I'd recommend adding a little salt (1-2 g per litre) which would allow you to keep plenty of plants. These gobies need plants to do well, because they are very territorial and like to "perch" on things. Java fern and java moss would do well and don't need much light. Add a few olive nerites or Amano shrimp to crop back the algae. Malayan livebearing snails do well in brackish, too.

Bumblebees should be kept at a gallon or more per fish. In a 7 gallon, you could probably keep 7 fish easily, provided the tank had lots of plants and some caves. When kept in groups they are very active, and chase one another around the tank all the time.

Whilst you could probably keep dwarf puffers at this low salinity, I don't know anyone who has. I'd tend to stick with the gobies and, if you wanted something else, perhaps add a few Heterandria formosa. These are nice, small livebearers that aren't much kept but well worth the effort.

Cheers,

Neale
 

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