Help With Brackish Tank Set-Up

[Nelson]

Decided to go with brackish in my newly acquired 45.  Any recommendations on fishless cycling...I don't imagine there are cheap brackish utility fish available.  Any other "tips and tricks" I should be aware of?  

Thanks...Nelson

[mseguin]

BA Innes has lots of brackish guppies.

[Mettle]

Any guppy can be adapted to brackish.

Mollies are great brackish water fish. It's easy to take the ones in fresh water from pet stores and put them brackish. Again, just adapt.

Swordtails and platies could do it as well.

[Nelson]

Thanks Matte and Stephan, I was in BA's today and that's when I made the decision to go brackish.  I have to admit that I'm a little reluctant to keep mollies, platies etc...doesn't make sense to me to go to the added expense to set up a brackish tank then stock it with freshwater fish :wink:

From what I read it will be a while before I can introduce livestock so I have to concentrate on cycling and establishing a proper environment.  Any ideas in that area?

[NjOyRiD]

i have this site if you feel liek reading Nelson
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html

[Nelson]

i have this site if you feel liek reading Nelson
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html

Thanks NjOyRiD, I found the site earlier and found it very helpful.

[mseguin]

The brackish guppies at BA were raised in brackish water (and are still kept in brackish water) so no adapting necessary.

[Mettle]

If you want something beyond fish you can keep in fresh water, I would go with a figure 8 puffer/goby set-up. I know someone who has this going in a 29 gallon. Figure 8s are the better of the puffers in terms of community fish. And there's quite a few different gobies out there. It'd be quite nice.

[Nelson]

If you want something beyond fish you can keep in fresh water, I would go with a figure 8 puffer/goby set-up. I know someone who has this going in a 29 gallon. Figure 8s are the better of the puffers in terms of community fish. And there's quite a few different gobies out there. It'd be quite nice.

Goby's are a definite.  I also checked out the Figure 8's and will likely have a few as well.  May also go with a few of Mono Sebae's.  Will have to confirm that they're compatable though.

[kennyman]

I'm running a small bw tank with bumblebees and its doing alright. The big challange I have is the plants. Adapting plants to 0.005 slainity really seems to kick the crap out of them. There is significant leaf loss and its a matter of trying to get the new growth started before the plant dies.

I choose the gobys over dwarf puffers  purly on avalabillity. I'm happy with the bumblebees and they seem to do well with the snails that I rely on to keep my tank clean. I got RedRamshorn snails and they have been breeding in the BW conditions. I have also noticed mts (trumpet snails) at work that must have came in on some plants. I don't think there are any pleco's or such that can tollerate BW, hence the snails.

As for cycling I ran a small hob on the mbuna tank for a week then put it on the bw tank with the snails for bio load. Once everything checked ok I got the gobys.

[Mettle]

Nope, no bw plecos... Snails are a nice alternative though.

In terms of adapting plants raised in fresh water to salt, the best way to do it is slowly over time. Ideally in their own separate little tank. Slowly raising the salinity to give the plants a chance to adjust. Also plants with solid, substantial root systems will fair much better than those without, from my understanding.