I have seen posts/articles here and elsewhere about bumble bee gobies/mollies/fig. 8 puffers in SW tanks? I have tried myself in the past with no success. I have successfully done mollies. I am interested to hear of anyone who has, or has info, acclimating brackish fish in SW. Would like to see what fish will adapt, acclimation tech. and longevity. Anyone done this?
Brackish Fish in SW Tank
- Thread starter ReefBass
- Start date
agreeive?fish
New member
I have a scatt,mollies, and 3 columbian "sharks" that are all thriving in full marine and i have also had guppies who thrived in full marine
the scatt was in full marine for several months before i bought it so i dont know how the transitioned it but i have had it about 3 years
the columbian sharks were bought from walmart and were in complete freshwater at purchase.. i slowly mixed in saltwater to thier tank on every water change over a couple months until they were close to full marine (which this tank was thier qt tank) once close to full marine and the qt period was over i accl them to thier display tank and they have been in full marine for aprox 3 years
these pics are aprox 1.5 years or so old
the scatt was in full marine for several months before i bought it so i dont know how the transitioned it but i have had it about 3 years
the columbian sharks were bought from walmart and were in complete freshwater at purchase.. i slowly mixed in saltwater to thier tank on every water change over a couple months until they were close to full marine (which this tank was thier qt tank) once close to full marine and the qt period was over i accl them to thier display tank and they have been in full marine for aprox 3 years
these pics are aprox 1.5 years or so old
I've never done it, so I can't speak from experience, but I wouldn't keep a known brackish water(sometimes fresh) fish in a full marine environment. Many of these fish are specially suited to live in brackish environments, full continuous salt may be hard on them and shorten their lives.JMO.
agreeive?fish
New member
actually some fish sold as fresh or brackish fish actually require full marine when adults
scats and columbian "sharks" are found in full marine conditions in adulthood but are found in fresh and various degrees of brackish as infants and juvis and teens and migrate to full marine by adulthood..but not all
scats and columbian "sharks" are found in full marine conditions in adulthood but are found in fresh and various degrees of brackish as infants and juvis and teens and migrate to full marine by adulthood..but not all
About 17 years ago I had two figure 8 puffers that I acclumated to full marine. If I recall corectly, I raised the sg over like a 6 month period of time. Some people recommend as long as 3 years. I added a little salt to the make up water every couple of days until I got it to where I wanted it. I started out at 1.012 and ended at 1.024. They did fine for 2 years until I traded them for live rock when I started my 2nd reef tank.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brackishsubwebindex/bracmars.htm
Found link for this article for SW fish in brackish tank at Monster Fishkeepers
Found link for this article for SW fish in brackish tank at Monster Fishkeepers
natereinhold1
New member
I have keept Fig 8 puffers(adults) in full marine conditions, and they lived long happy lives, i eventually traded them in because they tend to be fin nippers. Slow transition from low strength to full strength is all i did.
Rae C.
New member
Paul B has experience with brackish to marine, including BB gobies: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1577012&perpage=25&pagenumber=3 read a few responses down to find out more.
Why would a person want to do that? Just for the experiment? Do they do well with coral? Cause they are pretty? i think saltwater maintenance is a bit more involved than fresh/brackish so I'm not sure why you'd make them marine...
Why would a person want to do that? Just for the experiment? Do they do well with coral? Cause they are pretty? i think saltwater maintenance is a bit more involved than fresh/brackish so I'm not sure why you'd make them marine...
Paul B
Premium Member
I have five of these bumblebee gobies in my reef for a few months now. I acclimated them for 3 hours and they are doing fine, they even grew about a quarter inch.
They were about $3.00 each and very cute.
They don't pay any attention to corals or anything else. They just don't like each other and stay a few inches apart. They eat baby brine, worms and some small mysis.
I had a figure 8 puffer in full salt for over 12 years and a scat, you would have to step on to kill. I think those things would live in damp sawdust.
These pictures are magnified as they are only about 3/4"
They were about $3.00 each and very cute.
They don't pay any attention to corals or anything else. They just don't like each other and stay a few inches apart. They eat baby brine, worms and some small mysis.
I had a figure 8 puffer in full salt for over 12 years and a scat, you would have to step on to kill. I think those things would live in damp sawdust.
These pictures are magnified as they are only about 3/4"
I have an established Brackish tank up and running right now and have had great success with it. My tank consisted of 1 green spotted puffer and 2 mollies. The puffer started out in water at around 1.006 or so and the mollies were full fresh. With the green spotted puffer they thrive best at full marine when they reach adulthood, the mollies however tend to do better ina full fresh or mildly brackish environment, not saying they won;t last in full marine, they just do better without it. I slowly bring my salinity up a little with each water change, and when I say a little i mean a little, the tank has been up and running for a little over a year now and it currently sits at 1.014, give or take .001. I still have the GSP and now have about 8-10 mollies including the original two, i haven't bought anymore, that was just from their hatchlings that survived. So some fish can be converted from fresh to full marine and some go through a gradual change as they get older. Many fish also tend to migrate from fresh to salt or salt to fresh to spawn. It can be done just do your research on what types of fish you are planning on getting.
Paul B, Your thread is what got my curiosity started. I also believe that BB gobys would make interesting reef inhabitants. I tried this about 6 years ago with no success, acc. over the course of about 1.5 days. Only tried once. I have successfuly converted mollies and they reproduced in salt, cause they are livebearers that makes a instant treat to small fish and I am sure that the newly born mollies will find thier way too close to an Acan. or other LPS. doing other poking around I found a lot of other interesting info in the brackish forum at Monster Fishkeepers where Knight gobies and Dragon Gobies have also been converted.
Paul B
Premium Member
I have seen those Knight and Dragon gobies but they were a little larger than I would have liked and not to colorful so I decided not to include them. The bumblebees are very colorful and striking and real cheap. They look much better now then in those pictures which were taken when I got them from the store.
Their colors are brighter and their fins are nice and clear.
They will not eat flakes and are not too crazy about mysis but they will try some smaller pieces. They love blackworms and being I feed live baby brine every day I think they will live their full life expectancy in full salt but of course I need ten more years to test my theory. I have not lost any yet.
Their colors are brighter and their fins are nice and clear.
They will not eat flakes and are not too crazy about mysis but they will try some smaller pieces. They love blackworms and being I feed live baby brine every day I think they will live their full life expectancy in full salt but of course I need ten more years to test my theory. I have not lost any yet.
agreeive?fish
New member
check the salinity of a natural brackish body of water and you will see that the salinity changes several times a day 365 days a year so i honestly dont see a big need to take extreem periods of time to acl. a brackish fish to a diffrent salinity ..i have taken a long time to acl. a fish and i have done it in an hour or 2 and i have had no bissues with the fish of either method
