Brackish?

[batguano]

Has anyone ever done a brackish system? I am thinking about doing an Indonesian mangrove swamp in a thirty gal system. Do some kind of mangrove thing with hardwood sticks and leaves with a sand bottom, maybe a powerhead driven waterfall and stocking it with archerfish and scats and maybe a brackish catfish (channel cat). Anyone have input for me?

 

[Billybeau1]

I ran a brackish tank for years. Archers, Scats, Monos.

The Monos were my favorite. I also had the false scats (silver w/black dots and stripes.)

I even had a Golden Ram survive in there.

I kept my tank at about 1.017 to 1.018

 

[batguano]

No takers, huh? Well, it is Reef Central, not Unique Environments Central. Oh well, shall I keep the reefers informed or shall we let this thread die a slow and agonizing death?


Oops, spoke too soon!

 

[Billybeau1]

If its the 165 your thinking about, you could get 4 or 5 monos. They school real well. Get the argentus though not the sebeas.

 

[batguano]

Thanks Billy!

No, the 165 is going to be a reef tank. I was thinking about doing the brackish in a 30 high or a 40 breeder. I haven't decide yet.

 

[Billybeau1]

The false scats I'm talking about are Selenotoca multifasciata

Sharp looking fish. Especially when they get bigger.

 

[Billybeau1]

Ohh thats pretty small.

 

[batguano]

Yeah, maybe I should go to at least a 55 gal.

 

[batguano]

I had to revive this thread! Guess what? What a stroke of luck. I'm driving down the road today on my way to the office and what do I see? Someone has put an AGA 55 gal. and welded stand out at the curb! Billybeau, is this awesome or what? Of course I grab it and now with some scrunge cleaning and maybe some resealing ( if necessary) I've got plenty of room for my mangrove swamp tank- archers, scats and monos, here we come! Just thought I'd share. I'm taking this as a sign that the tank was meant to be.

 

[Samala]

Initially, that was my concern, that you were not going to have enough room for the effect you might be wanting. Are you going to be doing actual wood for the mangrove roots, or live mangrove plants?

>Sarah

 

[batguano]

I would like to do live mangrove plants but don't have any idea where to get them. I was going to use a hard wood that they use for bird cage perches, it looks pretty cool. That with fake leaves to get the mangrove effect.

 

[barleychown]

Are you refering to the madrone bird perches? Kind of a red color?

 

[batguano]

Yes, have you ever used them in aquariums? Do they present any problems with pH or leaching of any kind?

 

[batguano]

Bump.

 

[midgetwaiter]

Try and find Mopani, it's a bog wood that is sandblasted and it stands up to brackish water really well. I have some pieces that are 10 years old. You should be able to get it at the LFS.

 

[saltycreefer]

you can get what they call a freshwater moray from some LFS's which does well with about 50% strenght saltwater. Theres also these indo tarpon which are cool if you do a big tank. I'm going to be setting up a 10 gal. AGA turtle tank with mangroves and mudskippers in the near future.

 

[batguano]

very cool! Thanks folks for all your input, it's given me some good ideas.

 

[Chasmodes]

I'm planning a brackish Chesapeake Bay oyster reef, probably about the same specific gravity that you'll have. It will house only stuff local to the bay though (blennies, gobies and a few other species if I can catch them). I'm ordering the tank this weekend, hopefully tomorrow...120g acrylic quarter cylinder tank. My wife bought into my plan! it :bounce1: Woo Hooo!! So now all I have to do is get moving on it!

I have a 40g glass tank that will be my fuge. Here's the thread detailing my concept:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=839286

 

[Hormigaquatica]

A 55 will give you a little more space; just keep in mind that monos, scats, and archers all get to be pretty large (12"+). You might want to look at some smaller critters- sailfin mollies {a highly underrated fish by those who dont have nice specimines}, Figure-8 and Leopard Puffers, Fugu Puffers, Bullrout/Freshwater Lionfish, Indian Waspfish/Butterfly Gobies, Knight Gobies, Bumblebee Gobies. Anableps anableps are cool but a little more touchy. Even Glass/Ghost Shrimp and Kribensis work well in brackish. Ive had blueleg hermits do well in specific gravity as low as 1.011, but have to imagine there is some stress there.

HTH...

Could a

 

[Runner]

I have a 10G brackish at work with nothing but bumblebee gobies. The tank is running about s.g. 1.010. My question is, can I take bumblebee gobies up to full saltwater strength if I work it up slowly through water changes over a two to four week period? I'd like to toss some live rock and low-light soft coral frags in with them if I can.