# can a pleco live in brackish water



## scarediecat (Sep 1, 2011)

I guess my question is...can a pleco live in brackish water? I have a violet goby and a pleco. I know the Goby needs to live in brackish water. I've read that some people say plecos can live in brackish water and some people say they can't. I would like to put the pleco in with my Goby so my question is, "can this plecos live in the same level of brackish water as my violet goby"? I know I would have to slowly acclimate him to brackish water before adding him to my Gobys tank - but would it even work? I have a 125 gal tank. The only thing in it at this time is the Goby. I may add some guppies back in later...much later...after a long - long quarantine for the guppies.


----------



## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Hello scare...

I have a 60 gallon with a low level of salt in it and my plecos are fine. I dose a teaspoon or two in every 5 gallons of treated tap water. Brackish water takes in a wide range of levels of salt. It's just water with a bit more salt in it than fresh. 

Most aquarium fish will do fine with a bit of salt in the tank water. Livebearing fish especially so.

B


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

There is a difference in salt for a freshwater aquarium to the salt for brackish. For a brackish tank the salt is the same as for saltwater tanks and no plecos can not handle that.


----------



## sagespyder (May 21, 2013)

I wouldn't say they can't. I have my brackish set up with 2 plecos and slowly transitioned them at the same time as my dragon gobies and they are doing well along with the swordtails I have in there since I have a frogfish in qt to be transitioned into brackish. The plecos have done a great job cleaning the glass of algae that the dragon gobies won't touch even though the gobies have been grazing on the algae on rocks as well as disks and some of the frozen foods, blood worms and what not. The whole tank has been brackish for about 4 months and the swordtails took to it great, even breeding. The plecos have been growing well and have done such a great job I have to add the algae disks every other day to make sure they are well feed since the gobies claimed the rocks as their own feeding ground.


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

That doesn't mean that they will be fine in the long run. Plecos as most in the wild come from softer water than what a brackish tank can provide, they can tolerate some salt for awhile but not in a permanent situation.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Brackish Water Catfish


----------



## Auban (Aug 8, 2010)

i have seen plecos in brackish water in the wild. the seemed to be doing fine. quite healthy, and they were breeding quite readily. so, i would say that they can handle it.

or at least, certain species can.


----------



## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Hello scare...

By definition, brackish water is simply water with a higher salt content than fresh and less than salt water. So, I would say yes, a pleco can live in brackish water, but the salt content would have to be lower. I keep several plecos in a large tank with livebearing fish, so I keep a low salt level in their water. I keep the salt dose to a teaspoon or so in every 5 gallons of new, treated tap water.

So, there you have it.

B


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

BBradbury said:


> Hello scare...
> 
> By definition, brackish water is simply water with a higher salt content than fresh and less than salt water. So, I would say yes, a pleco can live in brackish water, but the salt content would have to be lower. I keep several plecos in a large tank with livebearing fish, so I keep a low salt level in their water. I keep the salt dose to a teaspoon or so in every 5 gallons of new, treated tap water.
> 
> ...


The salt you guys use for FW is not Marine Salt, it doesn't bring up the SG the same way, and shouldn't be used for Brackish or considered for use in Brackish Waters. Marine Salt should be used for this.


----------



## kalyke (Nov 19, 2014)

Amazon River. 

Delta? 

I would say not to the salt level defined as brackish. A few teaspoons for health reasons is still not brackish. 

A shark occasionally wanders up a river to give birth. That does not mean sharks live in rivers. 

Salt water fish are not just fish thrown into salt water. Anything can survive for a short time in adverse conditions. 

Man on the moon? Not for long.


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Oh boy, here we go. So I see you keep Brackish Mollies. I keep them in full Marine. Are you suggesting they aren't supposed to be kept in Marine SG levels either?
Is a Dragon Goby a FW fish, and not best kept in Marine, for a better much longer lived less stressful life?
Careful when you delve into the SW realms without doing some homework.


----------



## bulldawg (Oct 18, 2014)

I have 3 bushy nose plecos in my brackish cichlid tank for well over a year that are thriving


----------



## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

bulldawg said:


> I have 3 bushy nose plecos in my brackish cichlid tank for well over a year that are thriving


What do you consider Brackish conditions? What is your SG level?


----------



## flyingrabbit (Mar 9, 2017)

I'm sure the answer to this question is it depends on which species of pleco you have, some species of pleco would probably go down hill pretty fast in brackish water while others species are ok. So which species pleco are we talking about?


----------

