# Possibly setting up a Brackish water tank, to do or not to do



## sagespyder (May 21, 2013)

So for a while I have been reading mixed messages about whether or not my Dragon Goby, Chan, should be kept in a brackish water tank. I am in the middle of setting up my cold water tank and it has been bothering me that Chan might not be kept up to par in the tropical freshwater tank. In a about a week or 2 I will have a free 40 gal that I can use to set up the brackish tank, it is just whether I should or shouldn't.

If I do what kind of live plants can I keep in the brackish tank and can I keep a few figure 8 puffers or green spotted puffers with him. I have plenty of rocks for him to make his home should I set it up and I can get the sand he needs to eat. So far he has been on gravel specifically for planted tanks, CaribSea Eco-Complete 20-Pound Planted Aquarium, Black, and he has been growing fine. When I got him from my lfs he was kept in a freshwater tank, though they sometimes tell me that they keep them in brackish. Given that they have a bunch of other tanks on the same sump I am not sure. I am also iffy about what they say since they told me my german blue rams get up to 8 inches long and they treat their tanks for ich every week on wed when they get their new fish in. I don't know if that is standard since when i worked at an exotics store in San Diego CA we rarely treated new fish for ich and if there was an outbreak we wouldn't sell any of the fish on the sump until it was cleared up. This one has no problem selling fish with ich or fish from the same tank with ich infected fish. 

So here I am, again, looking for help  I have had a brackish tank once in CA for a puffer but it was a very basic set up, gravel, lights, filter, and the fish. he was great even though he only had 1 eye and ate well. I knew that he was kept in a brackish tank since I helped maintain it at the shop. So I would very much appreciate input as to whether or not to transition Chan into brackish and what kind of plants I can keep in brackish so he would be more comfortable. Currently he has dug down into a pile of rocks and rarely comes out into the open since I have a large pile of rocks and 2 large driftwood pieces for him and Metalsnake to chill in, on, around. I can list the plants that I currently have in my 55 but about half of them are going to be moved into the cold tank in the next 48 hours along with one of the driftwood logs. 

I know i am all over the place but I do hope you guys can follow everything I wrote.  Thanks a lot for any input ahead of time.


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## chenowethpm (Jan 8, 2014)

From what I've seen and read, dragon goby or violet goby should be kept in brackish tanks. The research I've done says they can survive in freshwater for a short while but eventually will start to show signs of stress.
I found this site when I looked at planting brackish tanks. There's a list of plants that can survive and grow in brackish waters. It's from another forum but it's totally relevant.
Planting Brackish Aquaria - Brackish Forum - Tropical Fish Forums


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Can't say much on plants,as I don't of any for brackish(I'm sure there are some)?
But here is a helpful thread on switching your goby over;
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f48/i-need-help-healing-poor-little-40680.html?highlight=dragon+goby
If use our search bar there are several dragon goby threads.


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## sagespyder (May 21, 2013)

I have read all of those and still it was mixed, someone said that if the goby has already been in fw for a long time, like mine for almost 6 months, then there isn't a real reason to transition it to bw. There wasn't much in the way of set up and plants in those threads either.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Best way to do it would be to set up the tank as fresh and slowly transition it to brackish over a couple of months. Java feerns are one of the easiest to transition to brackish.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

They are brackish water fish and need to be in brackish water.It/he will fall ill and slowly die if not acclimated to brackish IMO.
Dragonfish aka Dragon Goby Caresheet


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## sagespyder (May 21, 2013)

Just taking a break from applying new silicone to a tank and I just wanted to let you guys know I will transition Chan to brackish as soon as my other tank is available. The current tank I am renewing the silicone is for my cold water tank. I recently found out at least a quarter of the fish in my tank are cold water so I have been sanitizing and renewing this current tank. I will have to do the same thing with the tank that will be for Chan as soon as it is free. I understand how to do the transition, thanks to the older threads, but I want to be sure that I can keep Chan with a few puffers. I can get java moss and java ferns. 

I love the way jungle Val looks but what about amazon swords? Will those be alright as well? The way I see it in my mind is that it will be mostly open in the front and middle with plants ringing around the sides and the back with a large pile of rocks directly in the back where Chan can hang out. Along with some smaller piles in the corners so he doesn't have to stay in one place and can travel from one end to the other. Naturally the middle area and the area surrounding the piles of stone would be sand while the areas where the plants are going to be growing will be with the same gravel used in my tropical tank for growing plants.

For the sand I am thinking about using this, Carib Sea ACS00821 Tahitian Moon Sand for Aquarium, 20-Pound, Black, but now i am thinking about using a white sand to contrast against the black gravel. 

Thank you again for the input about transitioning Chan to bw. The reason why I asked is of course so I can make sure I he is happy and healthy. The soonest I will be able to start setting up another fw tank will be within 5 days but looks to be closer to a week. Then it would only take me a day or 2 to set up the fw tank and allow it to cycle for Chan. That will be ok, given how long he has been in my tropical tank, right?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I'll be interested in hearing how certain plants do.
Chan should be fine until you get him moved over.It is long term health and how osmoregulation works that are the deciding factors in him really needing to be in brackish.
If I understand correctly ;marine fish actually have less salt in their bodies then the water does and they osmoregulate salt IN from water to stay proper,where freshwater fish have more salt in their bodies then the water and they osmoregulate salt OUT of their bodies to stay proper.
So being a brackish water fish would mean that Chan needs to be able to intake salt, which may not be available in enough quanity in straight freshwater.Not to mention all the trace elements that are in marine salt/brackish water.
Good Luck!


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Vals are a possibility, but stay away from sword plants. I used to have a list of brackish plants but comp has been formatted a couple of times.

plants that will transition

Java fern, vallisneria, water sprite, anacharis densa, hornwort, sagitaria, cabomba


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## sagespyder (May 21, 2013)

I can work with just 3 different plants in my bw tank, vals, java moss, and java fern. I am still wondering about what other fish I can keep with Chan when he is being transitioned. Since the fish that i will be getting at my lfs are mostly likely to be on fresh water I want to compile a list of fish that I can all get transitioned at the same time. 

Puffers, figure 8 and green spotted, are regularly available at my lfs so is kind of my got to, plus I love puffers. Another fish I was thinking about is Peacock Gudgeon, I hve been reading that they do well from cooler, to tropical, to brackish water and I think I can special order those from my lfs. My husband really likes blue fish so I have been searching for more blue fish. My tropical tank has been set up for Metalsnake in particular and so i have some swordtails since they live breed and Metalsnake will eat the fry along with my Blue German Rams. He loves Chan as well but not so much the puffers since they are basically green. I think that the addition of the Peacock Gudgeons would add some color and since they are like SparkleSparkle he would like those as well. 

Any info on Peacock Gudgeons being added to the bw tank as I set it up before I begin the transition? I know they can get up to 5 inches so I don't think they would be bothered by the puffers but I can't find info as to how many like to stay together but they are rather peaceful and so won't bother Chan and would get large enough that they won't be bothered by the puffers. 

Thanks again you guys, you are great!


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

You have made the right choice to move your little guy to BW. I had almost the same situation a while back but with archer fish. Its good you understand hoe to transition. That's the hardest part! Keep in mind too with the plants, what SG do you eventually plan to up to? Most plants can only handle mild brackish conditions. Once you get into even slightly medium brackish waters the plants will die out. From my prior research anyways. I decided not to test the waters  and just used nice fake plants. This is also something to consider when picking tankmates. What SG do they require? Temp, pH, all that good stuff. A lot of BW fish, or fish that do just as well in BW as FW need different levels of brackish. As far as the puffers go. If memory serves me the figure 8 is the one to go with if you want more than one. They stay smaller and do well in groups. Spotted get too big for a 40g and can only be kept one adult per tank.


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