Sorry, someone asked me to show them a picture of the BB Goby to ID a fish in their tank and I couldn't reply for whatever reason. This is a female...she is mostly yellow and black...the males seem to be more orangy in their bottom 1/2.
Moved all the FW fish out of the 20G long goby tank (which was the plan with the new 40G all along but then...the swordfish had babies...let's just say that I didn't know really know the difference between brackish and FW fish before a few months ago).
Even though the fish (tetras and gobies) seemed to be doing well I knew from previous advice that I should add sea salt mix in their water for the gobies...any (non-tramatic) advise on making it more "brackish" for them now that the other fish are out of the tank? I hate to see the plants go especially after they have all lived quite well with them for almost a year and the gobies really seem to love the plants.
I was thinking allot this weekend and don't want anyone to hate me or ignore my posts or start a debate but it is possible by the definition of 'brackish" that seasonal changes of the water are natural...i.e. rainy season, summer, etc.??? Could it be that these guys may adapt to water conditions in the tank as in nature? In my reading these guys are usually found in the deltas where sea water and river water meet and some oddball gobies (not BB) have even been found in the Great Lakes which are neither--but were previously classified as marine or brackish.
I was thinking that the gobies have lived in the mostly FW tank for almost a year now and I have not lost one. Is it possible that since they were kept in mostly FW the majority of their life that I would be risking them by changing the water now??? Maybe a very gradual change in salinity??? Days? Weeks? Months????
Can't really move them out of the tank as I have fry in my only other tank big enough for all of them. I would love any thoughts on this situation.
Personnaly, I have mine at 1.004 right now, working up to 1.007 gradually by .002 increments weekly. As to what you should do with your fish, thats really up to you. I have heard accounts of bbg's living just fine in freshwater. Some say that they will live in fresh, but they will thrive in brack. One thing, for sure, is that they are not high end brack with full marine at adulthood. So I would say the most important thing you can do now is to take a look at your tanks, take a look at your fish, and mentally plot out your plan of attack as to what can go where, and what your willing to commit to. Good luck, PJ!
Do not believe this. They will survive, but surviving and living happily is different. They will live shortened lives and will be more prone to disease. I'm glad you made the move to devote a full brackish tank PJ.
I guess my question is how much do you change the water in any given month without causing stress??? I did a water change on Sunday and put in a teaspoon of dissolved sea salt with the new water as usual...do I add more like today and then more on Sunday or is that too much??? Is it better to increase gradually every few days or weeks or just on the weekly water change days??? One 1/2 teaspoon...one teaspoon at a time, etc?
Of course, keeping them happy (and not stressed) is the goal! They are the cutest little fish! And I will be testing for wacko water swings just in case.
I add the salt on sundays when I do my water changes. You'll want to increase in .002 increments weekly until you hit your target SP. You do that so you wont kill off your biological filter all at once. The slow change allows the "salty" bacteria to build up while the "fresh" bacteria die out.
Oddball told me to that bbg's need a SP of 1.007, I'll be there in two weeks.
Yep, but they will thrive in 1.005-1.008, so 1.007 would be a target SG.
The water SG level lowers in the Summer when the monsoons come because fresh water displaces some of the brackish waters, and the SG rises in the Winter when the air is dry and there is less water, thus making is saltier.
Thanks for the info...then I don't have that far to go at all!
Do either of you use java fern, hygrophila or onion plants in these tanks??? I was doing some research (among others the link below) and even though my FW plants are leaving the tank...I read that these three plants are "salt tolerant". And the gobies really like their plants, rocks and shells. I don't want to shock them with having no plants in this new environment (and I personally like the green).
