Q's Setting up Mini Brackish Tank.

[justintoxicated]

Ok so here is the plan.

3 Gallon Eclipse Tank with Hood, light (Mini CF or T5 or something I think it is 10 watts) and filter.

1 Bumblebee Gobie (maybe 2 later and yea i will put guppies in a different tank)
1 Ghost Shrimp
3 Growing Guppies (one of them is only a week old)

Substrate? Crushed Coral (medium-small size) ok? Should I use something else?

I did some research and it looks like I should aim for a gravity of about 1.004?

Need to add hiding place for BB Gobie and maybe a Java Fern?

I think I found a baby trumpet snail in there, not sure how the hell it got in there but I noticed it's presence after adding salt.

[sploke]

Sounds alright....whats the question?

you'll have to keep an eye on SG with a small amount of water like that...a days worth of evaporation could throw everything out of whack.

[justintoxicated]

Just wanted to go over everything cause I just kinda researched and I have never had brackish setup before. Thank goodness my Aquarium has a lid then ;)

what is the highest gravity guppies can survive? I was going to aim for 1.004 but I don't know if the gobies would be ok with that low of a level. might just have to wait to find out..

[Lauren]

I'd be worried about your gobi eating your shrimp. If I were you, I'd lose the gobi, stick with the guppies, and up the shrimp count. I don't know how much you can do with 3. I gave up on my 5 and upgraded to a 10 for my brackish tank.

[BeelzeBob]

your goby will be fine with the shrimp, as long as you dont get a real small one.

Bumblebees like friends, so i would almost get another, but that tank is small. my tank is currently at a specif gravity of 1.010, and all my gobys are doin great.

i would suggest a mixture of crushed coral and sand, especially if you can get a hold of black sand, it looks bad a**

get more artifacts and plants for the goby(s) there are many different species of java fern, that cheap a** anacharis you get at petco for $1.99 does well, and i have yet to find a way to kill it.

id go just a bit higher on your SG, but other than that keep us updated and good luck.

[justintoxicated]

Can guppies survive in that gravity?

I had another bee gobie but he jumped out of the quarantine tank (he was almost dead I guess form being in freshwater too long) overnight and died. They sold all 30 of them at the LFS one dollar each.

[MonoSebaelover]

Guppies can survive in saltwater so yes they are very tolerant of all conditions (freshwater through saltwater). Sounds like a good set up and your bb goby will be fine with the shrimp. Hope this helps and good luck!

[justintoxicated]

Thanks for everyones advice I changed the Substrate to crushed coral, and changed all the water as well (it was in horrible shape after removing gravel), if I find some black sand i will add it later for sure! I'll add a TSP of salt every other day untill I get my gravity to around 1.010 then.

I tested my gravity and it was 1.004 right where I had wanted it to be origionaly. crazy! Cause I just guessed how much salt to add untill I got my hydrometer! I added salt to the new tank to match what was in there before.

As well as fresh charcoal to help with the mini cycle the tank will likely go through.

I will look for another gobie friend, and remove one of the guppy when the time comes.

[justintoxicated]

Bee Gobie is twitching and is going to be dead by morning.

All I did today was add a tsp of salt in the morning....

No Nitrite in the tank..Guppys and snails are fine...

WTF...Not a good fish day at all I suck at this hobby

[MonoSebaelover]

What kind of salt are you using? If it is not marine salt (Instant Ocean, etc) you are using the wrong kind of salt. Saltwater salt is the only way to get brackish water, you can't use "aquarium" salt or table salt. Is the lfs keeping the BBG's in brackish? If not you will need to acclimate them for a LONG time to the brackish water. Most lfs's don't keep brackish water fish in brackish water due to the extra set ups needed. What are all your levels? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Salinity/SG? Anyway hope this helps and hope he makes it through the night!

[justintoxicated]

yea I was using instant ocean. It was in fresh water tank at the LFS then in fresh water tank at my house untill I setup a 3 gallon for him, in emergency (he was not doing well) I had added a whole Tablesppon of salt tot he tank.

He perked right up and was much happer untill today...Then over the next 3 days I raised the gravity to 1.004

After somoene replied in this post to raise it higher I have been adding one teaspon of salt per day. The guppies and trumphet snails are fine, in fact the gobie was eating bloodworms just last night.

All of a sudden tonight he just died.

Since I just spent a fortune on setting up this small brackish tank Hydrometer, marine salt, heck I jsut got a java fern today...are there any other brackish fish I could put in a 3 gallon? Should I trie bumblebee gobies again? he was not in the best shape at the petstore but after his fins healed up I thought he was getting better...Guess not, his friend died as well when he jumped out of the other tank when I was sleeping last week... (I had seperated him into one of those tiny tanks overnight since he was acting like this one was tonight) The first one died the night I bought the sea salt Instant Ocean stuff)

[justintoxicated]

yea I was using instant ocean. It was in fresh water tank at the LFS then in fresh water tank at my house untill I setup a 3 gallon for him, in emergency (he was not doing well) I had added a whole Tablespon of salt to the tank.

He perked right up and was much happer untill today...Then over the next 3 days I raised the gravity to 1.004

After somoene replied in this post to raise it higher I have been adding one teaspon of salt per day. The guppies and trumphet snails are fine, in fact the gobie was eating bloodworms just last night.

All of a sudden tonight he just died.

Since I just spent a fortune on setting up this small brackish tank Hydrometer, marine salt, heck I jsut got a java fern today...are there any other brackish fish I could put in a 3 gallon? Should I trie bumblebee gobies again? he was not in the best shape at the petstore but after his fins healed up I thought he was getting better...Guess not, his friend died as well when he jumped out of the other tank when I was sleeping last week... (I had seperated him into one of those tiny tanks overnight since he was acting like this one was tonight) The first one died the night I bought the sea salt Instant Ocean stuff).


Again the other fish all seem fine so I dunno...Maybe he really was a freshwater Bumble bee Gobie

[cherrypie]

One thing that springs to mind is most LFS's don't bother trying to feed bumble bee gobies anything other than flake food (which they almost never eat), from my experience whenever I've bought bumble bee gobies they've been in poor condition, likely due to being extremely malnourished. I have one survivor out of the 3 I bought a few weeks back, at the time the only readily available live food I had was some gambusia fry, sadly only one goby was strong enough to chase them down, by the time I had artemia ready the other two were pretty close to dead.

[justintoxicated]

I totaly agree, my LFS probably does not provide species specific care for many cheap fish, but when they sell BB gobies at a buck each or 5 for $4, they moved a whole batch in less than a week.

Mine was eating blood worms.

Would adding a tsp of marine salt a day be too fast for a 3 gallon tank?

It's posisbly he was jsut too stressed and sick to make it, and me not imeadiatly setting up the brackish tank (ordering supplies online and reading info about it) probably did not help either.

Are Bumble Bee gobies pretty much the only brackish fish small enough to keep in this 3 gallon cause I have no reason to keep it brackish for guppys and ghost shrimps...I wasent planing on keeping them int he tank forever int he first place.

[sploke]

Yeah there aren't many brackish fish that will stay small besides the BBGs. Maybe some dalmation mollies or something.

[justintoxicated]

dang after all this I might just get a dwarf puffer for it..

Not sure if i can leave the coral substrate though.

All I would have is a useless hydrometer (used it a few times lol)
Oh well I guess.

I need to find out a little more about the dwarfs, like if they need crunchies like regular puffers

[Dragon Queen]

So would Ghost shrimp handle med brack about 1.010 and how would they do with a fiddler crab?

[Dragon Queen]

Or a fiddler crab and a pair of Bumble bee Gobies in a 10 gal that would have about 5-7 gal. What temp do the gobies need, how do they deal in salinity changes once used to brackish again?

[Dragon Queen]

Any other crabs that are brackish? Or any other fish or what ever that stay on the small side? :dive2: