Probably a stupid question...

[pixiefaerie]

Just got a Dragon (goby), and was told they were freshwater...turns out they are brackish. I know little about brackish, except for they need a tiny bit of marine salt and clean water. Then plan was to add him to a planted community tank (presumably freshwater). How well do guppies/tetras do in brackish? :o I feel so stupid...(I'm an African cichlid-freak) so I am a complete newbie to brackish. I don't want to get rid of the little guy, but don't want to get rid of my plants and plans for the tank (planted community tank). What to do? :confused: :help:

[Jayhawk]

BW fish need BW, FW fish need BW...so your plans are out if you want to keep the goby (no plants, no tetras, no FW community fish).

You could do a BW community, though - some mollies, maybe BB or knight gobies, glass fish...and I have java moss thriving in BW. Some form of val. supposedly does well in BW, but the corkscrew val I tried just melted away. Java fern also seems to do OK in BW, but mine is in terrible shape because my puffer bites at any brown spot thinking it's probably a snail.

Eric

[Larissa]

I've heard that you can acclimate guppies to BW so you may be able to house them with the dragon goby. I don't think that you can do any tetras in that set up though.

[archerman22]

There are plenty of BW fish out there. What size is your tank? Cause you could get a brackish puffer. If you wanted you could put the guppies in with your dragon, cause I'm pretty sure they can be brackish, you should just acclimate them slowly. For some good info on brackish aquariums, you should check out the Brack FAQ in this forum. Also if you were told at the store where you got the goby that they would eat small fish in the tank, it's not entirely true. Dragon/Violet Gobies are pretty docile and would only even consider eating small injured or dead fish. Mine loves frozen brine shrimp. Anyway good luck with your goby.

[cherrypie]

Yup, the guppies will go brackish, tetras wont, but you can plan out pretty nice brackish communities, just need to research before you buy and in most cases have a pretty decent sized aquarium. Regarding plants some species will tolerate low end brackish, java fern will go a bit higher.

[Sushi]

BW fish need BW, FW fish need BW...so your plans are out if you want to keep the goby (no plants, no tetras, no FW community fish).

You could do a BW community, though - some mollies, maybe BB or knight gobies, glass fish...and I have java moss thriving in BW. Some form of val. supposedly does well in BW, but the corkscrew val I tried just melted away. Java fern also seems to do OK in BW, but mine is in terrible shape because my puffer bites at any brown spot thinking it's probably a snail.

Eric

I believe the regular jungle valisineria does better in brackish. I will find out in a couple months when I convert my 60 gal into brackish.

[Jayhawk]

Sushi - please let us know if the regular jungle val does better.

Eric

[Paul1006]

i recently bought a species of columbian shark that is only supose to reach a maximun size of 6" ive check around the interenet and i only here they reach up to 15" and need a 40G tank to live in. im new to fish so i have a 10G tank right now and 3 columbians at about 1.5-2.5" im woundering if i was lied to when i bought these fish and need to upgrade tanks soon or if they stay around 4" if they will be good in a 10G or possible a 25G tank :huh:

[nccoastal]

i recently bought a species of columbian shark that is only supose to reach a maximun size of 6" ive check around the interenet and i only here they reach up to 15" and need a 40G tank to live in. im new to fish so i have a 10G tank right now and 3 columbians at about 1.5-2.5" im woundering if i was lied to when i bought these fish and need to upgrade tanks soon or if they stay around 4" if they will be good in a 10G or possible a 25G tank :huh:


no a fish store lie to make a sell that never happens. 10 gallon will never happen. 6 inch of fish you have 3 of them. 40 my freind will be too small, somewhere between what you were told and what you found yourself is the truth. around 10 inch is what you should plan for, get a 70g. 1.5 now go ahead and start getting what you need little at a time, dont rush plan ahead please.


it is a mouth brooder too so dont be alarmed when/if they get breeding age.