Glassfish: Freshwater or Brackish?? Please help!!!

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shibby

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Nov 26, 2005
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Hi,

I have a problem. I can't seem to keep glassfish alive in my freshwater tank!!

the ones I have are the common ones u see in the fishstore listed as "painted glassfish", except the ones I have are natural and unpainted.

my tank specs I'm sure are up to par, however slowy, one-by-one, out of 25 glassfish that I've gotten so far, i've lost 10 steadily this past month. before that they are eating fine and healthy. then they turn listless, then within a day they are dead without warning.

I know there are mixed opinions as to whether these fish or not are freshwater or brackish fish, however most recent articles points to these fish as being freshwater. examples:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=619

quote: "Traditionally these were viewed as brackish fish, and most books suggest adding an amount of salt to their aquarium. However, collectors say these fish are found primarily in freshwater habitats, sometimes even soft and acidic ones."


another article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_glassy_fish

quote: "...have a reputation for being delicate and difficult to keep. This may be related to a persistent myth that these fish need brackish water. In the wild they more commonly inhabit freshwater, and in captivity do well in slightly soft to moderately hard dGH 7 - 19, slightly acidic to slightly alkaline water pH 6.5 - 7.5."




so my question is:

what am I doing wrong??? are these fish really brackish???
 

A. Nonymous

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Feb 4, 2008
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I'm not terribly familiar with glassfish, but the ones I've seen are always kept in freshwater. Are you able to keep other fish in the tank?
 

Reefscape

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shibby

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Nov 26, 2005
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The most commmon glassfish sold in the hobby are the freshwater variety. Yes, there are variants of the glassfish which do come from a brackish environment..

Do please read more here...

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i6/Glassfishes.htm

Thanks
this is great info and pretty much confirms the other articles as well. So I think that I can pretty rule out any notion that I should be keeping these fish in brackish conditions and focus on other things.

They are generally eating very well. I feed them a combination of frozen blood worms and mysis shrimp. Its so strange! These fish seem so senstive
 

Fish Obsession

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Feb 2, 2007
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From what I've heard, they are just a very sensitive fish. I've never kept any myself but from what I have read or heard from other people who have kept them, the tank needs to be kept in pristine condition with FREQUENT water changes (kind of like discus need) and that they are very, very sensitive and must be kept in large groups (which I see you were doing). So, I don't really know, other than that perhaps your tank is not aged enough for them?
 

shibby

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Nov 26, 2005
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From what I've heard, they are just a very sensitive fish. I've never kept any myself but from what I have read or heard from other people who have kept them, the tank needs to be kept in pristine condition with FREQUENT water changes (kind of like discus need) and that they are very, very sensitive and must be kept in large groups (which I see you were doing). So, I don't really know, other than that perhaps your tank is not aged enough for them?

my tank is pretty new yes (a month) however the filter (Emperor 400) was directly from an old, well established tank that sprung a leak.

I'd like to get more glassfish but I think i'll wait a bit to see if I can get the remaining ones to settle in more a bit. Just this morning another is showing signs of listness. dammit!
 

Jayhawk

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May 12, 2001
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What are your KH and pH levels in the tank BTW? These fish are from similar environments to dwarf puffers and likely would do better with water more in the 7.5ish range with a high KH.

The fact that our otos are doing well speaks volumes about your water quality and shows the imported filter worked fine.

Eric
 
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