beginning brackish what fish to get?

A group of 3-4 Bumblebee gobies would be awesome in a 10g!

I agree. Guppies aren't really brackish water fish anyway, they just "tolerate" it rather well. Mollies, well, it depends on the species. Poecilia sphenops, which are what most of the fancy varieties sold in stores are, have been bred away from brackish conditions for quite some time. However, P. latippina and P. velifera are a true BW fish, and are found in anything from full FW to full SW conditions in the wild. A 10 gallon tank is not big enough for either species by a long shot.

Bumblebee gobies are great little BW fish, and in a ten gallon with a lot of nice rock caves and drift wood, it would be easy to have a small group of them. They do need caves and they do need to be able to stake a territory, so 4 is a good number that should not overcrowd them too badly.

As for the "salty-ness" of the tank, well, there are some fish that do need a bit more brackish conditions, but most will do fine in the 1.005 to 1.010 SG range. Really, a BW tank is nothing like a marine tank. Nothing. It is more like a FW tank that you throw a little salt in. The chemistry is no where near the same.

Kristina

Hmm, in the general freshwater, you posted about getting a puffer. So are you going to do this brackish or do you want to try puffers in it? There are brackish puffers, but the only puffer that I would recommend for a 10g is the dwarf puffer which is completely freshwater.

If you do want to go brackish, then I would go with 3-4 bumblebee gobies as well. I know most articles/profiles say they stay at the bottom of the tank, but they are all over my 44g corner tank. They do like to have plenty of cover with caves at the bottom, but I rarely actually see them in the caves, lol! They are usually sitting on my fake plants, rocks, the caves (clay pots), or "stuck" to the glass sides. They look like water bulldogs to me, lol! They do need frozen foods because they won't hit freeze dried (unless maybe if soaked first so they sink) and definitely won't go for pellets or flake. Some will only take live, but I find that they will readily take any frozen foods they can fit in their mouths as long as it is floating in the current from the filter and powerhead.

Haha yah they do look like water bulldogs! I had some and they were pretty entertaining. I vote Bumblebee gobies, but dwarf puffers are really cool too.

IMO, trying a brackish tank isn't a good way to practice for a marine tank - really, nothing is. The act of adding salt isn't something you need to practice for a whole year beforehand.

The other thing is that there really isn't much you can do with a brackish 10g. Even BBGs are really more of a freshwater fish than a brackish one.