New to BW need advice

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Lady G

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Oct 6, 2005
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I recently bought a dragon fish (violet gobby), right now he is in FW. I had planned on doing a cichlid tank with my 30g that is being upgraded to a 55g because the fish in there need a bigger tank. Was dead set on getting cichlids but.....the dragon fish were the "fish of the month" at Wal-Mart, now I don't normally buy from Wal-Mart I know they are not great there but the poor guy's were all dieing because no one was buying them and it was so sad to see them in there 1/2 of them dead while the others were swimming around them knowing they were going to die too, so I HAD to buy one I just felt so bad for them I couldn't take it. So now instead of the cichlids I so desprately wanted I am now venturing into the world of brackish fish!

Now first I do realize that the dragon fish (Mombo), will need a bigger tank eventually but for now he is only about 4 1/2", I do have sand I can put as a substrate (bought a 60lb bag at ace hardware) for my 55 and will only be using a little of it since I am using both small gravel and sand, so I will have plenty for the 30g. Is there anything else I should add for substrate or should I use just sand?

Second: What type of plants should I get? My lighting for the 30 is low about 1watt/gallon so cypts, java fern, and java moss is what I was thinking.

Third: What other fish could I put with him? He spends most all his time at the bottom of the tank. I really LOVE the little puffers they are sooooo adorable, but I know they can be rather aggressive so I wasn't sure about them, I did read though given proper planting they are less aggressive but I don't want something that is going to hurt my Mombo (he's not a fighter). Then I seen the scats (I think they were called that) I really liked them too. And I found a BW cichlid so maybe I can still get a pair :confused: they were orange chromide (something like that) but it said they could live in a 30g. I really know absolutly nothing about brackish at this time so please ANY suggestions on fish would be soooo helpful :thm:

Fourth: How do I make the brackish water for him? I know I add salt..but I've read in several different sites that you can use aquarium salt, from what I've read here that is NOT true I should us Marine salt right? How much do I add is it 1tsp/5g? He is in FW right now so I have to do it slowly right, how do I do this I need ALL ADVICE possible right now since I am just starting out, I want to do it right (I'm giving up my cichlids for this so I want to make sure it's worth the work ;) )!

Thanks in advance :clap:

Gin
 

Lady G

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Oct 6, 2005
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fish I'm looking at

Ok I have looked a several different BW fish and I found some that are suppose to be ok in a 30 or under tank, but I have found in the past not to believe everything you read at the sites, so I thought I'd post the ones I found that I thought I may be able to get to go in the tank with my violet goby.

Marosatherina ladigesi "celebes rainbow" maybe 3?
bumble bee goby-now this one I got mixed info on, so 1 or more than 1?
Orange Chromide-a pair ? (I really like this one)
figure 8 puffer
swordtails- not sure how many say's "Group"?

others that sound nice but couldn't find pics or much info:
Indian glass fish
commersons glass fish
Kribensis "rainbowfish"
cuban cichlid

So any of these for sure no-no's?
What combo's of these would work?

Also, I did find the FAQ section so I now answered the how do I make it brackish part and the plant part my questions. But for the salt, is it actual marine salt or the "instant ocean" stuff or is that the same thing? I did find the water testing stuff at that pet place (to check the salt with).

Thank you :D
 
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RobKemp

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Dec 13, 2005
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Just a word of advice - you need to be very careful when purchasing fish from a tank where dead ones are present, especially if the live ones are not behaving properly. Disease, poor treatment and stress may all be contributing to their condition and while you might think you're doing the right thing by bringing them to a better home, they may end up dead or infecting other fish. It's not a bad idea to visit somewhere a couple of times to get a feel for how they treat their fish, as well as the turnover.

I'm not having a go at you or saying anything negative - I'm only trying to help you out in this respect because there's nothing worse than getting attached and excited about a fish, bringing it home and setting it all up only to have the critter belly-up in the morning.

Unfortunately I haven't ever kept brackish water fish, so I can't help you out there. I just thought I should warn you incase you encounter this again as it can lead to tears!
 

reiverix

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Sep 4, 2004
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gstoffer said:
But for the salt, is it actual marine salt or the "instant ocean" stuff or is that the same thing?
Instant Ocean is marine salt. I use it myself. As long as you use a marine mix and not aquarium or table salt you're good to go.

As for tankmates I have to admit I'm not too sure. Maybe a species tank?
 

Lady G

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Oct 6, 2005
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Yes, I realize it wasn't the smartest thing to buy that fish but I just couldn't not buy one, I came home first and after sitting here thinking about them, I just had to go back and get one, it was just bothering me to much not to! I have kept a close eye on him making sure to look for any signs of sickness or anything and so far he's been good, it's been close to a week now so I'm hoping that means he's going to be fine.

O.K. then I will get the instant ocean, I figured it was the same thing just wanted to make sure first. Also is one of the water testers that you just put in the tank good enough for my purposes right now? They are only between $6-$9 at that pet place, the others are just so expenive and would be hard for me to get right now, at a later time I could get the other but just to get buy for now would that be ok?
 

Lady G

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Oct 6, 2005
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reiverix said:
When you say water tester, do you mean a hyrdrometer or test kits?
Hydrometer, I am looking at the instant ocean hydrometer or the redsea hydrometer/temp. indicator and the deep six hydrometer...any suggestions on which I should go with? I just can't spend the 60-70 for the way advanced ones.

Just an update on fish choices:

Removing: cuban cichlids
puffers (F8 and GSP)
Kribs
after more research I have decided these would not work for my tank either to big or to aggressive for what I am going for.

Adding: Mollies as a possible though.
 

reiverix

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Sep 4, 2004
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I've got one of those swing arm hydrometers but can't remember off hand what make it is. A refractometer is the better choice though.

You will start to get a feel to how much salt you need to add to your change water. I mix mine in a separate tank a few days before the water change.

Good that you've ruled out puffers as tankmates. The long snakelike appearance of the goby would be irresistable.
 

Lady G

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Ok so I will make up a batch (so to say) then test that increasing salt with each water change until I get it to the salinity I want right? I am trying to find the salinity for him so far not much info, mainly just say's they are on the low end, only 1 site so far say's an actual # which was 1.005? Would this sound right to anyone?
 

reiverix

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Sep 4, 2004
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That's a low end brackish figure, the same as I keep my tank at with a f8 puffer and knight gobies. It isn't easy finding definite info on this fish but it seems that it's brackish tolerance is quite high as long as no sudden changes are made.

Raising SG by 1.002 per week is usually recommended. I was quite lucky in that my brackish fish were kept in brackish water at the LFS so I cycled my tank using their SG.

What I would do is make a 1 gallon jug of water and raise the SG to 1.005. From there you can get a rough figure on how much salt it will take for the 30g tank. Using those numbers you could figure out how much to add daily to raise SG by 1.002 per week, or lower if you want to use extra caution, which I probably would.
 
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