Question about Monos and general Brackish

Why would you assume all your fish would not survive to grow to a rather large size? With the right conditions & plenty of water changes, all your fish should grow quite large--enough for about 200g.
What are your water paremeters? pH should kept steady, around 8. Usually that is dome by using aragonite sane or crushed coral.

IMO...
Go with plastic plants! Thery are much easier to take care of! At this SG neither Freshwater plants or Saltwater Plants can survive. The only real option for live plants in Brackish at this sg is, to find a Brackish area and collect some plants. This does however increase the risk of bringing things into your aquarium that you do not want. IE pollution parasites and things like that!

Now about the Monos...
IMO They should be in a bigger group. ( at least 6 ) However, you aquarium is definately not big enough! Do you have other Hiding Spots for them? Is there stuff in the tank to break up sight lines so the fish can hide across the tank? I have some flat rock, and I stack it up and space it out big enough to give them a few tall, narrow areas where the Monos can take a rest from all of the activity. Do remember though that they need swimming room so dont over do it! You will always have 1 mono in the group that will grow bigger and be dominant. It's nature. Is the other fish showing signs of stress? Is it getting hurt by the picking, or is it just the other fish showing his dominance? IMO as long as it is not showing signs of stress (usually turning black/dark with monos) and it is not physically injured, I believe this to be the normal Mono pecking order!

The Substrate...
I would look around, you can find black marine sand in many pet stores. It sounds like it would give you both buffering, and the look you want..??

Lastly...The tank size.
These fish that you have, exception mollies, grow large, extremely large. But, I am not going to harrass you about what you already know. Just give some advice. For the time being, I would raise your sg to 1.012 and put a protein skimmer to work. Also Make sure your filtration is great. The more fish, the more filtration. Avg I would say is to turn over the tank 10x per hour. Being overstocked I would try to increse that, add a HOB filter. Also make sure you have a good test kit and test often!!! Do 25% water changes at least weekly, and more if necessary. I have a 75 gallon that will be overstocked soon as well, but I understand the requirements for my fish as adults, and am prepared to upgrade to a larger tank at any time, I have great filtration, use a protein skimmer and bi-weekly 25% water changes and my water stays great. 0, 0, and 30-40
Scott

I recently concidered growing mangroves out of the back of my aquarium as they typically grown in brackish streams from what i read. my LFS can easily order them for me. im not sure about you but i live in northern Ontario Canada so if i can get them im guessing you can too

You'd need at least a 300g tank for a school of 6 adult monos.

Pufferpunk said:

You'd need at least a 300g tank for a school of 6 adult monos.

Click to expand...

I still disagree with this! I think 300 is way overkill for 6 6-8 inch fish. Sure in the wild they can grow to 10-12 inches, but I just haven't come across that in captivity. I would love to be proven wrong but can find no documented proof that they grow full size (beyond 6-8 inches) in captivity even with plenty of tank space. I would personally say no less than 125, ideally around 180!

I think size is only one thing to consider... activity level is also pretty important to me. If you have a fish that doesn't swim much like Hoplias malabaricus you can 'get away' with a smaller tank.

I think a 180 seems pretty reasonable from a health standpoint but it may be a little cramped given the monos love to swim. Then there are the tank dimensions to consider...

There is absolutely no reason a fish in captivity should not grow as large, if not larger than their wild brothers in nature, given the proper food & housing. Have you ever seen a school in a tank that large?

I've seen them in tanks and aquarium displays much larger, and the fish were full grown and not that large(8 inches and under). I challenge you to find me documented proof. Find me pictures of Monos in a 300 gallon tank that are more than 8 inches.... I will not argue this, just prove me wrong....

I don't deny you are the King/Queen of puffers, but I have been studying and keeping Monos for many (7+) years, and I respectfully disagree with you on this.

As per the book "Brackish Water Fishes" Written by Neale Monks It says and I quote " (around 6" or 15 cm is not uncommon) An Ideal Aquarium would be 48" long and 24" deep This leaves a bit of room for some other comparably sized community fish such as a couple of scats or shark catfish." Which if you go to an aquarium calculator is (drumroll) 125 gallons.!!!

I guess I'll just stick with my puffers then...