Brackish Beginner Help

stumbler

AC Members
Apr 2, 2004
10
0
0
Alberta, Canada
Visit site
Hi, I have just set up a 33 gallon brackish tank with a specific gravity of 1.007. I really want some Figure 8 puffers and want to have some other species in the tank for variety. I was thinking of some bigger mollies to cycle the tank and then some glassfish and bumble-bee gobies. I wanted some mono, but the tank is probably to small for them. I've read so many web sites I'm getting so confuesd. Any advice would be grealy appreaciated.
 
In a 38, you'll be limited to probably just one F-8--they can be very aggressive and beat each other up. Ditto for tankmates, so go with fish that are hardy and fast. Mono's probably won't work...

I would cycle the tank fishlessly--you can either use ammonia, or some cocktail shrimp, and test daily til ammonia and nitrites hit 0. There are good threads for either method in the Freshwater or Marine Newbie forums. Either method will work great for the brackish setup. FW test kits should work with that low of a salinity.
 
I suggest cycling your tank at whatever the SG is the fish at the lfs are at & raising the SG after they have acclimated to your tank. Otherwise, since most BW fish are sold in FW, it will take you 7 hours (by drip method) to properly acclimate your fish to 1.007. That can be pretty stresfull to a fish going into a new tank. And PLEASE do a fishless cycle!
 
I have a 29g w/3 F8s 4 knight gobies & 6 bumblebee gobies
 
AquariaCentral.com