Going from brackish to freshwater?

tranceFusion

tranceFusion

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Mar 21, 2007
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Frederick, MD
I have a 30gallon with only 3 bumblebee gobies in there. I was thinking I would try them in fresh because I can't find any brackish tankmates I want to put in there. Unfortunately I can figure out which species of bumblebee they are so I hope I am not doing something bad..

The SG is at like 1.003 right now. Can I just gradually do water changes and when the SG is not detectably higher than 1.0, add freshwater fish? Are fish like loaches going to be bothered by just trace amounts of salt?

Or do I need to take all of the sand decor, filter media, etc. out and wash it (and cycle the tank again)?
 
Loaches will definitely be bothered by the presence of salt. Have you look into mollies and Chanda ranga as tankmates? There are also rainbowfish such as Celebes rainbowfish (Telmatherina ladigesi) that will be fine in your SG.

There is no need for you to strip down everything. A series of water changes will eventually lower the SG.
 
I don't fully understand what you are saying..

Will the loaches be affected if I lower the SG by doing water changes? Or do you just mean if I leave the SG at 1.003? Because I am assuming that there will be a small amount of salt present for a long time to come if I don't strip everything down.

I know there are fish which are suitable for tankmates for BBG's, but none that I really care to keep.

I enjoy the BBG's, but I got them as tankmates for mudskippers. I wanted to give the mudskippers more land, and it was alreadydifficult to keep the water clean enough for the gobies with the mudskippers dropping all of their half eaten food in it.. So I got a 2nd tank for the gobies, thinking that I would eventually add some more brackish fish.. but I haven't been able to find anything that really got me excited.
 
tranceFusion said:
Will the loaches be affected if I lower the SG by doing water changes? Or do you just mean if I leave the SG at 1.003? Because I am assuming that there will be a small amount of salt present for a long time to come if I don't strip everything down.
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I thought you meant adding salt to increase salinity. The gradual process of lowering the SG should not affect them. Gravel vacuuming can remove any grains of salt that settled on the bottom. Which loach species do you have? A 30g is small for most species requiring plenty of space.
I enjoy the BBG's, but I got them as tankmates for mudskippers. I wanted to give the mudskippers more land, and it was alreadydifficult to keep the water clean enough for the gobies with the mudskippers dropping all of their half eaten food in it.. So I got a 2nd tank for the gobies, thinking that I would eventually add some more brackish fish.. but I haven't been able to find anything that really got me excited.
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You can always try Etroplus if they're available.:)
 
I was thinking I would go with a small group of khuli loaches.. I saw them all wrapped up together in a ball at a fish shop and it made me quite fond of them (though I later read this means they don't have enough cover).
 
There are tons of tankmates you could keep in a 30g low-end BW tank. Knight gobies, a dragon goby, figure 8 puffers, mollies, Celebes rainbows, glassfish, kribensis, chromides, etc.
 
like i said, i know there are fish.. but none of them that interest me. i don't want to care for a 30g tank filled with fish that bore me.

maybe i am weird, but pretty much all "normal" fish are pretty boring to me..
 
Gobies & puffers are not normal fish. Maybe you've never seen a dragon goby? One of the most "oddball" fish out there.
 
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