brackish to fresh.....

[midnight]

ok for a few months i been trying to make a 3g brackish tank fresh
every once in a while i take a cup out
then add a cup of fw
also as it evaporates i add fw

so today i took my water to the lfs to find salinity
they said it was .002
what is brackish?
and how close am i to fresh?
:popcorn:

[basslover34]

ok for a few months i been trying to make a 3g brackish tank fresh
every once in a while i take a cup out
then add a cup of fw
also as it evaporates i add fw

so today i took my water to the lfs to find salinity
they said it was .002
what is brackish?
and how close am i to fresh?
:popcorn:
Fresh is NO salinity but your pretty freakin close, The evaporation method doesn't work though as the Salt doesn't evaporate it's the take a cup out and add a cup of fresh that is making the change happen, Whats in the tank?

[midnight]

cool
i thought the "white crust" on the tank was salt? from evaporation?
hmm

like how close? LOL
am i close enough to aclimate to fresh?
or should i wait to move them till the 3g is totally fresh?
:popcorn:
in it is
2x baby hogchokers
1x some kind of baby goby "forget the kind"
1x some kind of brackish minnow lol
:D

another thing
say a fw tank
you add aquarium salt
does that raise the salinity of the tank?
if so to what?

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

If there are brackish fish in the tank, then why are you trying to make it freshwater? At least move them somewhere else before you do that.

[midnight]

im aclimating them to fresh...

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

?
If they're brackish, you're not supposed to have them in fresh. That's kinda why they call it brackish, and not freshwater. What does the goby look like? Some gobies actually are freshwater, and I might be able to tell if what you have is.

[midnight]

lots of brackish fish are in fresh lol

and i just looked back at the netting thread with pix

looks like they might be river gobies

heres a pic of the one i have and the 2 hogs i have

"pix from months ago but havent grown much"

but eat a ton of brine shrimp lol

:D

[Danyal]

that goby you've got looks more like a darter. BW fish should be in BW, sure you can find and keep several species in FW for a time, but they should be in BW for best health, most that are found in FW are only there for a time. as for acclimating them down to FW, you can do that in under an hour with some airline hose and a large jar/bucket, just fill the container 1/3 of the way with BW and start a slow drip of FW into it, when the container is about 1/2 full, give them a 10min break and then full the container most of the way up, then dump the water down to about 1/3 full and repeat, works for acclimating BW fish from FW to BW as well. and the white crust isn't all salt, usually its calcium deposits. aquarium salt will raise the salinity of the water, however it doesn't have any of the elements that BW fish need(in fact its not even the right kind of salt, its magnisium phosphate aka epsom salt not sodium chloride)

[midnight]

not a darter i know that lol

and i didnt aclimate to fresh fast like you said cus i thought that would kill them
thats why im doing it slow,a few months lol
am i wrong?

thanx for the info

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

You are wrong in that you think brackish fish are going to be fine in freshwater. Brackish fish are used to change (in general), so acclimating them quickly probably isn't a problem. It's what you're acclimating them to that's the problem.
Acclimation won't kill brackish fish, freshwater will.
Unless I missed something and those are all freshwater fish, something's wrong.

[Moontanman]

I catch both of those fish here where I live or a very close approximation of them. the flounders will live in freshwater for a couple of years but will eventually die, the gobies only come into freshwater to breed. they will not live long. .002 is as close to fresh as you need to be, very few aquariums are much fresher than that unless they are keeping something that takes very soft water. Even a teaspoon per gallon would be saltier than that or close to it. If you really want to keep these fish in freshwater add calcium chloride to the water, about a tablespoon to your three gallon tank should do it. I would add it slowly over several days a little at a time but make sure it is already dissolved. Calcium chloride will keep the osmotic pressure of the fish close to normal and the small amount of salt will satisfy any need for salt they may have. Most freshwater fish will do quite well with this mixture except maybe fish that require very soft water to breed. doing this the water will still be brackish but the calcium chloride doesn't hurt fish like sodium chloride can. I do this with many of the native fish i keep so i can mix fish that live in tidal creeks at low salinity with fish that like freshwater but live in the same area. I've even kept fish like cardinal tetras like this for many years. The key is allow the fish to have neutral osmotic pressure or as close to it as possible. just like distilled water will kill a fish too salty water will as well.

[midnight]

.002 is as close to fresh as you need to be
thats what i wanted to hear lol

i didnt want to do a brackish tank but want this goby
and i know peeps keep hogs in fresh so i figured they would be ok

i cant release them and dont want to stray from fresh so i guess with the above quote in the next few days i will aclimate to fw and hope for the best

thanks for all the replies "and the light flaming on this experiment" :D
:popcorn:

[bromie88]

thats what i wanted to hear lol

i didnt want to do a brackish tank but want this goby
and i know peeps keep hogs in fresh so i figured they would be ok

i cant release them and dont want to stray from fresh so i guess with the above quote in the next few days i will aclimate to fw and hope for the best

thanks for all the replies "and the light flaming on this experiment" :D
:popcorn:

your going to be adding Calcium chloride to the tank, then you'll adding it with every water change, i guess on a weekly basis, just like me and numerous other people on the site.

why not just use salt? it will be exactly the same amount of effort, and give your fish the right environment to thrive, as aposed to just surviving.

do you have any other brackish tanks? or does the idea of keeping fish with saltwater seem daunting? if so dont worry. i found it daunting too. but after lurking around MFK for a while, i pieced together enough info to put a tank together a few months ago. now i have a tank with 0mgpl of ammonia. im really pleased with myself. think my green spotted puffer is too :)

add salt join the club:headbang2

[aggressor09]

The flounder you showed in the picture has an extremely high mortality rate in freshwater. There are some success stories, I know. But as a rule of thumb its a bad, bad idea.
Different brackish fish have different saline environments that they are used to.
What you have suggested, is the WORST possible idea.
Many LFS sell brackish as FW when they are young. If and when they survive this, they need a gradual acclimation to brackish parameters to ensure health, growth and longevity.
You are doing the total opposite, which is bad. Many fish are prone to fungal infections if kept in FW, and some fish will simply die if not transitioned to a majority marine/total marine climate.