Mangrove Jack

[olex]

After recent discussion on another thread about stocking a 370gallon which could possibly be built bigger if I decide, I have been swayed pretty heavily to go the path of a mangrove Jack and I'm pretty excited about it. The tank measurements were going to be somewhere around 6ft long by 3ft wide and probably about 2-2.5ft tall but the length may be stretched to 7ft. Anyhow, the reason I posted a new thread is because I don't know anywhere near as much about this fish as I do about cichlids etc and I want to branch out being an Australian and all so I would like to know
1: how long would that tank be suitable for a MJ given it is alone in that tank.

2: how much salt does this fish require to be added to the tank to be happy and healthy.. per litre or however you want to scale that. (And what type of salt because I'm used to just adding normal aquarium salt to tanks not marine salt so I don't know)

3: Seeing as the tank will be a plywood aquarium (following the current plywood build that TheKingOfDIY is doing on YouTube ATM) will that withstand salt or would that only be suitable for fresh water... Probably a stupid question but I built a tank before and it stuffed up with 800litres of water in it and I don't want to make a mistake again. Tank will be sealed and waterproofed with aquarium safe epoxy.
Please give me lots and lots of feedback and info because I'm pretty excited about this fish as I've read it's a true beast and I want to be able to look after it properly and be prepared for it.
Thank you!

 

[justarn]

subbed, i love mangrove jacks... my unicorn fish, never gonna have a tank large enough, dont they hit 4ft?

 

[crenicichla444]

Probably could keep it in full calcium buffered fw for life but you can do 3ppt salinity that way u can keep fw fish with it as well and still have all the trace elements. You could probably keep the snapper in a 370 for a long time Id say probably 4-7 years before needing to upgrade or sell. Kinda like bumble bee groupers. People always say they get 8 feet etc but in captivity (public aquariums) they take 14 years to hit 4 feet... So really you do have a pretty good amount of time... they are great fish though

 

[olex]

Probably could keep it in full calcium buffered fw for life but you can do 3ppt salinity that way u can keep fw fish with it as well and still have all the trace elements. You could probably keep the snapper in a 370 for a long time Id say probably 4-7 years before needing to upgrade or sell. Kinda like bumble bee groupers. People always say they get 8 feet etc but in captivity (public aquariums) they take 14 years to hit 4 feet... So really you do have a pretty good amount of time... they are great fish though

If I don't want fw fish in there with is, is 3ppt optimum or should I go different?

 

[crenicichla444]

Doesn't really matter. I'm keeping hundreds of dollars of rare fw fish (cichla intermedia, Atf, argy bighead dorado, etc) in 3ppt not an issue maybe in fact better colors and livelier... Your call really...

 

[tomojsg]

you could keep it in full fresh doesnt have to be brackish or sw.
but its up to you & how you want to set it up. i have mine in full
fw and so does my buddy with the big boy which has been in full
fresh all its life.

 

[crenicichla444]

you could keep it in full fresh doesnt have to be brackish or sw.
but its up to you & how you want to set it up. i have mine in full
fw and so does my buddy with the big boy which has been in full
fresh all its life.

Nice yeah full fresh works good too. Did you get yours from Wes's batch? I got one and had my buddy grow it out but he killed it after a few days. It had some weird white splotches and ich when it came a little roughed up but made the salinity 7-8ppt and cleared up but was wayyy to late.... Just a heads up for people who don't know... Full strength seawater is 34ppt. So 3ppt is a TINY amount of salt a fraction of seawater. Good to prevent ich in fw fish

 

[tomojsg]

Nice yeah full fresh works good too. Did you get yours from Wes's batch? I got one and had my buddy grow it out but he killed it after a few days. It had some weird white splotches and ich when it came a little roughed up but made the salinity 7-8ppt and cleared up but was wayyy to late.... Just a heads up for people who don't know... Full strength seawater is 34ppt. So 3ppt is a TINY amount of salt a fraction of seawater. Good to prevent ich in fw fish

yea i got it from wes. its doing good in full fresh eats like a pig and hes a killa for sure! lol not much color on him though unfortunately