Why did you all convert to Brackish? (thinking about it)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
S

Stratoquarius

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 22, 2011
1,179
15
68
35
Calgary
I'm just curious why people change to brackish. I've kept cichlids for about 8 years and also kept marine at one point but I have never had Brackish. I currently have a large 225 gallon tank with different kinds of cichlids in there, and am just getting a bit bored of having to remove fish that become more aggressive and try and kill everything.

I currently have 2 green spotted puffer babys and the idea occurred to me last night, that I could make that tank into a kick ass brackish set up. it also helps that brackish fish are all relatively peaceful. archers, scats, monos. violet gobies, puffers, gobies, livebearers and much more can all live together happily with little trouble in a brackish aquarium. I wouldn't have to worry about aggression or fish being killed etc because a 3 foot wide brackish tank thats 5 feet long would have enough room for some pretty cool fish.

Just playing with the idea in my head right now and was wondering if you Brackish keepers out there could tell me how you first converted and why?

thanks Strato
 
Im considering it for the gobies and the puffers. Ive found that the saltier your tank gets the cooler the fish you can put in there. Mudskippers also look like theyde be awesome.


Sent from my iPod touch using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
Yeah I know what you mean, right now after keeping cichlids for 8 years I feel more interested watching my two little green puffers than i do watching my cichlids. I always get the same response from the cichlids, running to the front begging for food. I don't even get to observe any natural behaviour.
 
An LFS near me has green and ruby scats. they were in the tank next to the puffers when I got them. Brackish fish aren't too common but a lot of stores near me if not all of them sell brackish fish.
Monos, archers, scats, puffers. I wouldn't have to order anything online

greens were $14 and reds were about $18
 
I wouldn't say I've as much "changed" as I have "expanded" to brackish.

Still keep several fresh water tanks and a mini-reef.
Why brackish is just interesting animals with interesting metabolics and interesting lifecycles, I guess. And the fact that you don't have to carry truckloads of salt for waterchanges, like with full salt.

Surprisingly many species adapted to brackish, too.
 
if chiclids are boring you, get different cichlids. There are thousands and the aggression you are describing is only symptomatic of the more popular ones. Brackish has some great fish though I usually just get brackish fish and keep them in fresh. Monos, orange chromides, freshwater morays, columbian sharks, Dats, I could go on they are all amazing fish.
 
yeah they are all amazing fish, but when I had my columbian shark he lasted about 2 weeks in fresh water before he got open sores and died. I read that its common with brackish fish kept in fresh water. Saw some scats at the lfs with the same problem. So I wouldn't really want to keep them in fresh cause they might just up and die on me.

as for cichlids I have kept...
Tangynikan community
Malawi haps
malawi mbuna
mixed hap and mbuna
peaceful south american cichlids
aggressive central americans
aggressive single wet pet
breeding pair of oscars
dwarf cichlids and geophagus.

what is there left to keep :P?
 
1. No more difficult than FW

2. Only extra expense is salt, which is modest

3. Several genres to try ( large semiaggressives like scats, monos, anableps, crazy fish, archer, morays, etc; or community fish like gobies, blennies, mollies, some rainbows, chromides, glass fish, etc; solitary big meanass puffer; etc)

4. Almost all of the above fish are unlike anything typically seen in FW tanks, even if they are often still somewhat bland by SW standards.

Great reading for any interested rookie: http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects/brackishfaq.html
 
Thanks for the info Brackishdude I've already gone through Nmonks guide to brackish. its a really good site with lots of information, It really helped explain it to me.
Went into the nearby petland to get some superworms for my bearded dragon and even they have started doing archerfish for around $18. looked like Jaculatrix and one species that had a lot more black colour on its sides.

my dad is actually thinking about getting rid of his Mbuna and going marine. which will be awesome, I've had marine before and never brackish so It would be pretty cool to do something new to me. I've had colourful fish and aggressive fish and I just feel like cichlids are becoming too familiar to me. I don't really get to witness any natural behaviour. hard to imagine cichlids begging at the surface for food in the wild.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom