brackish clean up crew

[clownfish]

I recently got my brackish 20G tank up and running I have 5 small africans in there now and all seem to be doing well.

Now I want to get some bottom feeders or cleaners to help keep the sand clean and debris free. any thoughts????

 

[e-cat]

if by africans you are mean african cichlids, then they are not a brackish water fish, brackish bottom feeders, clumbian sharks, they wil out grow your tank, fidler crabs, moon crabs

 

[clownfish]

I'm new to brackish, so I don't know all the fish and subtitlies involved. We wanted something between our marine and fresh water tank, we set up a brackish environment and filled it with what our lfs called "small mixed africans" in their brackish section. We got three different types: blue with vertical black stripes, solid yellowish orange and orange and white with black horiz stripes.

I thought they were african cichlids, but I could be wrong. what ever they are they are loving life in our brackish tank!

 

[Terry]

If they are African cichlids you don't have a Brackish Tank, for a Brackish tank you would have the likes of .... Scats, Mono's, Archer Fish, puffers, Silver Sharks. Check with your lfs to see what they sold you.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps it was a bit of mislabeling, and definition of brackish.

Rift lake (Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika) african chiclids do like some salt in their water, I'm guessing you used 1 tablespoon per gallon. I think they sell special salts for this, but I don't know how important the specific salt is. From your description, clownfish, you DO have Rift Lake African Chiclids, no idea on species, there are a lot.

Other "Brackish" fish come from areas where river or bay meets the ocean, so the water is more salty than pure fresh, but not full salt like the ocean. Those areas are where you would find the species listed above by Terry.

Back to your original question, sorry, really not sure what type of cleanup crew would be good in that tank. African chiclids will eventually destroy any crabs you put in there, I do know that.

 

[clownfish]

Thanks that last bit helps. The SG is about 1.010, perhaps a little less. They seem to be thriving so I assume its okay. I used marine salt, since i also run a marine tank.

 

[Terry]

your SG is fine, and useing marine salt is also OK.