Giving very serious thought to a brackish tank

[MyCatsDrool]

I really like those green figure 8 puffers and monos.


Chime in with your brackish pics and stories please...

 

[WaterPond]

hmmmm... thing is, puffers need a species tank, cant be kept WITH the monos. I love monos too, they are sold as brackish ,fresh and saltwater all in one on my LFS s, i think that is funny.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

What about a figure 8 and some swordtails?

 

[JDogg]

What about a figure 8 and some swordtails?

if you mean..."will a figure 8 eat swordtail" then yes

 

[coldmachineUK]

Yes mcd, go for it! It's very challenging but really rewarding
And, owning a brackish puffer IMHO is more like having a pet dog just that lives in a fish tank! lol. They're adorable, and very intelligent fish

You could go for some of these options:

Big scale: 40G++ (pref. 55G for fully grown adult): 1x GSP (green spotted) (nigroviridis, not fluviatilis or the others that get confused with this)
Small scale: 15-20G: 1x F8
Middle ground: 30G: 2x F8 (risky, but worth trying b/c more often than not it'll work out fine!)

GSPs really shouldnt be kept with anything else unless you don't mind it becoming food later down the line! And, they need to be kept alone, ideally. 30G minimum, but they grow to 6" and unlike other fishes this isn't 6" long but a 6" football lol!

F8s can be kept with other fish, but it can be risky. Some people keep them with BBGs (bumblebee gobies), but I've never risked that myself b/c the BBGs are just so small I can imagine them making a nice snack. Black mollies, on the other hand, go great with F8s. You could also try keeping a spiny eel with them depending on tank size: again this can be very risky. I nearly went this route but am fed up with my sand substrate so I'm switching it out for crushed coral which means an eel is a no-no as a burrowing fish. I've heard from others when I asked that their eels get along ok with F8s, but there was an initial 'tasting' involved lol.

Basically, house other fish with your F8s at your own risk! GSPs and other fish = totally bad idea.

Ceylons (fluviatilis) are also more aggressive than F8s, but less so than GSPs. Again, I personally would never risk housing other fish with ceylons.

If you want to keep monos, bear in mind they grow fairly big at 10" or so each, and they definitely need to be kept in a large group because they are a schooling fish. Imagine tetra, but on a huge scale and looking a bit more like angels...or...something! Hehehe.
If you had a 55G, you might keep a group of 4 with one or two F8s though. That might work...On the other hand monos need a much higher salinity (as do GSPs and ceylons) than F8s.

S.G. recommendations for salinity:
F8 = 1.005
GSP = 1.015
Ceylon = 1.015
Monos = 1.020

 

[MyCatsDrool]

awesome. thank you for so much info!