Plecos and brackish tanks

[Liz]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new member looking for some advice. I've recently had some disasters with ich in my coldwater 15g set up. On the loss of some great fishy friends I decided to go tropical.

After some consideration I've recently bought 2 columbian catsharks which were living in freshwater at the LFS. I know these require brackish waters as they get older and am gradually adding doses of salt. However, I have some remnants of my old coldwater tank - Hobbes my 3" red plecostomus and a couple of common goldfish.

I am in the process of getting a second hand larger tank (40g) for the catsharks because of the current inhabitant incompatibility and their potential size but am wondering whether Hobbes could cope with brackish water

Does anyone know whether or not a red pleco can survive in a brackish tank? They're hardy fish but I've grown very attached to him and would hate to injure him with my ignorance.

The latin name for him is hypostomus plecostomus (I realise they have so many common names).

Thanks
Liz

 

[RogerMcAllen]

www.planetcatfish.com Post this in their forums and you will get an answer for sure.

 

[Liz]

Wow - thats a fast response! I shall definitely be posting enquiries here again. Great forum

Thanks for the advice.

Liz

 

[lighter]

I dont think its a good match. Plecos are never meant for brackish water.

 

[Liz]

Soooo confused!

I've just been to the LFS and spoken to one of their staff about my Red Plecostomus and whether it can be kept in brackish condition. I was told that there was no problem and that I could put my columbian sharks and my red plecostomus together . (obviously changing water conditions slowly).

However this contradicts a couple of responses I've had from some forums :? . I've also been informed on another forum that my columbian sharks will require marine not brakish conditions as they age. This also contradicts previous advise I've been given. :x

Does anyone have experinece of keeping columbian sharks (Arius seemani) and know what they require to live as long and happy life as possible?

Also has anyone ever kept a red plecostomus (Hypostomus plecostomus) in brackish conditions with success or otherwise?

I'd like to give my fish a happy life. If any one has any recommended reading or web sites to visit this would also be of great help.

I hope someone will be able to help me.
Liz

 

[Terry]

Hiya liz
Columbian sharks (Arius seemani) you will get various contradicting comments on loads of subjects, but i have had some experiance with silver cat sharks (as i like to call them). IMO you can class your shark cats as brackish, when they are small most lfs will sell them as fresh water and they will live in them conditions for a time, but as they grow they like the introduction of salt. They do say that when they reach full size in the wild that they will swim out to sea, but return to spawn. It also says in the books that you read that shark cats will grow 12"-18", well when i gave my 3 shark cats to the london Aquarium they measured 19.5"/ 21"/ 27". That is differant to what the books say, but that could also be down to the fact that they were just spoilt by me.

Back to your question what i basically did was introduce them to my fresh water aquarium and as they were growing i introducd some salt, i never took it up to marine levels i just kept it as a brackish tank. if i can remember i think i took it up to about SG 1.017 which is just below marine.
As for a plec i did have one in with my shark cats, he was in the tank when i got the shark cats and he stayed, but if i remember rightly i did remove him soon after, so i don't really know if he was alright to be in there.

HTH

 

[Terry]

Oh! by the way,

Welcome to Aquarium Advice.

 

[Liz]

Thanks Terry, that explains a lot. I'm going to follow your experiences and gradually add the salt. I think I'll keep my plecostomus with them for a while and see what happens as the dosage increases.

Thanks again Liz

 

[Terry]

No worries Liz, thats what were here for. I forgot to mention to read your salt levels you need to get a hydrometer. Tell the guy/girl in your lfs that it is to read a brackish tank and he will supply one for the lower levels SG 1.000 upwards. If you have trouble getting one let me know.

 

[PrettyFishies]

So what you consider to be brackish is not the same as adding Aquarium Salt? I am considering a Puffer, a Columbian Shark, a blue lobster, and a pleco in the same tank... Is that wise to do? And if I just use aquarium salt, does a hydrometer even read that?

 

[Terry]

Prettyfishes,

I don't really know when you would say a tank is brackish. If you look up the word in a dictionary Brackish means slightly salty. A freshwater tank is 1.000 on a hydrometer so in other words it won't show a reading, so IMO anything above that should be classed as brackish. Some people say a true brackish tank starts at 1.008-1.010 and finishes when it gets to marine levels. As you know with your marine tank that you have a minimum level that you keep your marine SG at, well i would say anything below that until it goes down to 1.000 would be brackish.
This is the way i look at it, someone else might be able to explain it better.

There are some Hydrometers that start from 1.000 so anything above that is a reading.

Example...... if you put some aquarium salt in your tank for your mollies and it shows a reading on a hydrometer then i would call it brackish.

As for your choice of fish, columbian sharks, puffers OK. Not sure about blue lobster, and some people say no to putting pleco's in brackish and some say it is OK.

HTH

 

[Liz]

Hi,

I've been asking around about plecos in the same tank as columbian sharks too. The widely held belief seems to be that plecos are not meant to be brackish and therefore whilst they may cope for a short term permanent brackish water is not good for them. I'm not sure about the other fishes you mentioned as never kept them before. Up until today I did have two lovely columbian sharks but unfortunately I diagnosed Ich too late and after 2 weeks of battling with meds and water changes they gave up within 24 hrs of one another - just as I was setting up a new and larger tanks for them aswell!

Be warned though they do get large - I was told by Terry in an earlier post that his silver sharks grew much larger than the literature suggested.

Hope you get some more posts in response to your question. I'm looking for any more advice on Plecos in brackish tanks too but in the meantime if I hear anything elsewhere I will post something here

Good luck
Liz