Freshwater flounder

[Trainer_Ruby_]

What exactly is a freshwater flounder? Is it just a flounder that lives in rivers or is it a brackish fish? My lfs had one and I was curious about what exactly they are and anytime I find a pic of one they're with bumblebee gobys. I know bumblebees go to freshwater to spawn so I'm curious as to where they live.


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Nils]

They are brackish fish. They get to a decent size (6"!) but aren't hat active, so IMO a 20 gallon long would be sufficient for 1 or 2.

 

[Andy Sager]

There are only a couple of types of flounders/soles that are totally freshwater so if yours comes from N. America, it will do better in a brackish tank than a freshwater one. Early in their lives they are in freshwater but travel down the rivers to estuaries. Make sure you have a sand bottom for them as they do like to dig into the sand and feed them worms.

You can read up on the different ones here:Freshwater Sole, Brachirus panoides, False Freshwater Sole, Pan Sole, Tonguefish

Hope this helps.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Would they do well in a community tank with gobies? I have a 55 with a dragon some bumblebees and soon to be a knight goby. I would definitely like to consider him for this tank. It has a fine gravel bottom that the dragon likes to sift through but I'm not sure he'd be able to burrow.



Keep calm and drum on

 

[Andy Sager]

They don't usually like to fight for their food so if the other fish are more aggressive feeders, then NO, it's not a good fit.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Alright. Would they accept wax worms as well as earth worms? I know the other fish don't prefer wax worms because they have a hard time biting them. I know the bumblebees like to get the flakes as they fall and the dragon sifts around his rock formation. The knight I'm not sure how he eats but I'd assume he eats similar to the bumblebees and mollies.


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Andy Sager]

Highly unlikely. Waxworms are actually bug larvae not real worms. They need worms like Tubifex, Black or marine type worms.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Ok I'll get some this weekend and see how the other fish like them. If they eat them readily I won't get him if they don't I'll put more consideration into him. Would the fine gravel be ok for one or should I consider a finer sand if I want to add one?


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Andy Sager]

I would use a finer sand.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

alright so change from the gravel to something more like play sand how would you go about doing that? would you just take out a handful of gravel and add a handful of sand?

 

[scuba dude]

Consider pool filter sand instead of play sand , not quite as fine as typical play sand for a sandbox.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Ok ty


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Andy Sager]

alright so change from the gravel to something more like play sand how would you go about doing that? would you just take out a handful of gravel and add a handful of sand?

Basically yes. Just make sure the new sand is cleaned first. But you don't want to do a total substrate makeover all at one time. Some of your nitrifying bacteria will be in the gravel as well as your filter so you want to change no more than 20%- 25% of the substrate per week. This will allow the remaining bacteria to recolonize the new substrate.

 

[gzeiger]

Under optimal growth conditions a bacteria population can double every twenty minutes. Changing substrate is not going to harm your fish. When you establish a new tank you have like four individual bacteria and it takes them a long time to get to a population that can effectively control water chemistry, but once you have millions in there you can remove half of them without any meaningful impact to your fish.

I'd just dump sand on top of the gravel though. These guys don't bury deep.

They will appreciate frozen food also. It's easier and probably more nutritious than trying to keep them on live worms (since realistically you probably can't provide proper nutrition for the worms). They can be kept entirely on beefheart, mysis, krill, brine shrimp and/or bloodworms from the pet store freezer.

 

[Andy Sager]

Under optimal growth conditions a bacteria population can double every twenty minutes. Changing substrate is not going to harm your fish. When you establish a new tank you have like four individual bacteria and it takes them a long time to get to a population that can effectively control water chemistry, but once you have millions in there you can remove half of them without any meaningful impact to your fish.

I'd just dump sand on top of the gravel though. These guys don't bury deep.

They will appreciate frozen food also. It's easier and probably more nutritious than trying to keep them on live worms (since realistically you probably can't provide proper nutrition for the worms). They can be kept entirely on beefheart, mysis, krill, brine shrimp and/or bloodworms from the pet store freezer.

However, the average aquarist doesn't keep their tanks at "optimal growth conditions" so better to be safe than sorry. No?

Another option to changing your substrate is to use a flat tupperware type container and fill that with the sand and bury it in your current gravel setup. This will give your flounder(s) a place to bury without causing much disturbance to tank.

As for other foods, yes, shrimps( brine, krill and mysis) will also work but bloodworms may not. The bloodworms sold in shops are bug larvae and not your marine bloodworms usually found on the bottom of the areas where these flounders are collected. But definitely using a variety of foods is better.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

If they prefer worms over other food would it be worth setting up a worm farm?


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Andy Sager]

If they prefer worms over other food would it be worth setting up a worm farm?


Keep calm and drum on

It's not that they prefer worms over other foods, they prefer real worms over bug larvae. They also need to be fed variety as well so the other foods mentioned, ( different types of shrimps and clams when older) should be part of their diet as well.
As for setting up a worm factory, that would be great if you were keeping a lot of flounders but for just, say, 6 or less, that would be an awful lot of work for just that few fish. (IMO) There are much easier options out there already.

 

[gzeiger]

Is that an under-gravel filter? I didn't know anyone still did that. If yes, please disregard my advice about adding sand and use a container for it as just mentioned. Sand will not work with that filter, nor is changing the substrate in large chunks a good idea. I was assuming there was a separate filter basket on there.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Is that an under-gravel filter? I didn't know anyone still did that. If yes, please disregard my advice about adding sand and use a container for it as just mentioned. Sand will not work with that filter, nor is changing the substrate in large chunks a good idea. I was assuming there was a separate filter basket on there.

I run fluval 06 series canister filters for my tanks. 106 for my 10g tanks 206 for my 20 and 25 and 306 for my 55.


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Alright so I got him and he's so tiny. He's about the size of my thumb nail and I was wondering is I should add him to my 55g brackish or if I should add him to my 25g freshwater until he's a little bigger. The 25 does have a really fine sand he should be able to burrow into. The sand is actually from the beach where I found a wild flounder burrowed.


Keep calm and drum on