Turning a freshwater tank into a brackish tank.

[jchedotte]

I have a 55g tank that is freshwater. My roommate has taken a great liking toward puffers. Unfortunately most puffers are brackish fish. I have been told that adding a little salt to my tank wouldn't hurt my freshwater fish. I was just wondering if anyone else had ever heard the same thing, or if the salesman was just trying to make a fast buck. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[e-cat]

you can add small amounts of salt for fresh water fish but its a maximum of 1 table spoon per 5 gallons, but that is not enuff salt for brackish water puffers if you want puffer fish you can go with dwarf puffers or a fahaka puffer, both are fresh water and both behave very different, read up on them.

 

[Allivymar]

There are freshwater puffers; problem is they don't do well with other fish. In fact, most puffers don't do well with other fish (very aggressive nippy guys) and do best in a species specific tank.

You really can't mix brackish and freshwater fish; as e-cat mentioned the amounts you need for brackish are really too much for most freshwater. A little salt is fine for most species of freshwater fish (although not all; tetras, and corydoras are an example), but wouldn't be enough for a brackish puffer.

I suggest you do some research starting here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/fwbracpuffers.htm . Follow the links as well; theres a ton of info. There's also http://puffernet.tripod.com/main.html , which is a puffer specific website.

Also keep in mind most true puffers have some sort of toxin (Fugu being a rather glaring example). Another reason to consider them for a species only tank.

 

[jchedotte]

Thank you very much for your replys. I do have a fahaka puffer right now. I had him in our 29g semi-aggressive tank. The tank started to crash and my roommate sort of freaked and threw him in the 55g community tank. He actually handled it well. He seems to be happier there, so we left him. We have constantly been on the lookout for freshwater puffers, so I appreciate the info. Thank you both so much!

 

[madasafish]

Oh, a fun FW puffer to get is the Indian Dwarf Puffer (Tetraodon, or Carinotetraodon, travancorius). They stay small (about an inch to an inch and a half) and adorable. They're best in situations with several females and a male, and as Allivymar said, they're probably best in a species-only tank.

One other species which I've heard gets along better with other fish is the Brazilian, or Peruvian FW puffer (Colomesus asellus). It's relatively less nippy. Here's a website about it: http://www.pufferfish.co.uk/aquaria/species/pufferfish/types/coloasel.htm. It's also not a puffer that gets very big--only about 5 inches tops. Though I still advocate a species-specific tank, one of these might turn out to be less aggressive in a tank with other fish that can fend for themselves (not in a community tank, though). They might do well with less aggressive South American cichlids, for example.

 

[Dr.Danio]

when choosing a puffer from the store, make sure that you 1. get a fw variety, as brackish fish require constant changes in salinity to stay healthy and this can be a pain. 2. that the fish you are getting actually is what they say it is (my normally VERY knowledgeable lfs owner mis-identified mine from the wrong continent...) 3. that their teeth aren't too large. I didn't beleive this at first, but after a week of watching mine try to eat, his teeth were just too big to open his mouth to feed and he starved to death.

do you research (the stated articles are great) and make sure the fish you're getting is a healthy one, or else he'll be cute and dead like my poor Stewey...

 

[mgkaelen]

i read that feeding puffers SHELLED or HARD food once a week is imperative so their teeth don't get too long!

 

[tkos]

Also make sure if you do make a brackish water tank that you use Marine Salt Mix to make it. That standard salt for freshwater tanks just won't cut it as it is mostly NaCl which isn't useful. You need teh buffering capacity of the marine salt and you also need to get a hydrometer to measure and keep a stable salinity. It isn't just as easy as adding some salt.

 

[puffergirl]

Going back to the tooth problem with puffers...... The SA Puffers are notorius for overgrown teeth problems. It does not matter how many snails you feed them there tooth is still going to overgrow. These puffers require to have their tooth trimmed at least 3-4 months depending on how fast they grow. This sounds nasty but I have already done it with my SA Puffer.