Lots of Questions About Starting a Brackish Tank

[Metalette]

OK, lots of questions here about brackish tanks. I have some brackish fish in my freshwater tank and I want to start a brackish tank and move them.

Here are the fish that I have, and I'm reading different things, so I'm not sure which fish are actually brackish and which aren't. Anyone know?

Balloon molly
Swordtail
Tiger Barb
Guppy
Pleco
Fiddler crabs

Would it be easier to make the freshwater tank I have brackish, and then start a freshwater tank? Or just leave the freshwater tank, and start a brackish one?

Aside from making sure the temperature is the same, how do I go about moving them from one tank to the other without putting them into shock?

And also, how do I start a brackish tank? I know I have to add marine salt and use a barometer to measure it or something like that, but that's all I know and I'm sure there's more to it than that.

Can freshwater plants live in brackish water?

Lastly, is it ok to put aquarium salt into a brackish tank? Or is that not necessary because of the marine salt.

Any advice will help, thanks in advance.

 

[DragonFish71]

We have an 80g that I'm going brackish with.

Here's what you'll need:

a hydrometer to measure salinity

marine salt is better than aquarium salt

Some plants can survive in brackish.

I'm letting the tank cycle first, then I will add the plants and fish slowly. Once everyone is in I'll start the slow transition to brackish.

Here's a few links that can help you:

Starting a Brackish Aquarium, what you need and what you can keep.

BracPlants

PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide

Brackish Fish: Brackish Water Fish for Brackish Aquariums and Tanks

The pleco and tiger barb are not brackish, I'm not sure on the fiddler crabs but I think they have to have a piece of land to climb up on. The guppies, molly and swordtail can go brackish if you do it slowly. We are going with mollies, swordtails and different types of gobies in ours.

 

[mfdrookie516]

We have an 80g that I'm going brackish with.

Here's what you'll need:

a hydrometer to measure salinity

marine salt is better than aquarium salt

Some plants can survive in brackish.

I'm letting the tank cycle first, then I will add the plants and fish slowly. Once everyone is in I'll start the slow transition to brackish.

Here's a few links that can help you:

Starting a Brackish Aquarium, what you need and what you can keep.

BracPlants

PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide

Brackish Fish: Brackish Water Fish for Brackish Aquariums and Tanks

The pleco and tiger barb are not brackish, I'm not sure on the fiddler crabs but I think they have to have a piece of land to climb up on. The guppies, molly and swordtail can go brackish if you do it slowly. We are going with mollies, swordtails and different types of gobies in ours.

yes with the fiddler crabs, they need something that they can climb out of the water on... when i had some in my 150, i simply had a piece of rope hanging down that they climbed up... now ive got them in a 10 with a big piece of driftwood standing up out of the water an inch or so that they like to "dry off" on... definately dont put the pleco in bw, it wont do so well. The tiger barbs will acclimate just like the guppies, mollies, and swordtails will, just has to be slow...

 

[sieski]

yes with the fiddler crabs, they need something that they can climb out of the water on... when i had some in my 150, i simply had a piece of rope hanging down that they climbed up... now ive got them in a 10 with a big piece of driftwood standing up out of the water an inch or so that they like to "dry off" on... definately dont put the pleco in bw, it wont do so well. The tiger barbs will acclimate just like the guppies, mollies, and swordtails will, just has to be slow...

Well I got mollies in a freshwater set up and they do fine. If the plec wont' do well in BW then how about the rest in FW? Thats if you realy wanted the plec.

 

[Aquarium1]

Plecos are sensitive to salt btw since the usually have no scales Ive heard.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Well I got mollies in a freshwater set up and they do fine. If the plec wont' do well in BW then how about the rest in FW? Thats if you realy wanted the plec.

yeah i agree, if you want the pleco, the rest will be ok in fw. i kept mollies just fine in fw, and as you know, guppies are probably the most common fw aquarium fish you will find except goldfish, so they do fine in fw... the crabs, they like bw, but mine are in fw and just happy as they can be, and the barbs are usually kept in fw too. None of those fish 'need' brackish water to live...