Brackish set-up?

[Amanda]

I have my 20 gal. set up as a QT tank right now with the ICH.
But, I just lost the tetra, and my platies aren't looking so hot, so I'm not holding my breath that they'll be around for much longer.
Even if they do heal up, they can be kept in a slightly brackish water correct?
What other brackish fish could be kept, either with them or alone?
How much extra work is a brackish tank?

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Brackish tanks are easy. All you need is a little marine salt and a hydrometer/refractometer.
I believe that platies are fine with brackish water. I know that mollies are.
There's quite a few options for other fish. You could get bumblebee gobies, mollies, um.... some other fish. Can't think very much right now. If you wanted you could get a red clawed crab if you give him a place out of water to sit. (Not a fiddler, they are bad news to your fish...)
I'll tell ya if I think of anything else....

[Amanda]

Yeah, my local Wal-Mart carries bumblebee gobies.
Would they be okay with platies & swordtails though?
They're so tiny.

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Supposedly they are fine with Figure 8 puffers most of the time, so seems like they could handle platies

[Amanda]

Dragon gobies are supposed to be brackish, but in all of the stores I see them sold, they are kept in FW. Of course, so are the other gobies.

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Yes, they are brackish. The problem with dragon gobies is that they are very slow and almost blind, so if they're with more aggressive fish then they might not get any food.

[jgon_]

20G and Brackish...hmmmm, I think I know a perfect fish for that set up....

But brackish tanks aren't as bad as I thought theyd be, just get the items Pink listed above. My only complaint is that I've had no luck with planting it. I hate the look of fake plants so my brackish tank is really 'ugly' by my standards. But as long as the puff likes it...

[Amanda]

My local wal-mart & one Petsmart is overriden with snails....I wonder if they'd sell me the tiny babies if I decided to get a puffer. Idk yet though. I'm still deciding what I want to have & move around between tanks.