thanson

I am trying to decide what type of fish I want and need some help. Do I want a Cichlid Tank or .

What is a Brackish Tank?

I am looking for low maintenance but want some good variation. It is my intention to have live plants and a sand substrate.

Thanks for the help.

Blub

WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

A Brackish tank is a tank with water salinity somewhere between freshwater and saltwater. There isn't a huge (compared to freshwater or saltwater) choice of fish - some of the main ones being mollys, brackish puffers, brackish gobys and archerfish.

I'd suggest you try a peaceful community tank. Go to your LFS (Local fish store) without money (Don't be tempted to buy!) and see what fish you like the look of. Write down their names on paper whilst you are there (latin names might help, as some LFS's sell fish under an odd common name) and post them here, and we'll see what you could do with the fish you like. And, whilst you are there, don't listen you anything the LFS people tell you. They are often... 'Untrained' in fish care to put it simply. (Or... 'Highly untrained'!)

And, whilst I'm here, I guess I could reccomend some fish. Check out Tetras, Guppys, Platys, Swordtails, Mollys (they can be kept in freshwater as well as brackish), Danios, Rasboras, Bristlenose plecos, Khuli loaches and Corys. You might find this link useful: http://www.aquahobby.com/e_freshwate...arium_fish.php

And, don't forget the nitrogen cycle:

It seems a lot to take in at first, but after a while it becomes simpler as you get to know the different aspects of fishkeeping. But, you have us to help - if you have a question just ask me. Oh, and you might want to check out the 'Enyclopedia aquatica' link in my sig - it's pretty self explanatory once you've seen one of the posts, and you might find it useful.

Good Luck!

agabr123

if you want low maintenance, then definitely start with freshwater. with saltwater you need (or it's at least recommended that you should have) a sump, a protein skimmer, very specific lighting, etc. you also need a refractometer or hydrometer to measure the salinity. get your feet wet (no pun intended) with freshwater first and see how you do with that.

joy613

Very few plants do well in brackish water, so if you want live plants go with freshwater. You might want to consider getting some MTS if you are going to go with sand to keep the aerobic pockets down. Some stem plants don't do well in sand and other thrive.

Dozey

Cichlids are a beautiful fish but do tend to get rather large so that will certainly limit your stock. Also, cichlids prefer a low pH. Depending on your tap water this might mean tampering with you PH and adding to your maintenance. Most community fresh water fish will adjust to your tap water’s PH.

krismoore888

what is MTS?

Red1313

MTS
two definitions:
1) Malasian Trumpet Sails. They burrow though the sand and prevent anarobic bacteria pockets from forming. Can also be a good indicator of water problems if you see them on top of the sand during the day.
2) Multipule tank syndrome. A highly contagious diseases with no know cure where the afflicted feels almost a need for more tanks, and more and more tanks. Believed to be transmitted by the "Fish Aliens" The only course of treatment is to indulge within reason.
In this case they meant the first definition.

BlowPhish

Both Cichlid and brakish would be higher maintenance. Cichlids are also plant destroyers. Beautiful though if your willing to keep up with weekly water changes.

krismoore888

Thank you red1313, i think i may be contracting the 2nd lol. with the snails would the not damage the plant roots and do they breed like mad?

jdhef

South American Cichlids prefer low ph. But African Cichlids prefer a higher ph.
(I may have this backwards, since I'm not a cichlid expert.)

Red1313

Most snails breed like rabbits. MTsnails reproduce asexually so you only need one. The good thing about snails is that as long as you don't over feed they won't over breed.
As for damaging plant roots I've never heard of it.

krismoore888

ok thanks again red1313

BlowPhish

You got it.

Dozey

Thanks jdhef and BlowPhish for correcting my half right, half wrong post.

Angela_96

Ahh on the ph issue, their are some blackwater african species that like their ph of about 6 to breed. (the list of Congo's I am reading about and going to get for spawning).

However Rift Lake Africans (lake tang and lake malawi) like the high ph hard water.

For picking a tank African Rift Lake species are easy to deal with, you can overstock your tank, usually tap water we have is high ph/hard water anyways so no need to alter anything for them. They are also hardy fish for begainners.

You can look for stocking options here:
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q...p-f=ISO-8859-1

I prefer Malawi mbuna they are great fish!