The Brackish Tank That Has To Work

So, I mentioned this in another post.

But, my husband has decided he wants us (me) to have a tank for waspfish. We are pretty sure the species is Neovespicula depressifrons. They are currently being kept in freshwater at the LFS and will need to be migrated over to brackish water with SG about 1.010(ish)

I plan to pick up 3 N. depressifrons this weekend.

The tank will be a 20 gallon long, planted, which means I need to find some more plants LOL, Right now it just has java fern. Might do some duckweed since the tank has a canister filter and therefore the duckweed can't overtake everything.

I am considering adding two Knight gobies, but they are bottom dwellers like the waspfish. I think that will more than fill out the bottom of the tank. I would, however, like to add a top-dweller from the same geographical area (indo-pacific).

I am considering Pseudomugil cyandorsis (I'm sure I've spelled that incorrectly) but wanted to see if anyone else could think of anything. I might consider some smaller species of glassfish if I can verify species and its tolerance of brackish water.

For inverts and algae control, I plan to keep nerite snails and possibly a few amano shrimp.

If anyone has any input (preferably with experience) for stocking, I would appreciate it as I have limited experience with brackish tanks. I have kept opae ula but suffered so much evaporation, the water would become hypersalinated in a matter of days, thus I ran into problems in a small opae tank. I'm hoping things go more smoothly with the 20 gallon.

 

Hello!

Beautiful fish and super jealous you have been able to find them. I would really only keep them as the only bottom dweller as they are pretty territorial, and with those venomous fins, I'd hate to see another goby accidentally run into them and get severely hurt.

I'd avoid the glass fish as a top dweller; while there is a species that has brackish tolerance (if you can find it), its very low, at the max of 1.005. Try looking into Celebes Rainbowfish, specifically Pseudomugil cyanodorsalis or the Blueback Blue-eye. These are one of the only Celebes that actually require brackish conditions to be healthy and will tolerate the higher salinity of 1.010. You may get them as fresh, so make sure to slowly acclimate 0.002 at the max per week (this goes for the N. depressifrons as well! ) if you already didn't know haha. This would go for the the snail as well. Look into the zebras (Puperita pupa) as they should better tolerate the higher salt. IF you can find them lol. Their salt tolerance and healthcare seems to do best from about 1.005-1.010

Skip the amanos; they aren't actually Brackish shrimp; the eggs/larve they lay need the hardness/salt to develop, but the actual adult won't survive in salt very long (if your lucky, maybe up to 1.005, but I'm almost sure their lifespan would be affected) A better bet if you absolutely must have shrimp would be Palaemonetes varians IF you can find them lol. Their salt tolerance and healthcare seems to do best from about 1.005-1.010

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

N. depressifrons isn't a goby, and the few that keep them report they are very peaceful except with small fish that might be food (obviously).

I'm not married to 1.010 SG, it was just a starting point. Any fish I get that is brackish is almost certain to be sold as freshwater which is why I stated they would need to be migrated over.

Pseudomugil gertrudae are also found in brackish lagoons, and are much easier to find than some of the other likely candidates. I may have to try to find info on what their tolerant range of SG is.

 

I got some photos of the future brackish tank right since we added the gobies.

Currently the tank houses 3 N. depressifrons and a m/f pair of Knight Gobies.

I apologize for the terrible pictures. I'm getting a digital camcorder tomorrow and will update with a video when I get it. I also need to clean the watermarks off the outside of the tank.

So, we'll leave it freshwater for now, as we're not sure if we're adding another fish, or which fish that will be. In doing a bunch of research about brackish fish, I came across D. pusilla as a likely candidate. Or, if the knight gobies decide to hang out higher in the tank, we'll be adding bumblebee gobies. Either way I want to wait until we decide to start adding salt.

 

Dang that's a tough aquascape to beat. I'll see how mine looks even though I'm doing completely different fish lol.

 

Hellenakind I will be adding more wood, to try to keep the water slightly acidic (should be interesting once I start adding marine salt to bring up the SG). They didn't happen to have any that I wanted at the store with the fish, so I'm gonna keep hunting for better pieces. I'm going for broken lines of sight and such, as the fish in there are territorial. I also want to find a surface plant with long roots that can tolerate the SG which I'm now planning to keep around 1.003, but that may be a tall order for an indo-pacific biotope.

I will be adding more plants for sure, and I'm still waiting for that one piece of wood to sink so I can rearrange things a little.

 

Driftwood tend to get yucky in brackish tanks and fall apart pretty quickly, at least in my experience. Also my knight gobies would eat anything that they could get in their mouth, even if it didn't totally fit. You might be able to keep the larger p.signifers but the blue backs will likely become food.
Tank looks good though, maybe some larger rocks to create more territory.

 

Sarcasm Included

I had thought about wood in salt water and how that could go wrong. But I've altered my plans for 1.010 SG to 1.003. Also these fish are blackwater fish from everything I've been reading. So I need the tannins, as my tap water is really hard and alkaline. I was considering adding some peat to the filter but I don't think it would make a difference in the kH or gH so I haven't bothered. They were all kept in tap water at the store they came from, so I'm not going to stress over it. They had all been there for a few weeks.

I am planning to add even more wood to provide more territorial barriers. I will probably wait a bit and buy a piece of spiderwood, then plant it with java moss to provide cover. So far the Knights have tasted the waspfish, but they didn't actually bite. It was weird, they just sucked on their tails. They were also perching on top of the little guys, which I found to be... quite brave of them. LOL but interestingly everyone seems to be ignoring each other completely. I'm sure that will change if the knight gobies decide to spawn, though (which I hope they do)

Do you happen to have any experience with Knight gobies and Doriae or Xanthozoma bumblebee gobies? Those are the other contender if we decide to keep it a goby tank.

 

Sarcasm Included

I had thought about wood in salt water and how that could go wrong. But I've altered my plans for 1.010 SG to 1.003. Also these fish are blackwater fish from everything I've been reading. So I need the tannins, as my tap water is really hard and alkaline. I was considering adding some peat to the filter but I don't think it would make a difference in the kH or gH so I haven't bothered. They were all kept in tap water at the store they came from, so I'm not going to stress over it. They had all been there for a few weeks.

I am planning to add even more wood to provide more territorial barriers. I will probably wait a bit and buy a piece of spiderwood, then plant it with java moss to provide cover. So far the Knights have tasted the waspfish, but they didn't actually bite. It was weird, they just sucked on their tails. They were also perching on top of the little guys, which I found to be... quite brave of them. LOL but interestingly everyone seems to be ignoring each other completely. I'm sure that will change if the knight gobies decide to spawn, though (which I hope they do)

Do you happen to have any experience with Knight gobies and Doriae or Xanthozoma bumblebee gobies? Those are the other contender if we decide to keep it a goby tank.

I have never kept bumblebees but a friend of mine had Knights and Doriae together without any issues. The bumblebees are pretty good at holding their own, but I would avoid having juveniles with the knights. I have had smaller mollies in with my pair of knights that they didn't bother as long as they stayed away from their caves.

 

I have never kept bumblebees but a friend of mine had Knights and Doriae together without any issues. The bumblebees are pretty good at holding their own, but I would avoid having juveniles with the knights. I have had smaller mollies in with my pair of knights that they didn't bother as long as they stayed away from their caves.

Cool, then bumblebees stay in the running. I'll have to keep an eye out for adults though because the Knights are almost full grown.

What SG do you keep your Knights at, out of curiosity?

 

I bounced salinity between 1.004 and 1.012, with some weeks being near fresh and other times up to mid brackish.

I put in enough salt to bring it up around 1.012 then do 50% weekly water changes with just freshwater which brings it down to 1.004 after 2 weeks. 3rd week add salt again to bring up the salinity again.

With your tank, I would bring it to just 1.010 especially if you get something other then Java ferns.

 

Just java moss and Mangrove seedlings. Though I'll definitely be going for a stable salinity, as I think it will be easier to maintain without me freaking out over the tank.

Do you use tap water? I am curious. I'm planning to use it because RO is a pain and I can only haul so much.

 

I only use RO for a couple of my killifish, at 8.4 it is great for brackish water.

 

Sarcasm Included are your knight gobies giant wusses? LOL I can't even get a good picture of these guys because they are so skittish, they dart away every time anyone goes near the tank.

All of the waspfish are in now

 

Hey Junebug, longtime no talk lol. I love your Knight Goby! I just picked one up a few days ago. I have been begging my LFS to cary them since I love them SO much. They are easily my fav fish. I was always taught that they don't prefer brackish or fresh. I was taught they prefer to have both in their life throughout the year. That's why I was planning to keep it in fresh and give it a swim in some brackish every few months. I could be wrong. I know they adapt very well to any salinity and I know they like salt occasionally. How much and how often seems to be very heavily debated with no clear answer. That's one of the reasons it's my fav fish. It's like "Just give me food and I am happy.".

I wanted to ask you, the substrate you use in picture number 41, I really like it. It's not sand but it's not pebbles and the color is awesome. May I ask where you got it? I might try and use something similar for my build. Also, how did you get that clay/mud look without it messing up the tank water clarity?

 

Hey Junebug, longtime no talk lol. I love your Knight Goby! I just picked one up a few days ago. I have been begging my LFS to cary them since I love them SO much. They are easily my fav fish. I was always taught that they don't prefer brackish or fresh. I was taught they prefer to have both in their life throughout the year. That's why I was planning to keep it in fresh and give it a swim in some brackish every few months. I could be wrong. I know they adapt very well to any salinity and I know they like salt occasionally. How much and how often seems to be very heavily debated with no clear answer. That's one of the reasons it's my fav fish. It's like "Just give me food and I am happy.".

I wanted to ask you, the substrate you use in picture number 41, I really like it. It's not sand but it's not pebbles and the color is awesome. May I ask where you got it? I might try and use something similar for my build. Also, how did you get that clay/mud look without it messing up the tank water clarity?

Why hola!

Uhm I don't have a picture 41. But I can tell you what's in the tank: Soil, capped with Quickrete playsand, capped with a buttload of bacterial mulm I couldn't get out because the wood in the tank hoards it like no tomorrow. LOL.

I also have some leaf litter in there.

If you want to do a mud tank, there are clay substrates that work. I have a red-clay mud thing going on in one of my wild betta tanks.

As for Knight gobies, what I'm seeing is they're *somewhat* euryhaline and able to tolerate many brackish conditions, but not full saltwater. I have two in the tank actually, a male and female (I think, anyway. They have different body shapes). I'm curious to see how they do in the tank once I start bumping up the SG because apparently there are at least different type localities of the species. The pictures I've seen online have different spot patterns than each other, and none of them are the same spot pattern on my fish LOL. We'll see what happens. Fishbase reports them as both freshwater and brackish (meaning there is collection data from both water types, theoretically), so we'll see.

Interestingly they are not being aggressive with the waspfish. That was a concern when we decided to get them. They "tasted" Tiny and Medium (the survivors from the first batch we got, one developed columnaris immediately and died the next day) but quickly decided that was a bad idea. But it was funny, they just basically sucked tails into their mouths, then spit out the waspfish. I'm guessing something in their slime coat says, "you really don't want to do this, man." (They have venemous spines if I didn't mention it before).

 

I've got some better and updated photos of the tank

Clear shots of both the male and female knight gobies, and the new waspfish. We now have 5 in there: Tiny, Talky-fin, Medium, Big, and Dark. LOL hubby names them. Very original.

 

 

Pictures from today. The tank needs a water change (badly, didn't get one this weekend, but we've been doing every two weeks anyway because hubby is lazy). But everyone got blackworms last night and everyone was very excited about it.