Brackish Basics

[Patrick_G]

There will soon be a new puffer in the family, but I’d love to talk brackish basics. @Zenzoand @Chris, I know you folks have brackish tanks with Green Spotted Puffers, and I think others also have brackish tanks. 
 

Since it’s possible the fish will be living in fresh water when I get it I’m not sure how to cycle the tank. Should I cycle with fresh water and then slowly raise the salinity? Will that affect the cycle? Or should I cycle with a low salinity and then somehow acclimate the fish? 

[Chris]

On 10/5/2021 at 6:16 PM, Patrick_G said:

There will soon be a new puffer in the family, but I’d love to talk brackish basics. @Zenzoand @Chris, I know you folks have brackish tanks with Green Spotted Puffers, and I think others also have brackish tanks. 
 

Since it’s possible the fish will be living in fresh water when I get it I’m not sure how to cycle the tank. Should I cycle with fresh water and then slowly raise the salinity? Will that affect the cycle? Or should I cycle with a low salinity and then somehow acclimate the fish? 

Welcome to the salty side 😎

Every store I've ever bought a brackish fish from has kept them in freshwater (or full salt, for some of the species that prefer saltier brackish, like adult Monos and GSPs), so it's likely the fish you'll be buying is living in freshwater. Check with the store, though!

What kind of puffer are we talking about? Different species will have different requirements - Figure 8's, for example, are usually best kept at lower SG's (roughly 1.004), and can be acclimated to that SG on day one from freshwater via a 1-2 hour drip acclimation. Green Spotted Puffers, on the other hand, are usually born in freshwater and move to saltier water as they get older. I keep mine in nearly full salt (1.018-ish), but I think Zenzo keeps his at a lower SG. Current knowledge suggests anything in the mid-brackish to full marine conditions are fine for large GSPs, and I've found that to be accurate.

For cycling a tank for something like a Figure 8 (who you'll probably want to acclimate into brackish water on day one, IMO), you'll probably just cycle the tank at the desired SG - 1.004. With my current Figure 8, I actually introduced him into a freshwater tank filled with salt-tolerant livebearers, and increased the SG by .002 the first week, and .001 for two weeks after that to get 1.004. I've read that any faster than that can disrupt the freshwater Nitrogen Cycle. This treated a minor ich infection, and didn't disrupt my freshwater cycle.

For a GSP, it all depends on the size of the fish at the time of purchase. If he's under 2", I'd cycle a freshwater tank and keep him in that until he's 3" or so, and then begin bringing the SG up by about .001 every week or two until you get to at least 1.008. If he's going to be larger than that, I'd probably cycle at 1.004 or so, drip acclimate him to that, and increase it by roughly .001 a week to your desired SG. With my current GSP, is bought him around 3" and acclimated him to 1.008 overnight. He did just fine!

Luckily, brackish fish are almost all incredibly hardy, so this isn't as much of an exact science as it is whatever works best for you. The above is just how I've done it in the past. I'm sure Zenzo will have plenty of good advice to offer, and hopefully others can chime in too!

Edited October 5, 2021 by Chris

[Zenzo]

Nice! 
 

For my brackish setups, I cycle as freshwater, slowly raising specific gravity/salinity. In my experience, the minerals are more important than the actual salinity.

I keep most of my brackish tanks between 1.004 - 1.008. My GSP is in 1.005 at the moment (I just measured for this thread), and it’s a solid 3+” and a fatty. 
 

I’m actually in the process of starting yet another brackish tank! 

[eatyourpeas]

I have a question regarding plant life in the brackish tank. What have you found works with that salinity? When I had my Pinocchio shrimp, the Anubias nana, Cryptocoryne lutea, and the Marimo moss ball did fine, but everything else looked pretty sad.

@Patrick_G I do not mean to hijack your thread, and hopefully this is something that helps your future setup as well. 🐡

And yes, welcome to the salty side! 😄

[Chris]

On 10/5/2021 at 7:03 PM, eatyourpeas said:

I have a question regarding plant life in the brackish tank. What have you found works with that salinity? When I had my Pinocchio shrimp, the Anubias nana, Cryptocoryne lutea, and the Marimo moss ball did fine, but everything else looked pretty sad.

@Patrick_G I do not mean to hijack your thread, and hopefully this is something that helps your future setup as well. 🐡

And yes, welcome to the salty side! 😄

I personally didn't have much luck with plants. The Anubias and Java Ferns didn't die, but they certainly didn't look happy. Marimo did fine, and certain Crypts did okay. I ended up finding a little baby Crypt Wendtii that had grown in behind the scape whenever I moved the tank, so it seems they're one of the few plants I've found to actually grow in brackish - although, I think that may have been my own noobiness to the whole salty-plants thing, too!

[Patrick_G]

On 10/5/2021 at 4:03 PM, eatyourpeas said:

do not mean to hijack your thread, and hopefully this is something that helps your future setup as well. 🐡

No worries, I was going to tag you but I couldn’t remember if you did brackish in addition to full marine.

[Patrick_G]

I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a GSP. We have room for a 36” or 48” tank so it makes sense to get the larger fish. I like the idea of cycling fresh and slowly raising the SG over time since I have plenty of cycled media. 
I have a mental list of plants that might work, but I’d love to hear what’s working  in other folks tanks. 
 

[Chris]

On 10/5/2021 at 9:19 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a GSP. We have room for a 36” or 48” tank so it makes sense to get the larger fish. I like the idea of cycling fresh and slowly raising the SG over time since I have plenty of cycled media. 
I have a mental list of plants that might work, but I’d love to hear what’s working  in other folks tanks. 
 

Even salt-tolerant plants are only likely to handle 1.004 or so - much higher than that, and they'll likely start to rot. You'd have to rescue the plants out pretty quickly!

Here's a good resource for some general brackish info - not updated, but still, a good read. https://thebrackishtank.tumblr.com/post/107155036207/planting-the-brackish-aquarium-theres-a-bit-of-a

[Patrick_G]

@Zenzo, do you have current pic of the butterball gsp? 
 

@Chris, thanks for the link! 

[Zenzo]

On 10/5/2021 at 6:34 PM, Patrick_G said:

@Zenzo, do you have current pic of the butterball gsp? 
 

@Chris, thanks for the link! 

No photo, but there is b-roll in my most recent video I think. 

[Patrick_G]

On 10/5/2021 at 6:40 PM, Zenzo said:

No photo, but there is b-roll in my most recent video I think. 
 

Great, I’ll take a look.