# I need help with a brackish aquarium



## otter (Aug 10, 2012)

Hello,
I am planning on setting up a brackish tank, but... I am completely clueless on how to do so.
I have a 25 gallon tank, and was thinking about putting some spotted puffers( Im not completely sure of the name, but these where housed with eachother and lots of mollies at the pet store) 
and some mollies.
I am not really sure if the tank is big enough since some puffers are territorial,
but the ones I saw at the pet store where in a roughly 30 gallon tank, with lots of other puffers and another species of puffer (maybe it was a green puffer? hmm..) 
and also lots of mollies, so I am guessing that those puffers weren't territorial, but who knows?
not me

Em, I know how to add the salt to the tank etc, the density and stuff, 
my natural water ph is 9!
So I'm not really sure if that is good or bad for a brackish aquarium.

If anyone could tell me other important things about setting up a brackish tank it would be very helpful.

Thanks!


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

otter said:


> Hello,
> I am planning on setting up a brackish tank, but... I am completely clueless on how to do so.
> I have a 25 gallon tank, and was thinking about putting some spotted puffers( Im not completely sure of the name, but these where housed with eachother and lots of mollies at the pet store)
> and some mollies.
> ...


You are likely referring to Green spotted puffers, but it could have been figure 8's. Do your research on them. GSP should be kept alone, with no other fish. Some do okay, in two's (when they are young) but you need 30 gallon minimum per puffer. They are aggressive fish and do fine as youngsters together, but as they mature, it's a different story. If you are lucky to get a male/female, it may work out over time, but there is no way to sex them. Figure 8's don't get as big, and are also territorial, though I know less about them, because I own a GSP. You want to slowly increase salinity with marine salt, not aquarium salt. A GSP can go right into a high end brackish if you acclimate them slowly. You need to find out what salinity they are in at the store, if any at all. Mollies can also live in brackish water, but likely one day if you got a GSP, he will eat the mollies. You do not want to cycle a tank with any of these fish, so you'd want to set up the tank at a brackish level, and cycle the tank using a fishless cycle method. If you choose to raise the salinity (GSP's can be and should be kept in full marine as adults) you just increase it no more than .002 per week - like if you started at 1.005, you would raise it weekly to 1.007 etc. 

So basically a 20 tank is not big enough for a GSP, it might be okay for one or two figure 8's. I would not mix mollies, but you could try it, if you don't mind losing them 


I love my GSP, but I'm learning with now upgrading to a 70 gallon, and dead rock (which I want to make "live rock" and the salt it takes and equipment needed going to marine, it's some money. You don't have to go marine, but they do need to be kept at least in high end brackish, which is 1.015-1.018. Also, you need a good refractometer 

Gwen


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## otter (Aug 10, 2012)

Thank you this helps a lot!
I am trying to figure out the puffers that I saw at the store.
Maybe the where pea puffers, but those are territorial right?

maybe they where juvinilles, or something but there where like 10 and then there was another breed and there where a few of those, and then there was tons of mollies.

hmmmm...


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

otter said:


> Thank you this helps a lot!
> I am trying to figure out the puffers that I saw at the store.
> Maybe the where pea puffers, but those are territorial right?
> 
> ...


Pea puffers or dwarf puffers are very small, and live in freshwater only. They can be territorial, and do best in ratio of 1 male to 2 females. They can be sexed, and someone on here can help with that. Find out what type of fish it is, I would think the fishstore would know 

Gwen


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## otter (Aug 10, 2012)

Thank you! Maybe I should get one of those instead of making a brackish. Theyre so cute!


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## Reefing Madness (Jun 26, 2011)

Brackish Fish: Brackish Water Fish for Brackish Aquariums and Tanks


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## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

sorry if im coming into this to late. I have had a BW tank for 3 or 4 years now. I started it with a F8 puffer. First tank was a 10 gal, then as the F8 grew I changed to a 29 and then added a small dragon Gobbie. Now I have them in a 40 Gal long. The F8 (big daddy) and Dragon (dino) live together great. How ever I'm faced with another problem. Dino is growing far to fast ( almost as long as the tank is wide) and unless I get another larger tank I may have to re-home him in the near future.


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