16 gallon brackish

[fishbguy]

i have an empty 16 gallon aquarium. i am planning on filling her up sometime soon. i have only thought about freshwater till now. i was wondering what kinds of things i need to make it brackish. i know i need a hydrometer, aquarium salt, filter, heater, airpump, etc. but about the filter, will a regular HOB work? it will be a 20 gallon filter and have a bio wheel. there will be no live plants, only plastic incase that makes a difference.

also, is there a rule to the number of fish per gallon, ie. one inch of fish per gallon. That is the rule i will be going by but i will prolly under stock it. here is my stock list;

4-glassfish
3 to 5-bumble bee gobies
2-lyretail mollies

the mollies are going to be my "cycle"fish. i hope to start the tank freshwater, cycle it, then add the mollies. once the mollies are settaled in and my tank is fully cycled, i will start adding the salt until i have brackish water. what would a good SG level be? after the tank is brackish, i will add the glassfish and the gobies. most of my lfs's keep their glass fish in fresh water. can i transition them into brackish the same way i plan to do the mollies or do I have to wait until i find some being kept in fresh water?

substrate-do I have to use sand or will the gobies be fine on gravel? i would rather have gravel than sand so if there is anything wrong with my chosen fish and gravel i can change my stock list.

thanks in advance for all your help. i really appreciate it.

Andrew

[Giddy012]

Mollies are very poor cycle fish. They will not make it through, maybe go with some cheap feeder fish. The Mollies more than likely have a fair amount of salt in their tank at the lfs so I would start out with atleast 1 rounded tablespoon of salt per 5gal.

[fishbguy]

but can the feeders handle the salt that a brackish water fish would need? i was thinking that they wouldn't be able to take the salt.

i think i worded my post wrong. i meant to say i will cycle the tank with some cheap fresh water fish, ie. feeders, then once the tank is cycled, i will trade them in for mollies and use the mollies to turn the tank brackish because my lfs's tanks don't have salt in them. one might but i don't think they do. i'll ask.

Andrew

[Giddy012]

Ah yes, that sounds better. Good luck.

[fishbguy]

i completely forgot about one of my favorite brackish water fishes! would 16 gallons be large enough for a pair of orange chromides(spelling?)? if so, what are some other kinds of fish could i put in the tank with them if there is enough room? i would try not to breed them but with cichlids you never know..lol. it might be better to make a species only tank with a pair. thanks for the help thus far..

Andrew

[Damon]

First off, aquarium salt will not make your tank brackish, you need marine salt for that. Mollies make great cycling fish and can adapt to pure marine environments. I would suggest slowly raising the sg over the month it takes to cycle. I would also recommend using a fishless cycle with ammonia. That way no fish will get harmed.

[flamingo]

IMHO, i'd leave the mollies out if your going to have BB gobies in that tank.

And like others are saying, leave the fish out of the cycle. Just start the tank up at full brackish (1.004 to start with) and let it cycle with some source of ammonia in it. It'll take longer, but it's a lot healthier for any type of fish.

As for equipment, almost everything that works in a regular freshwater system should be fine, HOB filters work great.

[fishbguy]

the reason i planned to use the mollies is because i knew they can adapt to a marine environment.

flamingo--why would you leave the mollies out? most of the bumble bee gobies that i know of around here are kept in fresh water along with the mollies and glass fish. that is why i would start fresh and gradually ajust them to the brackish environment.

the part about the HOB filter really relieved me. i thought i might need some kind of special filter.

thanks,
Andrew

[flamingo]

Because, from my experience with BB's and fish like that, it doesn't turn out too good. I've kept them with swordtails, guppies, mollies, other livebearers, etc. and I just hated it.

[fishbguy]

oh...thanks

[MyraVan]

Why go to the bother of using ammonia for a classic fishless cycle? You've got established tanks, just put filter media from your established tank into the new filter, and voila, instantly cycled tank. Still a good idea to add your most hardy fish first in case something goes wrong. If you do it this way, you could start the tank out freshwater, slowly stock it until it's got everything you want in it (since you say all the brackish fishes you want are in freshwater in the shop), and then slowly increase the salinity until it's brackish. If the shop does keep any fish in brackish water, you can add them after the conversion.

[fishbguy]

sounds good myra. the filter i plan to use is a HOB filter with a bio wheel. hopefully just like the one that i have in my 20 gallon right now. i can just put the filter cartridge from the 20 into the 16 when i get it set up..lol

[Fishboy93]

But will the old media die off going from a fresh to brackish tank? Im just wondering..

[flamingo]

Personally, i'm against cross contaminating anything, and i'd rather start the tank up near brackish and cycle .

If you do it the other way, you need to let it cycle for a month, however long it takes for your case, and you'll need to raise the sg by .001-.002 per week.