Dragon Fish questions

May 12, 2014
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#1
Hello fellow fish lovers! I recently rescued a Dragon Fish from the dreaded Wal-Mart fish mill. I'm currently in a head to head fight to get something done with what I saw up there. That's a long story in itself...

So I have a 50 gallon (currently fresh water) tank with fine sand substrate. He is currently living with a Green Puffer that I also rescued from Wal-Mart. I went to Petco and after jumping from person to person, they finally called an "expert" from another store. I was told that adding Aquarium Salt to the tank would most definitely make the tank brackish. I've been reading and reading and reading all that I can online to make sure I'm doing everything right for these little guys. Last thing I want to do is more harm. So half of what I read says yes, aquarium salt = brackish and half of what I read is Marine Salt = brackish. I finally found my way to the sticky here about the difference and am planning on correcting the salt tomorrow. This will be my first brackish tank. So what should I look for as signs that they aren't reacting well to the switch? And how fast is too fast as far as adding the salt? I would also like to know a good number that would keep both fish happy.

I've noticed as well that my Dragon Fish (I call him Smaug) likes to dig under my decorations. As well as corners and what not. Is it good to level out the sand after he's been at it? Or should I leave it be? I was also told that both fish like vegetation. Such as cabbage etc. Right now I'm feeding a frozen mixture once a day. Should I add vegetation as well? Sorry for the thousand questions. I just want to make sure I get this right. Thanks in advance!
 

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
Jul 19, 2004
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Cape Cod
#2
Unfortunately I don't have any experience with brackish tanks. I know with SW that you can lower the salinity relatively quickly (hours) but once you have lowered the salinity for any reason you need to take your time (days) to bring it back up. I would think this would follow with brackish. I would say in a 50g tank, maybe adding one gallon of SW a day until you reach your desired level would probably work well.

Zucchini works quite well for fish (slice then boil til soft first). Also you can use romaine lettuce and a few other veggies - not sure about cabbage specifically.

Also keep in mind once you have the salinity at the level you're aiming for, you want to top off with regular FW as the salt doesn't evaporate.