Setting up a 10g bw tank and I

ZooKeeper

Small Fish
Jan 12, 2008
23
0
0
#1
I have a free 10gal tank. I am wanting to try brackish. Any tips/pointers would be welcome. I'll start off by asking about the cycle - do I cycle the tank like I would a freshwater tank? Yea, I know zilch, zip, nada about bw setups. What do I control diatom algae and other types of algae with? What kind of inhabitants would be suitable for a 10gal tank? I'm thinking puffer as they look nice, but I also like mollies. See, lots of q's to start off with.

tia

Ed
 

MOsborne05

Superstar Fish
Oct 3, 2005
1,584
3
0
41
Gibsonburg, OH
#3
If you can find them, bumble bee gobies would be a perfect inhabitant for a 10 gallon brackish water tank. They are really cute and comical, I loved watching mine! I wouldn't keep them with mollies because mollies are so much bigger than them, but dwarf platies would work. I found mine at Petco, and they were kept in freshwater even though they are brackish water fish.

Cycling is pretty much the same, except freshwater bacteria is different than brackish water bacteria. So even if your tank is cycled with freshwater, you will still have to cycle it when you switch to brackish water. Make sure you use marine salt such as Instant Ocean, not aquarium salt!

If the fish are kept in freshwater at the lfs, which they normally are, then you would cycle your tank as normal. Once the tank is cycled you can add the fish, and over the next month or so, slowly increase the amount of salt in the tank.
 

ZooKeeper

Small Fish
Jan 12, 2008
23
0
0
#4
Hmmm... ok, bumblebee gobies are cute looking. Seems to need a lot of hidey holes - does your hide a lot? My 80g has J.D., and all they do is hide out in a hollow log. Not much fun. What kind of substrate? I have the pebbles when it was a freshwater tank, black pebbles. That might not show them off to any satisfactory degree. Maybe crushed coral. Something light. What is used to control brown algae?

Ed
 

MOsborne05

Superstar Fish
Oct 3, 2005
1,584
3
0
41
Gibsonburg, OH
#5
In a brackish tank, really the only thing to control algae are olive nerite snails. They are hard to find so you might have to order them online if you want them. Other than that, some good old fashioned elbow grease will do the trick :p

When my bumblebee gobies were in a tank by themselves, they never hid. They were always out in the open bickering with each other over territory. They need lots of hidey holes for territory purposes, not necesarily to hide in. When I put puffers in the tank though, they started hiding quite a bit more. I don't blame them though because a couple of them got eaten by the puffs. They really are cool little fish and I would love to have a tank dedicated just to them someday.
 

TabMorte

Superstar Fish
Jan 17, 2008
1,470
0
0
#6
Would Bubblebee gobies be okay with pea puffers?

My daughter and I are still back and forthing as to what we want to do with the next tank.
 

ZooKeeper

Small Fish
Jan 12, 2008
23
0
0
#9
Thanks for the info on the snails. I like snails. I found a cheap source on the first hit off of Google for them. And the web site advertises Bb gobies. And tiny puffers. 1 stop shop. The site also mentions their fish is kept in freshwater tanks, so I'm to understand I will need to change the tank over to brackish over a period of a month after introducing the fish to the tank?

Ed
 

MOsborne05

Superstar Fish
Oct 3, 2005
1,584
3
0
41
Gibsonburg, OH
#10
The tiny puffers are most likely dwarf puffers, which are freshwater fish. So you couldn't keep dwarf puffers with bumblebee gobies. If the gobies are kept in freshwater, then yes. You would slowly add pre-mixed saltwater to their tank to make it brackish.
 

Apr 18, 2004
126
0
0
Visit site
#11
May I make a suggestion for a brackish water fish? The only problem is it will out grow the 10 gallon in a while but there are fish called Dragon eels AKA Dragon fish or Violet Gobies that are brakish as well. They stay towards the bottom most of the time. They are cool fish if you can Get Past Their Ugliness. They are not aggressive fish but I wouldnt keep them with puffers as puffers tend to be fin nippers and thats basicly all the Dragon Eel is is fin. Just an idea.
Shane
 

ZooKeeper

Small Fish
Jan 12, 2008
23
0
0
#12
Thanks Shane - too late! I have already purchased 4 bumble bee gobies, and two dwarf puffers. They were in brackish water,so I matched my tank to the lfs and right now they are all swimming around doing what fish do best... swim! lol. They sure are cuties.

Ed