75 gallon brackish plans....opinions?

[StinaKSU]

Steve and I recently acquired a 75 gallon aquarium that I would like to have a brackish setup in. It will probably be a good while before we can actually do this.....since we're still in my parents' house and won't be able to set it up till we're in our place....but I'd like some opinions on the idea.

I want to do part "land" (sand/mud combo or just sand?) and part water with the following inhabitants:
bumblebee gobies (LOTS!! these guys are one of my favorite fish!)
freshwater flounder (probably a couple)
dragonfish (probably a couple)
mudskippers (several of a small species)
fiddler crabs (quite a few hopefully not just the typical gold claweds)
possibly some shrimp if I can find a good brackish species(I'd have lots of hiding spaces to protect them at least somewhat from the skippers...lol)

I would like to also plant it if I can find some good brackish tolerant plants.... Will probably do mangroves in the land portion.

 

[malt_geckos]

my advice is to make sure you have enough room in there with all of those fish. Some get pretty large, like the flounder and need room. I think to keep everything balanced well in the tank, I wouldn't put any more than 10 fish in it. Maybe once you have the mangroves well established and the tank is cycled, you can add a few more fish. Just be careful because bracksih water tanks can be tricky. Good luck! Can't wait to see some pictures!

Oh yeah, as for the substrate, if you're going to do mangroves, I would go with strait sand, like beach sand for them.

 

[StinaKSU]

I've had a brackish before, 20 gallons with some fiddlers, a couple guppies, a couple bumblebee gobies and a dragonfish. I found it quite easy honestly...as long as you get fish/plants that are appropriate for brackish aquariums of the given size the fish are more hardy than fresh or salt water fish...they are generally accustomed to changing water conditions in the wild.

The dragonfish get about 8" long, the flouders 10"...the bumblebees get to ~2" or less...I will get mudskippers that stay 4" or less. I will probably do like 2 or 3 dragonfish and 1 or 2 flounders. I think I will probably do 10-15 bumblebees and ~5 mudskippers. Don't know about fiddlers yet...It'll depend on what types I can find. Of course I wouldn't put everything in at once....

 

[MSMD]

Sounds like it will be really cool when set up. I can't wait to see it!

You didn't have any problems with the Dragonfish eating your guppies?? That would be my main concern, as when I had Dragons, their favorite treat was guppies! lol I had a couple Dragons in a 55 gallon reach a length of 12" and 14". Their eyesight is not good, but if they could get a smaller fish in their mouth, it was gone!

I just LOVE bumblebee gobies!!! Soooo adorable!

 

[yellermelon]

Only brackish i ever had was for my puffffers good luck

 

[Obsidian Tears]

The violet gobies (we are talking about a dragon goby, no?) are likely to exceed 8'' I don't think I've got any that have stayed that small. Amazing fish though, definitely worth having.

 

[fishyfan]

You could split the tank with 1/3 land, 2/3 water with a water depth of 6-8" max for the mudskippers but this would limit your fish choices, mudskippers do best in a species only tank...

 

[leoman777]

a good brackish water shrimp is the red nosed shrimp thye look like ghost shrimp but with red

 

[RampantReptiles]

a good brackish water shrimp is the red nosed shrimp thye look like ghost shrimp but with red

hey I didnt know that! We sold those at the store I work at for a while.

Yeah if you can get your hands on some nerite snails, those make awesome algae eaters and can live in both freshwater and saltwater and everywhere in between. They mainly reproduce in brackish water. Here is a place that you can get them that has them in freshwater. They also sell rednose shrimp Unfortunately I think that the mudskippers are going to make lunch of any small shrimp but you are welcome to try it.
http://www.azgardens.com/c-20-aquarium-snails.aspx


I dont know if you have seen this before but this is a pretty neat website that can help with ideas.
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html

Many of the species you mentioned people keep in freshwater so if you can slowly acclimate them to the proper salinity/pH then thats the easier route.

There are a fair number of plant species that can handle brackish water conditions just depends on how high the salinity your going to maintain. The lower it is the more variety your going to have available to you.