Brackish Fish For Sale Silver Tip Shark Glass Eels Dwarf Puffers Bumble Bee Goby

Brackish Fish

A WHOLE NEW WORLD FOR YOU TO CREATE!

The fish on this page come from tropical areas where rivers flow into the ocean (estuaries or a term we call brackish water) When the tide goes out, these fish live in freshwater. When the tide comes back in, they live in river water mixed with ocean water (brackish water). These fish are flexible when it comes to the amount of salt and or freshwater they live in, as opposed to true Marine fish that need to live in actual Salt water. Many plants also grow in these estuaries. For a list of plants appropriate for these types of waters, please check out our Brackish Habitats here

Note: True marine/saltwater spg is 1.025

Water Temp: 80-84

Lighting: 0.5 watts per gallon and more needed up to 12 hours per day.

Substrate: Sand or Gravel

Water Changes: 1 time every 2 weeks

pH: Versatile 7.5 - 8.5

Total Hardness: 4° to 5° DH

Co2 (Carbon Dioxide in Solution): 10 mg per litre

Fish Types: Archerfish, Indian Glassfish, Perches, Shark Cats, Toadfish, Needlenose Gars, Cichlids: i.e. Chromides, Spadefish, Mollies, Guppies, Gobies, Killifish, Rainbowfish, Loaches, Monos, Leaffish, Puffers, Scats, Pipefish, and Targetfish.

Decoration:
Decorate with taller plants in the background and shorter ones on the side. Add one or more rock cave for your gobies. Anubias and Java Fern should be attached to the rock cave(s).

Use Marine Salt only
DO NOT use aquarium salt. It’s not the same!

Use about 1-2 tablespoons of marine salt per gallon of water or a specific gravity of 1.005-1.010 will be adequate for the full lives of most Brackish water fish, especially Gobies.

Puffers prefer saltier conditions with around 3-5 tablespoons of marine salt per gallon of water or a specific gravity of 1.010-1.020.

Plants:
Water Sprite, Anubias, Vallisneria, Hairgrass, Java Fern, etc are best suited for a Brackish Tank. Many freshwater plants do not like to be in specific gravity above 1.015. Sticking with the 1 to 2 tablespoons of Marine Salt will keep your tank healthy. Once you begin to raise the gravity level higher than 1.015 your plants may begin to die off, as they would in nature, and you would need to replace them with more Marine friendly plants like Caulerpa. There are about 86 species of plants in the Genus: Caulerpa.

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Blushing Pristella Tetra

Cat Shark

Darter Fish Barred Fantail

Dwarf Pea Puffer

Glass Eel

Goby - Bumble Bee Goby

Orange Chromide

Sturgeon - White Sturgeon

Brackish Water Fishes Book

Coralife Deep Six Hydrometer

Salt - Instant Ocean Salt

QUICK SHIPPING INFO AT-A-GLANCE!

~We are mail order only & do not allow local pickups. We only ship orders through UPS on Tues, Wed, & Thurs and we do not offer weekend deliveries.

~ "Fish, Shrimp, & Snail Only" orders are shipped Tues night for Wed delivery pending availability.

~ "Plant Only" & "Live Animals w/Plants" orders are almost always delivered to you on Fridays pending availability.

~ We DO NOT sell sexed animals unless specified, please do not request paired or sexed fish.

~ Our minimum live good orders are $35. There is NO minimum order amount for shipping dry good or non-perishable items. You may combine Dry Goods and Live Goods to get to our $35.00 minimum.

~ YES, You may combine Fish, Shrimp & Snails with your Plant Orders and they are usually shipped in one box.

~ You must have your order placed by Monday night before we go home for same week delivery, agan, pending availability. Orders placed after our Monday deadline will ship the following week.

~ You will get an email confirmation from UPS when your order ships out.

All of this information is available in more detailed form by clicking the "Ordering" or "Shippng" tab above. THANK YOU!

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BRACKISH 101

Where the ocean meets outward flowing rivers, saltwater and freshwater mix. These areas are called estuaries, mangrove swamps, and salt marshes. The water, which is part saline and part fresh, is referred to as brackish. These brackish waters are home to an amazingly diverse and unique group of animals, some of which are commonly available to keep in the home aquarium. These fish include archers, scats, monos, certain livebearers, gobies, and many others.

Why should you choose a brackish aquarium? Brackish water aquariums are unique. They are usually conversation pieces and allow your aquarium to be different than most others. They are easy to maintain since the fish from brackish waters are designed to withstand frequent salinity and water parameter changes unlike both fresh and saltwater fish.

Plants:
Anubias, Vallisneria, Hairgrass, and Java Fern are best.

Temperature:
78-84 F

pH Level:
7.5-8.5

Salt:
Around 1 to 2 tablespoons of marine salt per gallon of water or a specific gravity of 1.005-1.010 will be adequate for the full lives of most of these fish. Green Spotted Puffers prefer saltier conditions with around 3-5 tablespoons of marine salt per gallon of water or a specific gravity of 1.010-1.020.

Frequent water changes, cleaning 15% of your water once a week is advised. When adding the replacement water, make sure you add about the same dosage of salt as before (unless you are running the estuary set-up, in which case the dosage increases every 6 months). It is not necessary to check with a hydrometer since these fish are naturally familiar to varying levels of salinity but you should be within a good range of accuracy to prevent shock.

You should stir up the sand with the back end of a fish net regularly. After stirring, turn the fish net to scoop the debris you have stirred up into the net. If you are using 1" of sand or more, this stirring also helps prevent anaerobic spots from forming (these spots can release deadly gases into your tank).

Feeding should be done at least 2 times daily. All of the forementioned brackish set-ups are recommended to have warm water (usually 80F) and this increases the fish's metabolism, causing them to eat more food and grow faster. So, 2-3 feedings a day is much preferred, with 3 being optimal. Many of these fish (mollies, monos, scats, knight gobies) require some vegetable matter in their diet and puffers should be fed snails on occasion to reduce the size of their "beak".