Need help deciding on FISHIES for BW tank.

[TobiasRieper]

So Iv got my tank almost set up for some BW fish, still need to add salt so buying fish is a couple weeks to go yet. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone could help me with choosing some fish that will go good together for a community tank. Iv got quite a few questions, so please bare with me
I have a 150g with a big foot print so lots of swimming room for the fish.

Iv been reading in some of my fish books about different BW fish, the books however fail to state what sg these fish need (I assume different bw fish prefer different sg?), so some of the fish I will list that I want in my tank might not go good together. So please let me know.

I definitly want to get some bumblebee goby's, possibly stick a F8 in there with them. I know the risks about doing that, but what number of F8's would be best?

Next fish I want to add would be a shark cat fish or 2, heard they were peacefull. Also, would an orange chromide fit in all of this?

And last but not least, perhaps some sort of crab. Iv owned crabs before, the only problem I had with them was that they are masters of escape. 3 months after one went missing I found it crawling around my house lol.

Is there any other cool fish that I am missing that could possibly work or replace fish in my list?
Alrighty, so, please make any suggestions about fish I could use that I havnt listed or constructive criticism, both are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read my extremely long post

[Jase]

There's plenty of fish to chose from!
I'm guessing you meant columbian cat right? problem with that is they get bigger and could chomp your little BBGs, but Knight gobies are pretty cool and fairly common...
Also common BW fish are dragon gobies, Archerfish, scats, monos, mollies, halfbeaks, some rainbows...
Plenty to look into.

[Jase]

after rereading that... sorry if it's not helpful. I'm doing a Wildlife Habitat and Conservation paper at the same time...

[TobiasRieper]

after rereading that... sorry if it's not helpful. I'm doing a Wildlife Habitat and Conservation paper at the same time...

It was plenty helpfull thankyou, ill take a look at those fish mentioned. Im also browsing liveaquaria.com right now, such a cool website gives you info and lots of selection (Do they ship to Canada?). I really like the balloon molly.

[Dadof4]

I would seriously consider Dragon Gobies as long as they have plenty of hiding spaces. These guys are nothing but fun in a tank, they play, they dig in the sand looking for accidental food. If you get them in larger groups they will interact, most of the time nicely. They are not agressive at all but they will chase off other species of fish that try to invade their home (hiding spot). They have a beautiful blue/gray/purple irredecence to them when they get to a high brackis environ. I dedicated a 75 gallon tank to these guys and I'm looking to upgrage to a 150 in the next few months.

[Dadof4]

after rereading that... sorry if it's not helpful. I'm doing a Wildlife Habitat and Conservation paper at the same time...

Sure you are......

[Jase]

after rereading that... sorry if it's not helpful. I'm doing a Wildlife Habitat and Conservation paper at the same time...

Sure you are......

sadly, the paper is going slow because of some concentration problems...


Let us know what you're thinking about the fishies.

[LilGreenPuffer]

I would actually suggest going to a fish/pet store, rather than ordering online. Shipping is *expensive.* If the pet stores in your area don't have what you're after, they'll ususally order it, and then they pay the shipping!

How would the crab get out? Didn't it need the water? It should be okay if there's a cover on there. Do you have a (I forget the word) half-land, half-water tank?

I would reccomend one f8. Most puffers lose personality when kept with others of the same species. Dragon gobies are beautiful. I've never kept them, but they sound great, and really are gorgeous. Archerfish are totally cool. Smear some bloodworms on the glass, and they'll shoot them down! Look into a spiny eel, unless you get a catfish.

About the orange chromide: Idk how reliable this site is, but here's some basic info. It looks like they're okay in a community tank.
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... cle_id=271

[TobiasRieper]

The crabs I used to own had thier own sandy area, but they liked to crawl up the filter intake and chill there, it was all cool until one of the escaped lol.

Iv narrowed down the fish I want to buy:

3 Rainbow fish
3 bumblebee goby
2 Orange chromides (How do you pronounce Chomides?)
1 figure 8 puffer
And perhaps some sort of bottom dweller.

Is this over stocking? I dont want my tank to be anywhere close to overstocked. My tank dimensions are 4' long x 2' feet wide x 2 1/2' tall.
Also what should the 'sg' of the water be for these fish?

Im also confused about the water changes and keeping the sg the same. How do I know how much salt to add to my fish tank when putting new water in?

[Dadof4]

Ummmkay! This is the short and condensed version of how to mix salt. I copied and pasted from another posting I made a little while ago.

"You need to add the salt to a different container of water and let it mix for about 24 hours prior to adding it to your tank. I use big Rubbermaid containers and a power head. There isn't a magic number to the amount of salt to add because each bag can and will be different. You need to slowly add the salt and then test to see where your at. Sea water and brackish water is measured by Specific Gravity (SG) with fresh water being 1.000, full marine being 1.022-1.026, and brackish in between that. They way to go about this easiest is to do it by 50% water changes. Your current water, if it's tropical, will read 1.000 on the hydrometer. Mix 30 liters of water to 1.004 in a separate container, water first then add salt, use a power head and a heater. Let this mix for 24 hours. Once that has mixed well, remove 30 liters (50%) of the water from your tank and add the premixed water. What this does is give you water in your tank that will be 1.002. The math is (1.000 + 1.004)/2 = 1.002. The equation I use to figure out the SG from there on (works only when doing 50% water changes!):

N= current SG
X= desired SG of mix water
T= desired total SG

(N + X)/2 = T

So, say your current SG is 1.002 and your desired total is SG 1.004
N=1.002
T=1.004
X=?
Plug in the numbers and solve for X

(1.002 + X)/2 = 1.004

Answer: X = 1.006"

[Jase]

SG of 1.004-1.008 should be good.

Which Rainbows are you looking at? they aren't all brackish...

[TobiasRieper]

SG of 1.004-1.008 should be good.

Which Rainbows are you looking at? they aren't all brackish...

Celebes Rianbow fish, I think they are called.

Can anyone help me out with the pronounciation of "Celebes" and "Chromides"? I dont want to confuse the LFS guy lol.

EDIT* Thanks dadof4, I will need alot of salt and containers for a 50% water change, but it can be done!

[Jase]

Can anyone help me out with the pronounciation of "Celebes" and "Chromides"? I dont want to confuse the LFS guy lol.

sell-a-bees
chrome-id

[Dadof4]

SG of 1.004-1.008 should be good.

Which Rainbows are you looking at? they aren't all brackish...

Celebes Rianbow fish, I think they are called.

Can anyone help me out with the pronounciation of "Celebes" and "Chromides"? I dont want to confuse the LFS guy lol.

EDIT* Thanks dadof4, I will need alot of salt and containers for a 50% water change, but it can be done!

So far I do it on a 75 gal, a 55 gal and it's not too difficult. What I found works well for mixing is Rubbermaid containers. They are all food grade and they make some large ones, I think the largest is 55 gal and they're fairly inexpensive. You don't have to go up by .002 every week either, .002 is the maximum you can go with out killing the bio-filter. Going up .001 per week works, it's just a little more gradual.

[CoreyK]

Here is some (very reputable) info regarding rainbowfish:
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects/FAQ/3h.html

And brackish aquaria in general, including many fishes:
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects ... shfaq.html