Other than puffers, I'm not altogether familiar with what brackish fish are out there in the hobby. I can think of:
Bumblebee gobies
Knight gobies
Desert gobies (saw these once, beautiful fish)
Archer fish
Monos (several types?)
I know there's gotta be more than that!
So what brackish fish are there?
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The Fisherman
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Pufferpunk
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RTR
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BW is a very large world, sort of like asking what is available for salt or fresh. Other than some really nice smallish gobies (and not a few biggies), many BW fish are pretty sizeable. Folks 'way underestimate the housing and upkeep needs of the likes of Scats and Archers and Monos. Scars are BW Oscars, but if anything messier. Archers are really cool, but big fish and need space, lots of space. Monos are schooler, very fast and a tad spooky in less than massive tanks. The goby family alone is huge.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
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Peregrine
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I have a few " low end brackish fish"
Austrailian rainbows (my fav)
Peacock eels (rarely seen-burrowers)
Columbian catfish (Blackfin sharks..or what ever they are called locally)(recently sold due to tank size and appetite issues)
even barbs and gouramie's seem to do well in low end brackish
Check out my gallery...most of these fish are in some level of brackish water (nothing higher than 1.006 however)
Austrailian rainbows (my fav)
Peacock eels (rarely seen-burrowers)
Columbian catfish (Blackfin sharks..or what ever they are called locally)(recently sold due to tank size and appetite issues)
even barbs and gouramie's seem to do well in low end brackish
Check out my gallery...most of these fish are in some level of brackish water (nothing higher than 1.006 however)
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saraybe
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yep- i have mollies in my BW tank. they leave the puffer alone and he leaves them alone. it is a 30G with just the puffer and the 4 mollies with loads of fake plants and lots of tunnels and rocks to swim in and out of.
"Yes, I like my coffee hot and strong... Like I like my men: hot and strong... with a spoon in them."
I've had sailfins in pure SW as well (not cyclers but actually fish, i was too poor for fancy fish for my first SW tank 
)/
From my observations of BW i'd get a filter system bigger than you expect for mono's and scats and archers to a degree. They are horribly messy.
My favorite BW fish are bumble bee gobies, knight gobies and stone fish (toadfish) depending on what store you're at. Mine is with my puffers but they never see him since he lives in a barnacle decoration and rarely moves (i had feed him to make sure he gets food).
Most of the BW fish i see in LFS are too big for most tanks in time or so small they really need thier own tanks. Its kinda challenging to get a BW tank going with fish that dont seem to go to extremes.
My next BW is going to be mudskippers i think i've been really wanting to try my hand at those for ages.
Jason
)/From my observations of BW i'd get a filter system bigger than you expect for mono's and scats and archers to a degree. They are horribly messy.
My favorite BW fish are bumble bee gobies, knight gobies and stone fish (toadfish) depending on what store you're at. Mine is with my puffers but they never see him since he lives in a barnacle decoration and rarely moves (i had feed him to make sure he gets food).
Most of the BW fish i see in LFS are too big for most tanks in time or so small they really need thier own tanks. Its kinda challenging to get a BW tank going with fish that dont seem to go to extremes.
My next BW is going to be mudskippers i think i've been really wanting to try my hand at those for ages.
Jason
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nmonks
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There are literally hundreds of brackish water fish, as well as even more invertebrates (though by and large few are traded). Really, the thing to do is to consider two different factors:
Big fish or small fish: There are examples of both. Gobies, pipefish, halfbeaks, glassfish, soles, livebearers, killifish, atherines, etc., fall into the later group. Big species include most of the perciforms (monos, scats, archers, tigerfish) as well as some of the sleepers, a few livebearers and gobies, catfish, gars, and most of the puffers.
Low end brackish or mid-to-high end brackish: The former is basically an extension of the freshwater habitat, and apart from adding a little salt (SG 1.003-1.005) freshwater rules apply. To some extent, salt-tolerant freshwater fish (like rainbowfish, cichlids, and livebearers) can be included in such set-ups. Mid-to-high end systems (SG 1.010-1.015) don't really work well with plants (though there are some brackish water plants traded, just not many). Instead, you need to work around "marine" looking aquaria, and use things like rocks, bogwood, shells, ceramic structures of various kinds, sand, and so on. As others have stated, at high-end brackish, stocking and filtration rules are similar to those of marine aquaria.
So you basically have 4 variants, of which small, low-end salinity fishes and large, high-end salinity fishes are the most common.
Possibly the biggest problem is identifying brackish water fish. Many aquarium books suggest that there is only one archerfish or one mono or one mudskipper. There are several, and many are traded interchangeably. One of the commonest archerfish in the trade, Toxotes microlepis, is only 12 cm long in aquaria (max 15 cm in the wild) and prefers fresh, not brackish water. Yet most aquarium books refer to Toxotes jaculatrix, which grows at least to 20 cm in aquaria (~30 cm in the wild) and prefers brackish water to fresh. Telling the two apart isn't easy, but is important if you want to have the right sized tank with the right kind of water. Likewise, there are dwarf (8 cm), M. kottelati, and large (15 cm+) monos, M. argeteus, in the trade: a useful bit of information to have when shopping!
Cheers,
Neale
Big fish or small fish: There are examples of both. Gobies, pipefish, halfbeaks, glassfish, soles, livebearers, killifish, atherines, etc., fall into the later group. Big species include most of the perciforms (monos, scats, archers, tigerfish) as well as some of the sleepers, a few livebearers and gobies, catfish, gars, and most of the puffers.
Low end brackish or mid-to-high end brackish: The former is basically an extension of the freshwater habitat, and apart from adding a little salt (SG 1.003-1.005) freshwater rules apply. To some extent, salt-tolerant freshwater fish (like rainbowfish, cichlids, and livebearers) can be included in such set-ups. Mid-to-high end systems (SG 1.010-1.015) don't really work well with plants (though there are some brackish water plants traded, just not many). Instead, you need to work around "marine" looking aquaria, and use things like rocks, bogwood, shells, ceramic structures of various kinds, sand, and so on. As others have stated, at high-end brackish, stocking and filtration rules are similar to those of marine aquaria.
So you basically have 4 variants, of which small, low-end salinity fishes and large, high-end salinity fishes are the most common.
Possibly the biggest problem is identifying brackish water fish. Many aquarium books suggest that there is only one archerfish or one mono or one mudskipper. There are several, and many are traded interchangeably. One of the commonest archerfish in the trade, Toxotes microlepis, is only 12 cm long in aquaria (max 15 cm in the wild) and prefers fresh, not brackish water. Yet most aquarium books refer to Toxotes jaculatrix, which grows at least to 20 cm in aquaria (~30 cm in the wild) and prefers brackish water to fresh. Telling the two apart isn't easy, but is important if you want to have the right sized tank with the right kind of water. Likewise, there are dwarf (8 cm), M. kottelati, and large (15 cm+) monos, M. argeteus, in the trade: a useful bit of information to have when shopping!
Cheers,
Neale
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OraLacerta
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Everyone's forgetting "Freshwater" Soles (flounders).
I keep mine in 1.005-8 and he's an incredible fish. He eats from my hand and is about 3" soon to be 6"!
Myaj, are you thinking of expanding your collection or are you just curious?
I keep mine in 1.005-8 and he's an incredible fish. He eats from my hand and is about 3" soon to be 6"!Myaj, are you thinking of expanding your collection or are you just curious?
-Michelle
Prevent unnecessary deaths due to disease- quarantine ALL new additions at least 4 weeks in a separate tank before adding to your main display tank!
Puffers: Hindenburg the Figure Eight, 75gallon Brackish
Prevent unnecessary deaths due to disease- quarantine ALL new additions at least 4 weeks in a separate tank before adding to your main display tank!
Puffers: Hindenburg the Figure Eight, 75gallon Brackish
I over looked soles because i've yet to be able to do well with them, i figuer if i dont think abuot them i wont be tempted to try them again.
there are also chromide cichlids and some tilapia can thrive in BW and even SW.
There are also shoreline BW crabs that could be used if the tank was laid out correctly. Most of the fiddler crabs in stores, hermit crabs and some of the other species can thrive in BW.
Jason
there are also chromide cichlids and some tilapia can thrive in BW and even SW.
There are also shoreline BW crabs that could be used if the tank was laid out correctly. Most of the fiddler crabs in stores, hermit crabs and some of the other species can thrive in BW.
Jason
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nmonks
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One problem with soles is identifying them. There are at least 5 species of Brachirus/Synaptura imported into the UK, and all are sold as "pan soles" or somesuch. Two are strictly freshwater (S. salinarum and B. harmandi), two estuarine (B. pan and B. panoides), and the fifth a euryhaline marine fish (B. orientalis). Telling some of these species apart isn't easy, and retailers don't bother at all.
Likewise, there are at least two New World species commonly traded, one tropical freshwater (Catathyridium jenynsii), the other a subtropical euryhaline marine fish (Trinectes maculatus).
Yet again, the tongue soles Cynoglossus is traded periodically, and you have freshwater, brackish, and marine species there.
So unless you have access to Fishbase or some other resource before you buy your flatfish, it's a bit of a gamble. The freshwater species cannot be kept above SG 1.005, while the euryhaline marine species should really be kept above 1.010 long-term.
Re: cichlids. There are literally dozens that will do well in brackish water, including numerous species that are either brackish water specialists in the wild (e.g. blackchin tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron) or else naturally occur in brackish/marine habitats as well as freshwaters (e.g. Cichlasoma urophthalmus). I ran up a little list of brackish water cichlids here, if you're interested.
Cheers,
Neale
Likewise, there are at least two New World species commonly traded, one tropical freshwater (Catathyridium jenynsii), the other a subtropical euryhaline marine fish (Trinectes maculatus).
Yet again, the tongue soles Cynoglossus is traded periodically, and you have freshwater, brackish, and marine species there.
So unless you have access to Fishbase or some other resource before you buy your flatfish, it's a bit of a gamble. The freshwater species cannot be kept above SG 1.005, while the euryhaline marine species should really be kept above 1.010 long-term.
Re: cichlids. There are literally dozens that will do well in brackish water, including numerous species that are either brackish water specialists in the wild (e.g. blackchin tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron) or else naturally occur in brackish/marine habitats as well as freshwaters (e.g. Cichlasoma urophthalmus). I ran up a little list of brackish water cichlids here, if you're interested.
Cheers,
Neale