Brackish water world, let’s begin!

[nereefpat]

Hi, Can anyone help me with my columbian sharks that are in brackish water, I have looked everywhere for advise and seem to be stuck Still with no answers they need a particular GH and instant ocean wouldn’t help or advise what their product contains as I’m not in the USA this includes how it increases the water GH, even though they sell it worldwide, no test kits can calculate saltwater GH apparently because of the salt content, they say it’s too high yet all over the internet they say columbian sharks are brackish then full saltwater but require a specific GH so it doesn’t make sense.

GH isn't useful in saltwater. Carbonate hardness (KH) which is the same as alkalinity for our purposes is widely used. What salinity (or specific gravity) is your tank?

 

[daviem]

GH isn't useful in saltwater. Carbonate hardness (KH) which is the same as alkalinity for our purposes is widely used. What salinity (or specific gravity) is your tank?

Hi, it’s at 1.006 I used reverse osmosis water with instant ocean to the ratio of 1.005 and then was told on another forum I have no GH and the fish could die so I ran around trying to find something and Seachem advised to add Replenish so I added enough to bring the GH up by 10 that brought salinity to 1.006 then I was told by someone else the instant ocean had probably already brought the GH up high so I tried to find out what the GH is but no kit tests saltwater GH and Instant Ocean wouldn’t help me or give any advise. The fish aren’t doing that great so I’m stuck, KH varies between 6-8 according to api KH test and 80ppm according to the strips. The API normal ph test goes blue indicating at least PH 7.6 but the high range test doesn’t change colour indicating pH of 7.4 or below, the test strips suggests a PH of between 7-7.5.

 

[The guppy guru]

Hi, Can anyone help me with my columbian sharks that are in brackish water, I have looked everywhere for advise and seem to be stuck Still with no answers they need a particular GH and instant ocean wouldn’t help or advise what their product contains as I’m not in the USA this includes how it increases the water GH, even though they sell it worldwide, no test kits can calculate saltwater GH apparently because of the salt content, they say it’s too high yet all over the internet they say columbian sharks are brackish then full saltwater but require a specific GH so it doesn’t make sense.

Hello their mate, unfortunately I cannot help with this I only specialize in a few fish. Though I do know that Columbia’s sharks are indeed a brackish water fish, I do not know much on them. Sorry I couldn’t be of much assistance. You could try going on to a online forum that specializes on brackish water fish / marine fish

 

[nereefpat]

I believe your specific gravity is in the appropriate range for juveniles. Adults can supposedly take full salt. RO + instant ocean to 1.006 should be fine in terms of water chemistry.

Hopefully some brackish folks will chime in.

 

[The guppy guru]

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/forums/columbian-shark.140/

Forum on Colombian sharks. Hope I could help.

 

[daviem]

Thanks for the help , I am on fishlore it does help but the GH thing keeps coming up that I can’t figure out and no one on there has been able to help me figure the GH out, If instant ocean is ok would it stop osmotic shock at 1.006 and should I be adding the replenish as well as instant ocean with future water changes? Or up the salinity of instant ocean to 1.006 instead of 1.005 and miss out the Seachem replenish (it’s salt minerals).

 

[The guppy guru]

Thanks for the help , I am on fishlore it does help but the GH thing keeps coming up that I can’t figure out and no one on there has been able to help me figure the GH out, If instant ocean is ok would it stop osmotic shock at 1.006 and should I be adding the replenish as well as instant ocean with future water changes? Or up the salinity of instant ocean to 1.006 instead of 1.005 and miss out the Seachem replenish (it’s salt minerals).

You are very much welcome

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I have a Colombian Shark in my reef tank. They naturally live in full saltwater and brackish water on the high end as adults and for most of their life really. I acclimated mine as a 4 inch fish to full salt rather quickly over the course of a few days. He is about 10 inches now and is much more colorful than similar-sized individuals kept in freshwater. Kind of a yellow tint to his fins. He had a friend when first introduced to my tank but my clownfish ate its eye (I use an acclimation box now)

 

[Fish man]

I have 2 GSPs now, one adult one juvenile; they are awesome and very different behaviorally given their maturity. It's just tough because it's easy to "overfeed" them, so I have a chronic algae problem.

My LFS has converted GSPs and I'd love to have one but I've heard they can get very aggressive to the point of shredding other fish. My tank is very docile, nothing aggressive at all. Would like to hear your experience.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Lol I was like what, GSP (green star polyp) but no, its GSP (green spotted puffer)

 

[The guppy guru]

My LFS has converted GSPs and I'd love to have one but I've heard they can get very aggressive to the point of shredding other fish. My tank is very docile, nothing aggressive at all. Would like to hear your experience.

from my experiences green spotted puffers are relatively aggressive and aren't completely reef safe. so there is still a chance that the fish will chomp thru your clean up crew.

 

[The guppy guru]

I have tried the little buggers but they always go after my cuc so I now keep them in their own separate tank. besides I get bored of their colors after a bit and it just isn't worth the risk. If you want a better chance at a Reef puffer try the figure eight puffer, They are a little less likely to go after all your CUC. Though they will still go after small inverts, but will leave large inverts alone for the most part. There is a down side thought, They are't completely accustomed to Reef life and might have issues. First they aren't normally found in full marine conditions, they are found in brackish waters ranging from 1.001-1.014. They can be kept in full marine conditions but they don't exactly find it a comfortable experience. So there you have it, the two stunning Reef Safe with caution fish.

 

[The guppy guru]

If you have any questions just ask and I will do my best to help.

 

[Hermie]

My LFS has converted GSPs and I'd love to have one but I've heard they can get very aggressive to the point of shredding other fish. My tank is very docile, nothing aggressive at all. Would like to hear your experience.

Well they eat snails and invertebrates in the wild, not other fish "generally". I even had about 5 ghost shrimp in my display tank that survived for months without the puffers eating them. The shrimp disappeared eventually but I think it was copper related. I had an adult molly in the tank with them too, actually many mollies and there were never any fights or aggression with the GSPs. I think the key is to feed them a varied diet but try not to feed them anything living (Except clams), that way the puffers won't require their hunting instinct to stay fed.

So yeah, I think the reports on aggression are overblown, but that's not to say that a GSP won't become aggressive given a certain environment (lack of food, lack of space etc).

Oh yeah, and since the puffers are moreso a brackish species, they prefer softer shelled invertebrates, so marine snails usually have those really hard shells. The GSP cannot break their shells and they can only eat pond/freshwater snails IME.

 

[Hermie]

Well they eat snails and invertebrates in the wild, not other fish "generally". I even had about 5 ghost shrimp in my display tank that survived for months without the puffers eating them. The shrimp disappeared eventually but I think it was copper related. I had an adult molly in the tank with them too, actually many mollies and there were never any fights or aggression with the GSPs. I think the key is to feed them a varied diet but try not to feed them anything living (Except clams), that way the puffers won't require their hunting instinct to stay fed.

So yeah, I think the reports on aggression are overblown, but that's not to say that a GSP won't become aggressive given a certain environment (lack of food, lack of space etc).

Oh yeah and they have never eaten any of my corals. One time the larger puffer took a bite out of a sponge but it quickly spit it out. I have mixed reef currently. So I wouldn't really worry about the puffers eating corals.

 

[The guppy guru]

Oh yeah and they have never eaten any of my corals. One time the larger puffer took a bite out of a sponge but it quickly spit it out. I have mixed reef currently. So I wouldn't really worry about the puffers eating corals.

Thank you for sharing this information I personally have never had my gsp chomp thru my corals but he was still a little fussy.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

On this thread we will discuss about the general brackish water fish that would look absolutely wonderful in a reef. Some of these include guppies, mollies, sword tails, some species of danios, some species of kilifish, mono fish, green spotted puffer, figure 8 puffer, scatts, dragon goby, bumblebee goby, bumblebee grouper, and a small species of moray eel. All of these fish can live in freshwater and saltwater thought some of these may not fare well in saltwater so keep this in mind fish like guppies and mollies, aren’t as strong as they use to be. But fish like the grouper and mono fish need to live their adult lives in saltwater to extend their life time.

Don’t forget about silver tip sharks. Maybe not reef safe as they get bigger but definitely cool seeing them swim next to tangs and clowns

 

[The guppy guru]

Don’t forget about silver tip sharks. Maybe not reef safe as they get bigger but definitely cool seeing them swim next to tangs and clowns

Well that is pretty old on my part we mainly focus on GSP, mollies, guppies, and monos. But I agree they look, somewhat cool

 

[ReefHomieJon]

Why focus on guppies Which are freshwater fish(haha)when silver tip sharks(Columbia catfish) are a brackish fish that almost go full salt as they mature in the wild.

 

[The guppy guru]

well guppies are also a brackish water fish, thought in the wild this is rare they can and will go into full marine conditions. I had a few in my old tank until my clown fish killed the three.