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Its been a looong while since I've posted here. Long story short; my tank when to hell in a handbasket. Mollies, minnows, snails, and shrimp all kicked the bucket. The loaches, however, seemed to be thirving. Which is wierd, because they ended up going without food for a week before we set 'em loose in the lake. Okay, not really the best idea, but I figure, what's the worst they can do.

Anyway, on to the topic.

I want to do a small brackish tank. A 20g long, preferably. I want some small gobies, some small crabs, and MAYBE a small puffer. I have a tight budget. What can I do?

ok dont ever say you let the fish go in a lake or pond. Im not going to go into it because im sure you will get it from someone else. In any case...
brackish is more difficult than fw. although they are more tollerent of salinity changes than sw they still do (in the long run at least)require salt which requires you to mix and measure it. If you had trouble keepin minnows etc... alive, brackish is harder.

ignoring all of the above, yes a 20 long would be ok but prolly the minnimum if you want fiddler crabs as well. I believe some species of puffers would be ok. keep in mind, if you want crabs you will need land and space above the land. so now you dont have a 20 gal tank anymore. maby its only a 10 now. that equals less fish. There are plenty of sites dedicated to brackish tanks. they have lots of info.
Good Luck!

Change your crab to a Fan Shrimp and you have an aquarium again. Fan Shrimp, two sword/molly/platy/etc and a figure eight puffer and two bumblebees. The puffer is a lil messy so you will have to over filter a little thats why I left the extra five gallon per inch alone. The shrimp will clean the bottom and the snails will airate the sand and the puffer will control the snail population and the live bearers you want to keep two males or two females. I wont touch the other stuff

Minnows died because I was gone for a LONG time and the tank-sitter SUCKED. When I was there they were fine.