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hey guys, can you put freshwater fish in brackish water or the other way around? also how do you make a freshwater tank a brackish tank? if what i saw was corect do you just add a teaspoon of aquarium salt per 5gallons of freshwater??

it really depends on the fish with the brackish fish in freshwater dont do well.

Do you have a particular fish in mind?

Most of the time, fish cannot move between types of water, and if they can, it takes weeks or months to make that transition.

Salt concentration affects the salt/water content of the fish, and can cause serious damage or death if it isn't within certain parameters.

IMO aquarium salt is not suitable for most brackish and marine fish. Try marine salt instead and but a hydrometer to measure the concentration of salt. You can't really do it by adding a certain volume, you will have a lot of trouble keeping the salinity right.

What are you trying to create?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hi,
Some fish can be acclimated to brackish water, such as
the sail-fin molly. However it has to be done slowly
giving the fish enough time to change its metabolism
from fresh water to salty water.

Use only marine salts such as Instant Ocean, etc.
Those products contain the various elements such as
calcium and magnesium necessary for oceanic life.

There are hundreds of articles on Brackish Water tanks,
plants, and fish. Here are a couple:

http://www.aquariumfish.net/indexes/brackish.htm

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Pearce_Brackish.2.html

http://www.azgardens.com/c-63-brackish-plant-habitat-packages.aspx

Hope this helps...
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

i was thinking a couple of bumblebee gobies with something that already likes some salt like some yellow lab cichlids or something. but im not sure if these fish are compatable etc...

Hi,
You are talking about two vastly different fish.

The Yellow lab Cichlid comes from lakes inside the
land locked African Rift country.
http://www.panhistoria.com/www/panhistorian/riftvalleylakes0306.html
There the waters are hard, but hard with minerals
that are carbonates (Calcium Carbonate,
Magnesium Carbonate, etc.), not salts of minerals.
If you want to keep these fish, you should use a
substrate that consists exclusively of a carbonate
such as crushed dolomite, crushed limestone, or
crushed coral with a mix of crushed oyster shells.
Hardscaping, to provide caves nooks and cranies for
them to defend, would be made with rocks such as
pieces of limestone. No salt.

The Bumble Bee Gobie on the other had needs some salt
in the water. They come from the tidal areas of the
rivers that feed into the sea.
Salt for the tank water should be one of the marine
salts such as Instant Ocean, etc.

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,%20Bumblebee%20Goby.htm

http://www.e-aquarium.com.au/bumble_bee_goby.htm

Hope this helps...
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

o okay, is there anyfish you would recomend with the bumblebee gobie? and in the first link you gave me is that a certain type of sand that they need? or can i just use some gravel...

Hi,
You caught me editing my post.
I would use a coral sand or as they too want a high
pH and the coral sand would help maintain the high
pH. Crushed coral would also work. In looking at
the pictures in the two links, one uses what looks
like a "sand" and in other pictures the grain size
is larger and appears to be around a #2 or #3 size.
Again, I'd use cushed coral.

The links suggest "partners" for the gobie within the
articles.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

The only fish that can move between brackish and freshwater are brackish fish. Any true freshwater fish doesn't really do well in brackish water, although they will tolerate salinity to a degree.

You do not add salt by gallon. Salinity is temperature dependent, thus, the salt you need to add will vary by the temperature in the aquarium. You'll need a way to measure density/salinity directly such as a hydrometer or a refractometer.

Small species of brackish puffers are a usual choice to keep with bumblebee gobies.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.