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Any information on Lepomis and Centrarcids in high salinity? Even saltwater? Only species I know can live in saltwater (though rare) is Redspotted Sunfish, which I saw on a fish keeping thread/forum where a guy was sharing some cool catches for saltwater crab traps and stuff.

A fun topic! It's been a long while since I've looked into this - will have to give it a further look when I'm not in the throes of Tylenol PM (I'm getting old and shoveling snow took a toll!). Here's what I know offhand.

Lepomis have a number of brackish tolerant species, but most are at the lower end. Bluegill, Green Sunfish, and Warmouths are all options around 1.005 or less; though I know Bluegill are occasionally found in saltier water (I have caught them in 1.008) I don't know if they are long term denizens or just visiting.

Redspotted in saltwater is news to me - when I last looked into the salinity tolerance of this species like 10 years ago, it was recorded in as high as 1.015, but it doesn't surprise me if it sometimes wanders into saltier territory. I wouldn't keep them in marine tanks full time though.

Bantam Sunfish are just behind the Redspotteds and can be found in 1.014 in the wild.

Most Micropterus are freshwater only, but the Largemouth can be found in as high as 1.018 in occasion. Not great aquarium fish though - big and aggressive.

Honorable mention to Bluespotted sunnies, which are the only Enneacanthus with brackish tolerance to some degree, but even then it maxes out at 1.003.

I don't recall the tolerance for the other genera (Poxomis, Centrarchus, etc) but will look into it tomorrow.

thebrackishtank

Sorry for the delay in getting back with you! Here's the results from some very quick Centrarchid research.

Acantharchus is only freshwater as far as I can tell.

Ambloplites seems to be only freshwater, but a few sources say they have found them occasionally in low brackish areas. I probably wouldn't try them in any brackish tank.

Archoplites is neat! They are fine in up to 1.007 and some evidence suggests they can handle as high as 1.021 - but that said, they are rare fish and protected in much of their range. I'm unsure if they are legal to keep in any state you can find them.

Centrarchus I'm unclear if it can handle brackish conditions. Most sources I've found say freshwater, but one suggested they could be found in oligohaline creeks up to 1.005. I really wouldn't chance it.

Elassoma (has been in and out of Centrarchidae over the years, currently out) is purely freshwater, as far as I can tell. I've seen one source that says maybe E. zonatum can tolerate low salinity? But that was from the 70's and I can't find any corroborating evidence.

Pomoxis is another freshwater only genera. One source I've seen says that the highest salinity P. annularis has been found in is 1.3 ppt, which is... less salty than soda. Keep the salt out, please!

Hello! Seeking further information on any inland species with significant brackish tolerance. For reference, I’m in Ohio, and I’m curious if you know any species (aside from Western Mosquitofish and Eastern Banded Killifish) in the area that have a high brackish tolerance (specially 1.015-1.025). I’m still unsure if White Bass are saltwater tolerant or just brackish too, if even.

Oof, so looking a bit into this, there are a LOT of fish species native to Ohio. Actually pretty neat how many different families can be found there! Brackish tolerance is largely confined to those species with a large range that touches the Eastern shore - and even then, there's not a lot that I immediately recognized as being very solidly brackish tolerance.

Most of the species that come to mind are the bigguns... Longnose and Shortnose Gar up to 1.010 or so, Alligator and Spotted Gar up to 1.023 or so, Largemouth Bass up to 1.018, and Blue Catfish up to 1.015 or so. American Eels are probably good in saltwater indefinitely. But all these species are huge and poor choices for home keeping. There are a lot of species that can tolerate up to 1.003 or 1.005, but half strength seawater is a no-no.

Western Mosquitofish are about it for the desirable species in aquarium keeping. I like Gambusia a lot, but I know a lot of people are less than enthused. Banded Killifish can handle some salinity, but definitely not half strength seawater and up. Around where we live, they inhabit the freshwater areas, Mummichogs inhabit the strong brackish to saltwater, and the two coexist in low brackish conditions.

That said! I'm far from an expert in every species listed and it's possible I missed one or more!

heyo, I’m getting some Lucania goodei (bluefin “killifish”) for my 1.005 SG brackish tank. Not finding many solid sources as to whether they can tolerate low end brackish. Do you think this is because most keepers stick to marine or fresh, with little to no in between, and therefore many sellers don’t bother to list if they can be in brackish?

Any personal experiences? Acclimation for them will be painfully slow and with any luck they’ll take.

I don't have any experience with Bluefin Killifish, only the closely related Lucania parva (Rainwater Killifish). That said, I have seen some scientific papers that suggest that Lucania goodei can tolerate a little bit higher than 1.005 (one paper suggested 10ppt or roughly 1.007). If your tankmates are compatible, I think it would be fairly low risk to attempt this housing.

And as for your other question - almost certainly, brackish fish are less common in the trade and salinity tolerance of aquarium fish as a general concept is not well explored. People keep with tried and true methods of keeping fish - there's nothing wrong with that - but since people aren't experimenting there likely isn't a lot of hard, scientific literature on the salinity tolerance of every species of aquarium fish.

Bantam Sunfish are just behind the Redspotteds and can be found in 1.014 in the wild.

Most Micropterus are freshwater only, but the Largemouth can be found in as high as 1.018 in occasion. Not great aquarium fish though - big and aggressive.

Honorable mention to Bluespotted sunnies, which are the only Enneacanthus with brackish tolerance to some degree, but even then it maxes out at 1.003.

I don't recall the tolerance for the other genera (Poxomis, Centrarchus, etc) but will look into it tomorrow.

Beginner brackish keeper here, do you know if the whole Neopomacentrus genus is brackish, or just N. taeniurus? I'd really like a few but the only one I can find is N. cyanomos. My tank is at about 1.010 salinity with some mollies, mummichogs, and a knight goby.

Alright, I apologize but my thoughts are going to meander all over the place here. Hopefully the information below is useful!

As far as I know, only N. taeniurus and N. aquadulcis are naturally found in brackish water in their home ranges - I double checked a dozen species on fishbase and only these two are noted as being native in such areas. I did find at least one study online which found invasive specimens of N. cyanomos breeding in the Gulf of Mexico around 1.016, so it's very likely that salinity tolerance isn't well understood/documented for this genus.

I believe in general that salinity tolerance for marine fishes is more flexible than many people believe. I wrote a little bit about hyposalinity in marine tanks a loooong time ago, but the gist of it is that it's not uncommon for commercial FOWLR tanks to be kept lower than full strength saltwater, mostly for financial reasons but there is also some evidence to suggest it might inhibit some nasty marine illnesses.

While I haven't done any additional research on the subject in years, at least then there was some success with keeping specific fish species (usually non-reef and non-Red Sea) in as low as 1.012. I'm unsure if this specific gravity was selected because it's just half strength seawater or if there was extensive testing to find that this is a practical lower limit.

Now, N. cyanomos has some brackish tolerance naturally so I think the jump down from 1.016 to 1.012, over a period of time, would probably be tolerated well enough. Would 1.010 be tolerated as well? It's really, really hard to say. Maybe. There are a number of factors such as cleanliness of the tank, temperature, hardiness of the individual, etc which could play a part. I sometimes find that individual organisms that on paper should survive brackish conditions don't do as well (java fern is one for me) and sometimes specimens can surprise you (duckweed is one that caught me off guard this year, specifically, which now thrives in one of my brackish tanks). You might find one that does great in your tank, or you might get some that are stressed out by the salinity.

In all - I think this represents a Medium risk. It could work out just fine, or might be too low for the species to do well. It's really up to you if it's a combination you want to try (and have a plan B to rehome if it doesn't appear to be thriving) or if you want to wait until you can find N. taeniurus. I will say, I tend to find them a few times a year at various Petcos in their "Assorted Damsel" selection. I don't think they are extremely rare, more just not specifically targeted.

#brackish #fishblr

I wanted to potentially add smaller shoaling fish to my reef tank that could shoal with my group of monodactylus. Are pseudomugils way too small that they would be eaten? My M Kottelati are about 1.5-2 inches so on the smaller end. If pseudomugils are too small do you have any other suggestions?

I think you should be fine here. Monodactylus in general aren't really fish eaters - they have real tiny mouths - and while I might see issues with the normal Monodactylus sebae or M. argenteus, that's because they are much bigger. I think this combination works.

There aren't a lot of good, small shoaling options for marine tanks, sadly. Chromis damsels can work in tanks bigger than this, but those are your best inexpensive options. If you have the ability to catch some Fundulus killifish, those work wonders and will school. I like my Neopomacentrus spp damsels, but they won't school either. Psuedomugilis spp are your best bet.

My tank is a 50 gallon curently I have 4 monodactylus kottelati. I wanted to have also a tomini tang, lawn mower blenny and maybe a sharp nose puffer or some sort wrasse. I thought about adding more kottelati since I original had 5 but one died. Would 2-3 more to my current shoal be too much?

I think adding a few more monos here would be fine.

I just want to say tysm for keeping this blog. I haven't had a fish tank in years but I'm consumed with the idea of starting a brackish tank and your blog has been a wealth of knowledge 💛 also, do you have any theories why there's so little information about brackish tanks out there?

Hey there! I appreciate the kind words. I haven't really upkept this blog in... well. Years. My last real regular updates were in 2018; I had started this goal of writing up a caresheet for every common brackish fish and invertebrate in the trade, accomplished that, and then moved on to upkeeping TheNativeTank, where I talk about North American native fish keeping. That said - I do appreciate that people still enjoy reading the things that I've written!

If I had to guess, it all stems from the fact that most fish that need brackish water (as opposed to brackish-tolerant freshwater or marine fish, or euryhaline fish like Mollies) aren't really colorful. Since they aren't colorful, they aren't widely desired for home keeping thus fewer people breed them. Since they aren't widely bred, they aren't widely kept. And with all that in mind, since few people keep them few people are writing about them.

And it's a shame! These fish are usually hardy, behaviorally interesting, and usually quite handsome. I've found over the years I've lost interest in the "loud" colors of most commercially bred fish. I like greys and browns that have streaks or spots of color, or nice liquid silver color.

(An aside - back in the early days of the trade, brackish fish were common! Monos were considered "poor man's Angelfish" as the former were hardy and shipped well - thus cheap - and the latter were new and had lots of losses adapting to our water - thus expensive. Because it was common to add aquarium salt to tanks back then, brackish fish thrived. It was only once water changes caught on and commercial breeding grew that wild-caught brackish fish fell out of favor.)

Is this Kottelati?

I do think that this one is possibly M. kottelati. The other pics you've sent - i don't believe those are.

Shoaling brackisg fish besides monos and scats that can be kept in full marine?

It'll take two parts to answer this question, so starting with the specific question asked: brackish tolerant shoaling fish that can adapt to 1.025. There are a few that come to mind...

Livebearers like Mollies and Guppies (and Mosquitofish and Pike Livebearers, not that they are often kept) are considered social fish but they really aren't; they can be kept singly or in groups equally effectively but they don't school. Still. Hard to pass up in my opinion.

The Fundulus killifishes are rarely seen in the trade but they are the tops in my books for this specific set of criteria. Schooling? Several species are. Brackish to full marine? Again yes for several species. Peaceful? Playful? Check and check. Mummichogs were specifically named for their schooling ability. I can't recommend them enough.

More commercially available are several species of brackish catfish. Best choice is the Tete Sea/Silver Shark catfish - large and peaceful, they are also active and fun. Less suitable... the rare Striped Eel Catfish (Plotosus lineatus) is a tightly schooling fish and also notable for a medically significant sting; anecdotal evidence suggests it can be fatal.

On the smaller side, there are several Blue Eyes (Psuedomugil spp) which school and handle salt water. P. signifer and P. cyanodorsalis are best choices. They are colorful, handsome fish! Unlikely to be eaten by Scats but unsure with Monos.

There are a few halfbeaks and needlefish which can meet this criteria but few are sold in stores. Zenarchopterus buffonis is one such species. They tend to need big tanks because of how inflexible they are.

One pufferfish is a maybe - the Parrot Puffer, like its smaller South American Puffer cousin, can be kept in small groups fairly successfully, but they are often bitey with other species. Finding them is a major challenge too.

The other side to this ask not explicitly stated - are there any marine schooling fish that can be kept with Monos/Scats? The answer is yes - but the context of the aquarium changes things. Cardinalfish and Tangs can be schooling fish in the wild, but usually don't do so in the home aquarium and can be aggressive with conspecifics. Anthias spp. come to mind as schooling fish which would work here. Chromis spp. Damsels are a maybe. Blue Green Chromis are pretty reliable fish, but whether they school depends on tank and tankmates.

thebrackishtank

Found someone that claima to be selling some M. Kottelati. Can anyone tell me if they are or not? They are juveniles around 2-3 inches.

I mean. I hope that's not the picture they sent you? Because that's one I took and posted here on this blog like. A decade ago.

Another first today… actually saw some Monos! They are absolutely gorgeous fish. They had three in the freshwater section (not good long ter

I'm reasonably certain the fish were the much more common M. argenteus. If the seller can provide a picture though I can try to help confirm species.

thebrackishtank

Banuvatt commented: "They are using your pictures, that is what they sent me."

I probably should be upset that others are passing off my old photos as their own but like. They chose maybe the most lower-middling photo of this species I've ever taken and that's hilarious to me.

Found someone that claima to be selling some M. Kottelati. Can anyone tell me if they are or not? They are juveniles around 2-3 inches.

I mean. I hope that's not the picture they sent you? Because that's one I took and posted here on this blog like. A decade ago.

Another first today… actually saw some Monos! They are absolutely gorgeous fish. They had three in the freshwater section (not good long ter

I'm reasonably certain the fish were the much more common M. argenteus. If the seller can provide a picture though I can try to help confirm species.

ID?

Good afternoon! It’s a Monodactylus spp - usually sold in the trade as Monos or Moonies. A brackish-to-saltwater genus, they are usually found in estuaries as young and in the ocean as adults, but in aquariums they can be kept either way. A classic pairing with Scats (Scatophagus/Selenotoca spp) since they were first introduced in the trade. Fun fact - back when these guys were (relatively) cheap and Angelfish were expensive, these were colloquially known as “Poor Man’s Angels”.

There are two species that look like this - M. argenteus is the species you are likely to find in the trade, but in the wild you can also find M. kottelati, a species that looks similar but gets to be about half the length. As far as I know, M. kottelati is never (or very, very rarely) sold under that species name, but sometimes they accidentally are sold as M. argenteus. I’m told the difference between the two is M. kottelati has an anal fin longer than its dorsal fin, where the two are closer to the same size in M. argenteus. Besides the size, they are kept in aquarium basically the same way.

Hello! I’m currently planning to redo my 29 gallon tank with 4 knight gobies and 1 F8 puffer, i keep it between 1.006 and 008 sg, got any plant/macro algae recommendations? Currently planning to get some Halodule wrighti, but besides that no idea.

Thanks, Jasper

Shoal Grass? An interesting choice indeed (a first for me!) I assume you plan to collect it yourself? I don't know much about this species itself, but seagrasses in general need several inches of substrate (I've heard 6-8 inches or more) and very strong lighting (5 watts/gallon+) to thrive. Unsure if Shoal Grass behaves the same, but I'd start there. If you have success, I'd love to hear about it!

There's not a lot of great suggestions for other plants or algae, at least of the species found in the trade. Seaside Brookweed and Microsword can tolerate the salinity, though the latter is really an amphibious plant more than an aquatic. Chaetomorpha can survive that low of a salinity. You might be best off seeing whatever other plants can be found in your area, but usually brackish locales only have a scant number of species of photosynthetic life.

im making a chesapeake bay biotope with fiddler crabs and mummichogs and im rlly excited!! i live near the southern part of the bay so theres so much interesting brackish stuff to find here. do you have any advice??

As a fan of both brackish and native biotopes - i am definitely a fan of the idea!

I do think Mummichogs may not be the best choice here... don't get me wrong I have 10 myself and they are fantastic fish - but they get big (my biggest was just a shade under 6 inches) and really want upwards of 55 gallons of water. The fiddler crabs on the other hand, really want more land than water space. They dont spend too much time in the water unless they feel threatened.

So as I see it, you have two options:

Focus on the mummichogs. They are great, charming fish that are pretty peaceful (if a little boisterous) and can survive a large range of salinity levels, so you have a lot of options for tankmates. From any number of minnow species, to Hogchokers, to Sunfish - all are great. Still want some fun crustacean additions? We have native shrimps that do great with them!

Focus on the fiddlers. I'd recommend looking into smaller brackish species we have locally. Mosquitofish are very easily accessible and I think they are endlessly neat (if a little drab) but if you can find some Rainwater Killies - get them! Tiny and colorful, they would make a great substitute. I just find they are very rare in our neck of the woods.

Any stocking suggestions for a 20 long brackish tank?

Lots! This is probably one of the easiest tank sizes to stock, so describing all possible options would take a long while. I'm not sure how obvious it is these days (I did it like 13 years ago before the mobile version was really a thing) but my page has a care sheet listed for all commonly available brackish species, complete with tank sizes, that might be of use. If you find a species or two you like, I'd be happy to help you with compatibility!

But just to not totally skimp on answering the question :) here's three I like:

A kribensis harem would be pretty neat! One male with 2 or 3 females could make a fun little tank - but doesn't really need to be brackish admittedly.

Go small! Bumblebee Gobies, Endlers, and one of the brackish Blue Eyes species gives a lot of action in a small space.

A paludarium set up for one of the brackish crustaceans like fiddlers or red claw crabs could be neat! I love fiddlers. But uh keep a tight lid on these escape artists.

Figure 8 Puffers are probably the best specimen fish for a brackish this size. Lots of personality!

Do you know where i can get any plants that will grow terrestrially in a brackish paludarium?

Mmm... there are a few options readily available for low end brackish... Amazon swords, anubias, Java fern, and microsword come to mind. Seaside Brookweed is really tolerant of brackish conditions and loves emersion vice submersion. Mangroves also are in that same boat, but are pretty awful choices all things considered.

Besides that, you may need to collect your own if you leave nearby an estuary (and if legal for you to do so). Not a lot of other commercially sold plants meet the requirements you are looking for.

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