tank mates for archers

1:any sugestions on some tank mates for my archers I am in the process of converting the 1.5m to a fully brackish tank . it seems that all the fish im looking at are or were on blacklists
Im looking at the mabe 1or 2 of the bigger fish and not the usual molies etc as the archers will prob eat them

2:any idea were I can get drift wood less than 50cm wide but over 1m high so as to create mangrove effect
this is what I was thinking ?

Datnioides microlepis
Siamese Tiger Fish

Terapon Jarbua
Target Fish

needlle nose gar
Xenentodon cancila.


Prehistoric Dragon Goby (Gobioides broussonnetii)

any sugestions:sick:

 

eish - love the italics....

I would go with some Bumble bee gobies, mudskippers (if you can build a bank for them) and maaaybe some celebis halfbeaks

 

thanks Henk .my bad on italics .so how does one go about making a bank ?
are halfbeaks easy to get , i havnt seen any up in jhb pta area

 

best is to look at some of the mudskipper websites.... i see the celebis around every now and then and they come fro ma JHB supplier....

 

Saw some mud-skippers at Panorama Pets....might be worth a look.

 

what about a moray eel .was jsut at a lfs in wonderboom pta he rekon they can handle the brakish water

 

when its young yes - within 6 months it needs 1.025

 

ninja neons as tank mates...:fight:

 

I've seen halfbeaks at quite a few stores lately... If my memory serves, Hillfox had some a couple of weeks back, and VIP northgate had some.

 

thanks will check .starting to think i must just fill it up with archers all the cool fish are blacklisted and the ones you can get will be eaten

 

Celebes halfbeaks are largely freshwater species - it's the Wrestling Halfbeaks, Dermogenys pusilla, that are the brackish fish. Anyways, when I was keeping my Archers in freshwater, they ate my school of halfbeaks. Not a good mix.

 

bloody hell - how big did your archers get? All of the reading i have done with the Celebes halfbeaks they say brackish

 

The Archers were mostly over 10cm, the halfbeaks were about 5-7cm.

Here's the Fishbase page. While they can be kept in brackish water, I don't highly recommend it as they are naturally found in fresh water. If you're going for brackish, go for a maximum of SG 1.005, although lower at 1.003 is better.

 

Yea i would say an SG between 1.003 and 1.005 should do for most of those fish....

 

thanks guys
Next question as i cant seem to find tall drift wood
What plants would be suited to a brakish system
And are there plants that will grow over 60cm in hieght i currently have 2 60+cm plastic plants
And watching the archers spit at insects and objects on or around them is the whole point.

 

I can't help you with the driftwood - you'll have to just keep an eye out at your local stores for suitable pieces.

Java fern is always the first recommended plant for a brackish system, because it is probably one of the few that can survivie saliter water. I've also found the Java moss works up to an SG of 1.008, so it might work well too.

Mangroves are another option but the main issue with these is that they grow extremely tall and it often comes to the point where the plant gets so tall the you may have to remove your hood - not a good idea with archers, as they do occasionally like to jump for their food.

Using plastic plants is the ultimate solution for your tank though. There is no chance that they'll die off. Vallis can grow extremely tall, but will only work in very low-salinity tanks of an SG of about 1.000 to 1.002.

 

thanks man.
When you say mangroves grow high ,how high do you mean cause i made a 8mm ply box same size as the tank with clear perspex infront 80cm high and open on top or can be closed with sheet of 8 mm masonite with small light . so my total height is about 1.4 m ,ive yet to see them jump

 

Guys its illegal to keep, move, touch, collect Mangroves in SA

 

yup i saw on google so a full brakish setup leaves you with very little choice when it comes to plants and fish.if you have archers.

 

Lol oops. :blink1: Just kidding, the mangroves I have were just seeds, wash-ups on the beach kinda thing, probably weren't going to survive there anyway.

Mangroves are pretty big trees, I mean mine is now close on 1m tall, but I'm not keeping it in a tank so its fine where it is. I've seen them in their natural habitat well exceeding 3 metres.

If you set up your tank such that your archers have places to shoot at insects, you might see occasional jumping as well. This is especially true for the T. chatareus species.