Question
Anyone know some plant salt resistant for this type of tank? I need a some reference cause this tank have a bit percentage of salinity in the wate, is lower percentatge but this can harm the plants.
What plants can i use here?
Answer
For brackish water, your plant selection really depends on the salinity of the tank. In general, plants need nutrients and light. Again, not knowing your light setup or your substrate is a little bit of a challenge. I'm going to assume an inert substrate like sand and low to medium light.
Assuming you have a brackish tank, not saltwater (which it seems you will as the species you intend to keep - carinotetraodon travancoricus & brachygobius xanthozona - are freshwater to brackish and would not survive in a saltwater environment) your easiest plants are plants that don't need to root.
- Java fern
- Anubias
These can be attached to driftwood or rock as the roots don't need to be buried. Usually you can take your wood or rock out of the tank, dab a little cyanoacrylate superglue on the rhyzome, stick it to the the wood/rock and spray it with a little water. The water should make the glue cure immediately and since you're using cyanoacrylate, it is chemically inert - meaning it won't react in the tank. The same can be done for Anubias.
Java fern is great - you can get regular java fern, narrow leaf, trident or my favorite windelov. They all do fine.
For anubias, some of my favorite are anubias barteri and anubias barteri vars - nana, nana petite coffeefolia). Again these are attached the same way, or they are placed into a pot of some sort - you don't need them to root.
- Another easy plant that's low-light will be cryptocoryne wendtii. This will root, but it's usually not very fussy.
Depending on your local plant laws -
- Anacharis is pretty much a weed. I wouldn't recommend it, but it would do fine.
A few others you might want to try -
- Ceratopteris siliquosa and thalictroides (water sprite)
- Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)
- There are reports that micro-sword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) can carpet a brackish tank pretty well, but I've had trouble keeping that alive in a dirted tank before so..
Your best bet, which I've saved for last because I've never kept it, is red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) - it does need high lighting though, but it will keep well in saltwater too. They plant and the leaves stay above the substrate.
Again, I haven't included all the options or the full plant profiles - you'll want to double check you have the right temperature, lighting, pH, hardness gH, hardness kH and salinity. You'll also want to make sure you know how to care for the plants - trimming the dead as well as propagating them properly.
I'm not sure about the goby, but I know dwarf puffers love a nice planted tank. Beware though, both those fish are bottom dwellers and the puffers can get pretty territorial, so putting in a lot of hiding spots is a great idea.
Added Bonus -
If you get some good sized (zebra) nerite snails, the puffers shouldn't be interested in eating them and they can thrive in all fresh, brackish or salt (as long as it's not soft water) and they can take care of most unwanted algae.
Answered By - Raystafarian
