FAQs about the Freshwater Flatfishes  Related Articles: American Soles, Flatfishes in General, Related FAQs:

  Brackish Flounders 7/18/05 <Hi, Pufferpunk here> Nice site.    http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwflounders.htm <Thanks!> Maybe you're the one to ask.  I have 3 FW flounders and I keep them with 3 Neons and 7 small ghost shrimp.  I add aquarium salt to the water.  1/2 tsp/gal. <You must use Marine salt to make BW & measure it with a hydrometer.  The other fish you have will not appreciate any salt whatsoever.> Now, since flounders are brackish water fish, I haven't been providing it with the right environment right?  Aquarium salt and marine salt are different, correct? <Correct> So what do I do if this is true?  Is there a way to provide a brackish environment for my flounders while not negatively affecting  my other fish? <Nope, you must have 2 tanks for this to be successful.> Do I add regular aquarium salt to a brackish environment? <For BW, you must use marine salt & measure content with a hydrometer.  1.005 should be fine for low-end BW fish like your flounders.  See: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html  ~PP> Thanks in advance

Crays and Crabs? Nope. How 'bout Coldwater Flounders? - 11/27/2005 Hello. <Hi.> I have been thinking about setting up a 10 gallon aquarium for a blue Marron. I would like your advice on whether the crayfish would be compatible with one or more fiddler crabs. <Nope. Fiddlers all require fully marine conditions to survive long-term. It is truly a shame that they are sold (doomed) as freshwater animals. Though they'll keep tickin' for a few months with only freshwater access, it's not something that can last. More importantly, though, they absolutely MUST have land access.> I am also wondering if the two species are fairly easy to keep and if they are hardy since the blue Marron is very expensive in my area. I do have one more question for you Mr. Fenner. <Whups, you got me, Sabrina, today. Bob's out of the country right now.> I have purchased a fresh water flounder (very small less at most 1/2 inch long) today at my LFS and the worker told me it was from British Columbia. <Mm, I find this rather unlikely. The "flounders" available for sale in the aquarium trade are typically tropical animals, though a quick search on freshwater flounders of BC brought me this:  Oregon State University piece . Here's the fishbase on this animal: Fishbase on a flounder. But probably, your animal is one of these:  http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwflounders.htm .  If it IS the fellow from BC, an aquarium in your refrigerator might be ideal - this animal would not survive long at all in the temperatures needed for tropical aquaria.> She also told me it will only grow up to 4 inches long. <Better be hoping it's not that P. stellatus, then. That fish gets about three feet in length. I'd keep your fingers crossed that it's the one species of actually freshwater tropical flounder that we see often in the trade.> My question for you is do you know what this fish will eat, what kind of environment it likes, if it truly is like she said a freshwater flounder and finally if it will kill the rest of my fish (tetras and white clouds minnows)?  <If it isn't obvious yet, please understand that you really must research an animal PRIOR to purchase, so you can be prepared for these things. The tropical flounders offered in the trade rarely take anything other than live foods, though you might have some luck getting them onto frozen meaty foods like bloodworms. As to its environment, I'd recommend you look at the species mentioned in Bob's article above and look them up (in Fishbase, Google, wherever you like) to find out more about each.> Thank you for your time.  <Sure thing.> -Marcin. PS. I would like to clarify that the worker in the store told me that the flounder is interesting because it can be acclimated to freshwater, brackish water, and marine water. I did not take this too seriously because it sounds like this is highly unlikely. <Apparently the fellow from BC starts in freshwater, but by the time it's several inches in length, prefers increasingly brackish conditions. Again, I'm holding out a hope that it's not a large coldwater animal, or it and all the others the store is selling are, like the fiddlers, pretty much doomed. Please learn, and pass on the information you find so that others may learn - soon, you may be teaching the folks at your fish store. All the best to you, -Sabrina>