Can All My Fish Survive In Brackish Waters?

[jgray152]

Here are my fish that I have in the tank

1x Electric Blue Cichlid
2x Electric Yellow Cichlid
2x Jewel Cichlid (one of them is a baby in a hospital tank. Been sick for almost a year. A Fighter for sure)
http/www.elmersaquarium.com/image_fish/0...l_turquoise.jpg
1x Rope Fish
1x Viloet Goby (Brand New, the reason for switching to brackish. I did not know they were brackish.)
4x Cory Doras
1x Large Pleco (Has seen light salt water before with no symptoms)
2x Butterfly fish
1x unkown fish, looks like a cichlid. (Stays on the surface. was given to me by my GF)
1x Needle Fish
1x Parret Fish (the ones with no tail. Only a top and bottom fin as a tail)

I want to get 2 Angel fish as well.

I have heard the pleco may not do very well in the brackish waters. How about the others?

 

[jgray152]

I want to change my 55 gallon tank to brackish but I want to make sure all my fish can survive in it. I recently got a violet goby no knowing it does better in salt water which is the reason I want to switch.

I also have a huge freshwater plant that I will have to take pictures of so that you guys could tell me if it will survive as well.

 

[Mako Man111]

You absolutely CAN NOT put all those fish in brackish. Just take the goby back. Corries especially can't tolerate any salt.

 

[Lynden]

Jewel Cichlids, Plecs, Parrots and Needle Fish I believe can all be acclimated to slightly salty conditions. I think you can do it with Rope Fish and Butterflyfish too, but I wouldn't try it. You can either try to maintain the Goby as is, or you can take him back, as they can survive in freshwater, maybe even indefinetly.

Corries especially can't tolerate any salt.

I can't stand it when people say this, as there is no proof whatsoever that this is true. It, is what you would call a myth.

-Lynden

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Lynden, you thought that female Endlers were a myth. how about this? there is no good reason to keep cories in salt on a permament basis.

jgray, you have a tank full of fish which really shouldn't be kept in salted water. take the dragon goby back and just enjoy the fish you have. odds are slim that you have the freshwater-tolerant species of dragon goby and even if you did, you have too many fish that will out-compete it for food.

 

[Mako Man111]

Jewel Cichlids, Plecs, Parrots and Needle Fish I believe can all be acclimated to slightly salty conditions. I think you can do it with Rope Fish and Butterflyfish too, but I wouldn't try it. You can either try to maintain the Goby as is, or you can take him back, as they can survive in freshwater, maybe even indefinetly.

Corries especially can't tolerate any salt.

I can't stand it when people say this, as there is no proof whatsoever that this is true. It, is what you would call a myth.

-Lynden

Uhh they have no scales, the same reason too strong of a medication can hurt them. I would rather keep the goby in fresh, than the others in even slightly brackish.

 

[Lynden]

Lynden, you thought that female Endlers were a myth. how about this? there is no good reason to keep cories in salt on a permament basis.

Your right, there is no reason to keep them in saltwater, but that doesn't mean that they can't tolerate it for a few days. And by the way, I doubted the existance of female endlers, because I was not, and am still not, convinced they are a seperate species from guppies. We see Male Lyretail guppies, does this mean they are a seperate species?

Uhh they have no scales, the same reason too strong of a medication can hurt them. I would rather keep the goby in fresh, than the others in even slightly brackish.

They do not have scales, but they do have bony scutes, which function just as good, if not better, than scales. Plecs are catfish too, why aren't they magically "allergic" to salt too?

-Lynden

 

[Mako Man111]

Lynden, you thought that female Endlers were a myth. how about this? there is no good reason to keep cories in salt on a permament basis.

Your right, there is no reason to keep them in saltwater, but that doesn't mean that they can't tolerate it for a few days. And by the way, I doubted the existance of female endlers, because I was not, and am still not, convinced they are a seperate species from guppies. We see Male Lyretail guppies, does this mean they are a seperate species?

Uhh they have no scales, the same reason too strong of a medication can hurt them. I would rather keep the goby in fresh, than the others in even slightly brackish.

They do not have scales, but they do have bony scutes, which function just as good, if not better, than scales. Plecs are catfish too, why aren't they magically "allergic" to salt too?

-Lynden

I didn't mean to say they couldn't tolerate it for a short period of time, but he wants to make it permanently brackish, which I would never do.

 

[Lynden]

Oh, yeah, you are definetly right then, the vast majority of freshwater fish cannot tolerate brackish for more than a few days.

-Lynden

P.S. FEMALE "ENDLERS" DO NOT EXIST!!!

 

[Dan04COBRA]

My common Pleco has been in brackish water for over 4 months, he's growing fast and looks very very healthy.

He was slowly acclimated to it though.

 

[rob newland]

This may be beside the point, but even if they could live in brackish, would it really be worth converting the tank, just for one fish ?

 

[nmonks]

Whether a fish has scales or not is immaterial to its tolerance of salty water. Moray eels and sharks do not have scales, yet both live in the sea. Tetras and gouramis have scales, but are intolerant of brackish water. Catfish do not have scales, but there are at least two families of catfish that live in the sea (Ariidae and Plotosidae) and several families that have members that inhabit brackish water or the sea periodically (Aspredinidae and Bagridae, to name but two). There are even a few plecs that are natural inhabitants of slightly brackish water.

Salt-tolerance is to do with osmoregulation, specifically how the gills and kidneys are set up to conserve water and remove unwanted salt from the body. Some freshwater fish "recently" evolved from marine ancestors and still have some of the hardware in place for doing this. Livebearers and killifish, for example, often have a very high tolerance of salt. But most freshwater fish have been in freshwater habitats for tens if not hundreds of millions of years, and have little to no tolerance of salt because they have long since lost the hardware for dealing with salty water.

Anyway, on your list, the only fish with brackish water tolerance are the jewel cichlid, the ropefish, the and the needlefish (if Xenentodon cancila). All three of these naturally occur in slightly brackish water, albeit not commonly. If your needlefish is one of the gar-like characins (check for an adipose fin between the dorsal and the tail fin) then it is intolerant of salt. By "parrot cichlids" you mean those ghastly hybrid things, right? Rather than Hoplarchus psittacus? If so, then being a hybrid it's impossible to know its tolerance of salt, but some of the Central American cichlids are quite salt tolerant. A few can even live and breed in sea water.

Rift Valley lake cichlids are intolerant of salt as a general rule (perhaps because they are specialised for certain water conditions). None of your catfish is salt-tolerant. Angelfish certainly do not like salt, being adapted to soft and acidic water.

So, no, you can't "just add salt" to this collection of fish, and sadly the goby should be taken back. Otherwise, get anoher aquarium, and keep some brackish water fish!

By the way, your collection of fish is a bit heterogenous. I for one would worry about mixing angelfish with jewel cichlids, and needlefish are a bit skittish, and hardly ideal animals for a tank containing aggressive cichlids.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Dan04COBRA]

Nmonks, let me know when your book comes out. I want to buy it.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Nmonks, let me know when your book comes out. I want to buy it.

me, too. although since i don't own a brackish aquarium, i think i'll mostly end up hitting people over the head with it.

 

[jgray152]

By the way, your collection of fish is a bit heterogenous. I for one would worry about mixing angelfish with jewel cichlids, and needlefish are a bit skittish, and hardly ideal animals for a tank containing aggressive cichlids.

Well I have had 1 angle fish with my jewel cichlid for about 4 years and both left each other alone. The jewel cichliud I ahve had for about 6-7 years. The angle fish is no longer with us because we lost power for 3 days in the winter and the water got extremly cold. I had 2 angle fish at the time and both died, all my other fish survived. We have a well so we couldn't get hot water. The Needle fish stays up top and leaves everyone alone and everyone leaves him alone. The only real aggrasive cichlid in my tank is the electric blue one.

All these fish were kept in a 45 gallon for a while before switching to the 55 gallon.

My 45 I have had for about 15 years total.

So, no, you can't "just add salt" to this collection of fish, and sadly the goby should be taken back. Otherwise, get anoher aquarium, and keep some brackish water fish!

Maybe I will do this. I still have my 45 gallon only holding some feeder fish and some other fish that will be going to a new home. Sadly if I bring him to the pet store, he will only live for anoter week or so since they don't feed them at all and they keep him in freshwater. He would live longer in my tank. He put food right down near him and he eats it. I have to do the same with my rope fish, although he is starting to eat the feeder fish as well.

would it really be worth converting the tank, just for one fish/quote]

If all my fish could be in brackish water? Yes, since the salt would help with disease control.

Thanks for the replys