Guppies In Brackish

[el_vulture619]

I heard that Guppies can withstand some brackish water. I even heard they do better in brackish water. Who can shed some light on this topic?

I ask because I have bought some feeder guppies for my Panther waspfish. It has only been an hr but so far so good. My tank is at 1.010 sal. Is this to much for guppies?

 

[nmonks]

Guppies thrive in low end brackish. Under lab conditions they have been adapted to *above* marine salinities, and this can be done at home, but it has to be done slowly. Across several days, ideally.

If you're using guppies to feed a waspfish, this shouldn't really be an issue. The guppies should be eaten at once, or at least within a few minutes. So acclimating the guppies to SG 1.010 could be done across an hour or so. I'm not sure *why* you're using freshwater guppies though. If this is a long-term thing, you may as well adapt some guppies to SG 1.010 and breed your own brackish water feeders. Buying feeder fish from the shops is an incredibly stupid thing to do -- all it does is bring parasites into your aquarium. It's a "when they make my fish sick" thing not "if they make my fish sick". Rearing your own livebearer feeder fish that you can gut-load is the only safe way to use feeder fish, period.

Cheers, Neale

 

[el_vulture619]

I agree Monks, but this fish has not been to keen on frozen, dead foods. Frozen cost is alot cheaper, and I am a low budget fish hobby man. (lowbudget and aquarist??)

You say they breed in lab conditions; so this means I can keep some in a small tank at sal1.010 or higher and they will still breed? Do you have any tips for getting this fish to eat frozen?

 

[nmonks]

I agree Monks, but this fish has not been to keen on frozen, dead foods. Frozen cost is a lot cheaper, and I am a low budget fish hobby man. (low budget and aquarist??)

Patience is the key. Looking for invertebrate alternatives is always a good starting point. River shrimps and earthworms are usually easy to buy or collect yourself. I use all sorts of stuff in the garden including worms, daphnia, midge larvae, and woodlice. Live food, zero cost. Of course, you need a clean garden with no sprays. You can also try things like bloodworms; few fish seem to resist these, live or frozen. Once the fish associates you with "dinner", it is a lot easier to get it to accept frozen fish and chunks of prawn.

You say they breed in lab conditions; so this means I can keep some in a small tank at sal1.010 or higher and they will still breed? Do you have any tips for getting this fish to eat frozen?

Yes, they'll breed. But the key thing is you can feed them algae-based flake food, and this loads them with vitamins and minerals the predatory fish doesn't otherwise get. Things like goldfish are often used but they are very poor quality food, and in marine fish (which is what your waspfish is taxonomically) freshwater fish like goldfish and minnows actually seem to cause organ damage. Livebearers (being descended from marine fish) are much much safer.

Cheers, Neale