Salinity Tolerance Of Heterandria Formosa

[eschaton]

I just took down my summer pond, which has a population of endlers and Heterandria formosa living within it.

I've been tempted for awhile to set up an "endler pico-reef" as Neale has mentioned several times they can be acclimated full-strength seawater given time. However, while Heterandria formosa aren't as flashy, they are smaller, and actually in brackish water in the wild.

Does anyone know exactly how high I could push the salinity in a tank with these babies?

 

[nmonks]

Heterandria formosa is quite tolerant of brackish water. It will certainly thrive at SG 1.005. I'm not aware of anyone who has kept it in a saltwater aquarium, but at least one (seemingly reliable) reference has them listed as tolerating marine conditions. But beyond that, I can't comment further either way. Do bear in mind that when acclimating (wild, not domesticated) guppies to seawater, you need to do so very slowly, across several weeks. They aren't like mollies in being tolerant of rapid, extreme changes in salinity.

Cheers, Neale