From fresh/brackish to salt

[Titus77]

Besides Black Mollies, what are some freshwater/brackish water fish that can be acclimated to saltwater? Today, I unsuccessfully tried to acclimate a pair of Painted Glass Fish. They were swimming around in my QT for about 1.5 hours, then they were floating. Yes, I have tried google. Why do you think I am asking it here?

 

[Luis A M]

Scats,Monos,some puffers

 

[Titus77]

Okay cool. Thanks. I really like the look of Scats. Their name is kinda strange, but their colorations are cool. What is the best way to acclimate them to SW?

 

[nextreefer420]

ive seen blackfin / columbian sharks in saltwater tanks. u can usually find them at petsmart for cheap but they grow a little large

 

[Helter Skilter]

Some Central American cichlids can be kept in salt/brackish water... Vieja maculicauda is one, if memory serves me correctly.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

Bull sharks, black tip reef sharks, nurse sharks, redfish, snook, mullet (good preditor fish food and EASY to catch), pinfish, blue crabs, stone crabs, puffers, and a bunch of other species I catch in fresh, brackish, and salt water on at least a simi-regular basis. I haven't caught a reef shark or nurse shark in fresh water yet, but brackish all the time. The others are found in all 3 where I live. We have caught largemouth bass in the brackish parts occasionally but never full blown salt. I can find bluegill in the brackish water often but never too far from a freshwater access point. They usually hang out within 20 feet of a freshwater drain into the brackish water river. Oh an manatees are often seen in all 3. I've never seen a bottlenose dolphin on the freshwater side, but some never leave the brackish while others prefer the open ocean. I know you wouldn't want to keep 9/10 of these in a tank but these are my personal observations. I am lucky enough to live in an area where you can board a boat in pure freshwater and get to the ocean within an hour without leaving the water. Lots of interesting species mixes. Also seahorses are mainly brackish but sometimes salt. Horseshoe crabs and stingrays go to all 3. I know I am missing a bunch but that is what I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Helter Skilter]

Titus77, you have to set up a manatee tank. Girls will like you once you have a manatee tank.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

I've seen a manatee tank but it reminded me of a sohal tang in a 55 gallon setup.

 

[Helter Skilter]

I got to meet Snooty the manatee about 20 years ago. Is he still around?

 

[Wakeskater02]

Technically speaking........

You can convert any fish from Fresh water to Brackish to salt. It is just the amounts that you need to be concerned with. For example if you wanted to take a green spot puffer and put him in fresh water he will do fine. If you wanted to put him in brackish water he will do fine. Or you can put him in straight salt water as long as these moves are gradual. If you wanted to put a gold fish in salt water you would have to add very minute amounts of salt at varried intervals for a super long period of time. Eventually he will adapt to it and survive.

The problem is not the amount of salt in the water it is the lack of oxygen that the salt crystals take up. It is for the same reason that they say for a FOWLR tank you should keep the salinity lower say .0021, but if you are keeping a reef tank you need to have the salt at between .0023 and .0025. It has to do with the Oxygen levels the water is able to hold.

 

[El-ahrairah]

Technically speaking... ummm no

While yes the oxygen saturation point of freshwater is higher than that of saltwater (eg. 68 F freshwater can hold 9.1 mg/l O2, while seawater (35 ppt) can only hold 7.4 mg/l O2), this has nothing to do with whether or not a fish can survive in freshwater or marine environments. Additionally this is not the reason why fish-only tanks are recommended to have a lower salinity.

The ability to tolerate and survive in marine environments is based on the fish's physiology, specifically with regards to osmoregulation.

In very simple terms....

In freshwater, the cells of the fish contain more solutes than the external environment (the freshwater). In this environment water is constantly trying to enter the cells and the fish needs to constantly remove the excess water to maintain the osmotic balance of it's cells.

The opposite is true in marine environments, where the cells of the fish contain less solutes and thus are in danger of losing water to the outside marine environment.

The range of salinities that a given species of fish can tolerate is baseed on a whole number of factors that help make up the physiology of said fish.

Therefore a great number of freshwater fish can NOT survive in marine environments, likewise the opposite holds true for a number of marine fish.

The internal osmolarity of most marine fish species (depends on the species) cells is more similar to the range of 25-29 ppt salinity (i.e. 1.019-1.022 specific gravity). Therefore if you keep at fish only tank at a lower salinity the fish expend less energy to maintain their homeostasis. This is why it is better for fish to be keep at lower salinities.

Invertebrates do NOT maintain osmoregulation in the same manner, in fact many invertebrates will simply adjust their internal cellular chemistry to become iso-osmotic. Most of these species can not tolerate lower salinities.

Speaking of mollies, research has shown that mollies (Poecilia latipinna) survive best at a salinity of 25 ppt (Kumaraguru etal 2005) as opposed to freshwater or standard brackish water (1.015 sg).

Most species of the Poecilia genus can survive in fully fresh and marine environments, including the common guppy (Poecilia reticulata).

-Michael

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

You took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[seaskraP]

as i transitioned from fresh to brackish to salt i acclimated my scats, and monos to full salt, and i thought they were a very interesting addition to the reef. a little something different you dont see very often. both the monos and scats eat like pigs though, very high bio-load.

 

[Luis A M]

Some remarks:
The salinity of the internal fluids of fish is about 1.009.That should be the lowest a SW fish should be subjected to,without inverting it´s osmoregulation process.

Cichlids and many other fish groups can be adapted to full strenght SW.Apparently the easier families are those that have came from SW into FW in later evolution times,while the old FW groups have lost this adaptability.I think characinids and cyprinids are some of these families.

While this is an interesting experiment,it is unnatural and against aquarium sound practice,to subject our fish to it.

Regarding puffers,some species are naturally brackish (not SW small puffers described)but other are truly FW.

 

[Helter Skilter]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13923048#post13923048 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
While this is an interesting experiment,it is unnatural and against aquarium sound practice,to subject our fish to it.
B]

The species of Vieja I mentioned (Vieja maculicauda) travels into the ocean naturally, and have been found in open marine waters.

 

[Ultium]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13923048#post13923048 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luis A M
Some remarks:
The salinity of the internal fluids of fish is about 1.009.That should be the lowest a SW fish should be subjected to,without inverting it´s osmoregulation process.

Cichlids and many other fish groups can be adapted to full strenght SW.Apparently the easier families are those that have came from SW into FW in later evolution times,while the old FW groups have lost this adaptability.I think characinids and cyprinids are some of these families.

While this is an interesting experiment,it is unnatural and against aquarium sound practice,to subject our fish to it.

Regarding puffers,some species are naturally brackish (not SW small puffers described)but other are truly FW.

So what your saying is.....I can put Oscars in my reef tank!!!

Blessed be this day.

 

[acrylic_300]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13927602#post13927602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ultium
So what your saying is.....I can put Oscars in my reef tank!!!

Blessed be this day.

Oscars are why I ended up with a 300 gal reef tank. Pet mart sold me 4 of them for a 29 gallon uncycled tank.

I felt so guilty after I found out they needed 75 gallons each that I found a 300gal. and built a little 8'x10' room for it.

Meanwhile they died and I started reading a whole lot.

 

[vito is hooked]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13919449#post13919449 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
You took the words right out of my mouth.

LMFAO!!!!