List of Acclimated Freshwater to Saltwater Fish

M

method0075

New member
I wanted to share with the community a list of freshwater fish that I was able to acclimate to saltwater and transfer to my FOWLR community tank.

-Black Mollies
-Lyertail Black Mollies
-Spotted/Dalmation Mollies
-Lyertail Spotted/Dalmation Mollies
-Silver Mollies
-Lyertail Silver Mollies
-White Mollies
-Lyertail White Mollies
-Orange Balloon Belly Mollies
-Black Orange Balloon Belly Mollies
-Spotted/Dalmation Balloon Belly Mollies
-Fancy Guppies (All colors and varieties)


Here are some intresting notes about my observation with these fish.

The black Mollies and spotted mollies have made friends with and school with my 2 Domino Damsels. I have also noticed that since this group of fish has formed the domino damsels are much more peaceful and don`t attack everything insight anymore.

Guppies can be acclimated but are very small and because they are very passive will be bullied in most tanks, my coral banded shrimp snagged 2 for a snack when the lights went out last night. I have transferred my guppies to the fuge/sump where they are not harrassed by the damsels, shrimp and crabs. I`m thinking these fish would be a great addition with calm and peaceful marine inhabitants like sea horses and that genus, not the damsels , clowns and dwarf angles that I have.

Because these fish are live bearers they provide a great source of food for the rest of the marine community.

Please feel free to add any other freshwater breeds that you have acclimated to this list for others that are intrested.
 
have you ever tried to convert fish the other way? like converting a tang to fresh water? is this even possible?
 
That`s an excellent question. No, I haven`t. I will say seeing the "freshwater" fish next to the saltwater fish, really shows the difference in the design and creation of these two types of fish catagories.
 
Live bearers offer a constant source of food for you tank through their offspring. Most people keep them in their sump or refuge, I put them in the main tank to observe their behavior with true saltwater fish.
 
Most of those fish are brackish water fish naturally, not really freshwater. I have considered it before, mollies are really cheap and easy to get in pretty much any pet store.
 
Good correction to bad they are marketted and sold under the freshwater market. They thrive in the higher salinty content
 
you could convert a bull shark but you would need a huge (huge x 100) tank, high food bill and one slip when feeding or tank maint and you may nolnger have the ability to feed or watch you shark

columbian"sharks" commonly sold as black tip/ black fin "sharks"

scats
 
Years ago I raised my brackish tanks salinity over to saltwater 1.015-1.023 over about 4 weeks time.

I had 3-4 mono argus', 2 mono sabae's, fugu puffer, green spotted puffer, butis-butis- crazy fish (very cool fish, neatest one, salt or fresh, I've ever had), knight goby and a silver scat.

The only fish that didn't take well to the change was the GSP. It's belly turned a dark color and became lethargic, needed moved out. All the others did great and the mono's really shot up in size quickly. Unfortunately they became real aggressive toward each other as they grew.
 
oh i forgot about the green spotted puffers, i have a saltwater fish buddy who i got started in the hobby who has gsp for over 2 years now in full marine conditions..she was also the friend of mine who bought a rock beauty angel on a impulse buy as her 1st fish and its still thriving after more than 2 years now
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15489308#post15489308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishkid6692
i'm just curious why you would want FW fish in SW tank? there are MUCH nicer choices for SW.
Click to expand...

To be different I guess
 
Sailfin mollies also transfer to salt easily. They are a brackish fish, and grow a bit larger than the "standard domestic" mollies. They actually can be very beautiful fish. While I agree that salt has numerous fish possibilities, mollies were some of the first fish that I ever housed with seahorses. Not only are they very peaceful, but when they are hungry, they will pick at algae. Another benefit is that they will eat food off the substrate. Not all fish will do that, especially marine fish who are use to the substrate being a dangerous place.
 
Moray eels can be converted to freshwater but usually dont do very good and only certain species can. Also some sting rays. Some gobies can be converted to saltwater but it could be all those are brackish water.
 
Mollies in the pet trade are all the same species, and are rarely found in pure fresh water in nature, as far as the other fish, things like monos, scats, archers... things like that are not freshwater fish, they are found in either brackish or salt water in nature.

Grassroots, moray eels can sometimes be kept in freshwater for short periods of time, but it will kill them, and as far as stingrays they are seperated into two groups, freshwater and saltwater, and you can't adapt them, if you have a freshwater stingray it will die in even highly brackish water, its kidneys can't take the salt, and the reverse is true, saltwater rays don't survive in very low salinities.

The reason some fish can take different salinities has to do with evolution. Fish probably evolved in fresh water. They believe this because all fish have a flap of skin in the throat that prevents them from swallowing water. This is for preventing the fish from being flooded with water, freshwater fish osmosis says that the body is constantly being filled with water (because their bodies have more salt then the surrounding water) so the kidneys have to regulate the content of salt and produce lots of urine to eliminate it. Salt water fish have the flap of skin, but the opposite problem, their bodies are being dehydrated because the salinity is higher in the ocean then their bodies. They are constantly drinking and their kidneys remove salts, but they produce very little urine. Fish that have the ability to change the function of the kidneys can be kept in various salinities, thus can be adapted to fresh or salt or anything in between.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15498717#post15498717 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philter4
Mollies in the pet trade are all the same species, and are rarely found in pure fresh water in nature, as far as the other fish, things like monos, scats, archers... things like that are not freshwater fish, they are found in either brackish or salt water in nature.

Grassroots, moray eels can sometimes be kept in freshwater for short periods of time, but it will kill them, and as far as stingrays they are seperated into two groups, freshwater and saltwater, and you can't adapt them, if you have a freshwater stingray it will die in even highly brackish water, its kidneys can't take the salt, and the reverse is true, saltwater rays don't survive in very low salinities.

The reason some fish can take different salinities has to do with evolution. Fish probably evolved in fresh water. They believe this because all fish have a flap of skin in the throat that prevents them from swallowing water. This is for preventing the fish from being flooded with water, freshwater fish osmosis says that the body is constantly being filled with water (because their bodies have more salt then the surrounding water) so the kidneys have to regulate the content of salt and produce lots of urine to eliminate it. Salt water fish have the flap of skin, but the opposite problem, their bodies are being dehydrated because the salinity is higher in the ocean then their bodies. They are constantly drinking and their kidneys remove salts, but they produce very little urine. Fish that have the ability to change the function of the kidneys can be kept in various salinities, thus can be adapted to fresh or salt or anything in between.
Click to expand...

that makes sense
 
philter, are you certain about your statement regarding mollies? I agree that most mollies are hybrids of Poecilia sphenops and other P. species, and, like guppies, have been bred to the extent that they can be considered a fully domesticated animal. But I thought that the sailfins, P. latipinna, while being captively bred and raised, were pretty much P. latipinna; at most having been crossed w/ P. velifera, but definately different than the other mollies. Perhaps my information is dated, though.
 
No, you are correct, all mollies in the trade (with the exception of wild caught fish with collection data) are crosses between P latipinna and P sphenops and P velifera, or some combo of those. Does this make them fully domesticated, I don't know, but they are from stock that in the wild is rarely found in pure fresh water, but rather coastal areas with high influx of salinitied dependent on the tides.
 
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