So I'm starting to look into brackish water, particularly scatophagus. I currently add a little salt when I do water changes on my 55 but it got me wondering; how much salt is too much for a CA cichlid tank? I by no means put too much (1 tablespoon for a 15 gallon change) but what's really the limit on being healthy? Anyways, thanks in advance for responses!
Salt in CA cichlid tank?
- Thread starter Buphy
- Start date
Ah, the ever popular salt question....
But the debate over salt or no salt will carry on and on...
I personally add salt, always have and always will...much more than you add I must say. CA cichlids don't require salt, but fish in general benefit from a small amount in my opinion. The proven benefits outway the arguments against it, also my opinion.
The dose you have now is way safe...and I believe you could easily add more salt and be perfectly fine.
But the debate over salt or no salt will carry on and on...
I personally add salt, always have and always will...much more than you add I must say. CA cichlids don't require salt, but fish in general benefit from a small amount in my opinion. The proven benefits outway the arguments against it, also my opinion.
I only add salt to tanks with the fish that are endemic to waters that would be close to the sea.
In cenotes where some JDs, uropthalmus, and in estuaries where maculicuada live you can taste the salt in the water if you're snorkeling with them.
But in some of the streams in Panama where I now live, salt is nonexistent, and the further away from the sea you go, the lower in osmotic pressure you get..
While it is true that adding salt to water might make up for any lack of osmotic pressure in your tap water, I doubt that the one size fits all theory actually applies, if the fish you have, evolved in low osmotic pressure water, or if your tap water has a larger concentration of TDS.
I believe "one" of the reasons you see so many older oscars with hole in the head, is because they have spent years in higher osmotic conditions than they have evolved to live in. (tanks where aquarists add salt, or the tap water is high in TDS)
Scats are a different story, I believe a salinity level of at least 3ppt (parts per thousand) is called for, and as they age, raising the salinity level to almost that of sea water (35ppt) for most species of scats is not out of line. The same could be said for monos, and one of my favorite Asian cichlids, Etroplus suratensus.
In cenotes where some JDs, uropthalmus, and in estuaries where maculicuada live you can taste the salt in the water if you're snorkeling with them.
But in some of the streams in Panama where I now live, salt is nonexistent, and the further away from the sea you go, the lower in osmotic pressure you get..
While it is true that adding salt to water might make up for any lack of osmotic pressure in your tap water, I doubt that the one size fits all theory actually applies, if the fish you have, evolved in low osmotic pressure water, or if your tap water has a larger concentration of TDS.
I believe "one" of the reasons you see so many older oscars with hole in the head, is because they have spent years in higher osmotic conditions than they have evolved to live in. (tanks where aquarists add salt, or the tap water is high in TDS)
Scats are a different story, I believe a salinity level of at least 3ppt (parts per thousand) is called for, and as they age, raising the salinity level to almost that of sea water (35ppt) for most species of scats is not out of line. The same could be said for monos, and one of my favorite Asian cichlids, Etroplus suratensus.
If you want to keep a scat in brackish water conditions, you can keep a black belt cichlid, jack dempsey or a mayan cichlid since both have been found in brackish waters (see study in link below). Then there are the chromides (orange chromide and green chromide) from India.
Here's a study done on the salt tolerance of some CA cichlids,
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/51532/Oldfield_Saltwater_Cichlids_2004.pdf
Here's a study done on the salt tolerance of some CA cichlids,
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/51532/Oldfield_Saltwater_Cichlids_2004.pdf
Ya, saw green chromides the other day. Very nice looking fish. I'll need to do more poking around to find out exactly where which fish is from and specific water parameters then to determine how much salt is actually ok with CA cichlids then. Thanks for the responses
I'd like to throw this in as food for thought, and offer it as to the amazing resilience of fish, and their ability to adapt to many water condition over a scant hundred+ or = years.
I live fairly close to Lake Gatun in Panama, a couple hundred years ago, before the Panama canal was built it was an inland lake with only estuaries as outlets to the sea where normally brackish species could exist such as snappers (Lutjanus) or snooks (Calva and Centropmus)(not the cichlid know as snook (Petenia)etc.
Today because of the Panama canal, mixing of sea water from both oceans is a common occurrence. And pH can range after rain events from as low as 6, or in the dry seasons up to higher than 9, or after large seawater incursions occur as waters from the locks combine.
Peacock bass were introduced many years ago, spawn and thrive. But according to fishermen that have fished here, and in S America, the ones here in Panama don't attain the same size. Whether this is because of the difference in chemical concentrations? I don't know, but it is food for thought.
There are also fresh water sharks that spend entire lives in the lake.
Sorry for ramblin again, but I find this evolutionary stuff fascinating.
I live fairly close to Lake Gatun in Panama, a couple hundred years ago, before the Panama canal was built it was an inland lake with only estuaries as outlets to the sea where normally brackish species could exist such as snappers (Lutjanus) or snooks (Calva and Centropmus)(not the cichlid know as snook (Petenia)etc.
Today because of the Panama canal, mixing of sea water from both oceans is a common occurrence. And pH can range after rain events from as low as 6, or in the dry seasons up to higher than 9, or after large seawater incursions occur as waters from the locks combine.
Peacock bass were introduced many years ago, spawn and thrive. But according to fishermen that have fished here, and in S America, the ones here in Panama don't attain the same size. Whether this is because of the difference in chemical concentrations? I don't know, but it is food for thought.
There are also fresh water sharks that spend entire lives in the lake.
Sorry for ramblin again, but I find this evolutionary stuff fascinating.
What species of freshwater sharks do you have in Panama? I've heard of some FW sharks of the Glyphis genus but I was thinking they were more Asia and Australia. Any species aside from Bull Sharks?
I'm not sure of the species, but bull sharks are suspected, because they tend to travel fairly commonly. Seems many may have been landlocked, since the canal opened, and have been thriving. At least according to the locals.