Question about salt for the pro's!

[drb]

I have a 150 5x2x2. I was recently given a fresh water Moray. Ive read that they are a brackish fish. I normally add about 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water when I do changes. How much salt is too much for the rest of my Cichlids?
Oscar, 2 Dats, Small Spot Polleni, 2 Emperors, Scat, 2 plecos and a turtle.
Any input on how much salt the eel really needs would be helpful as well.
Thanks

 

[Lupin]

What salt are you using? Marine salt is what you need to replicate the brackish to marine environments. There is a big difference between the salt we use to treat the fish and salt we use for brackish to marine setups. A lot of your fish are not tolerant of the increasing salinity so I would advise you get another tank to accommodate the brackish species, sell or give them away. Most scats and moray eels are brackish to marine species. They are more prone to bacterial infections and starvation if kept in FW for a long time. If either the FW or BW species' requirements are met, the other suffers.

 

[CHOMPERS]

What kind of fresh water Moray is it? Some can stay in fresh water their entire lives; others are born in freshwater but then migrate out to sea.

 

[micstarz]

You can't keep cichlids, morays and turtles together.
Get a new tank for your turtle.
Get a new tank for your scats and moray.

 

[drb]

Appears to be Gymnothorax tile. As far as the other comments, the turtle is 100% aquatic and is fine healthy and happy with my cichlids. The Scat is Scatophagus Tetracanthus and was bred into fresh water. My question is about the eel and salt requirements in relation to my other fish.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Not knowing the scientific name, I looked it up and found this:

Gymnothorax tile is a freshwater to brackish species that momentarily moves into saltwater to spawn. It stays in at least slight brackish water, and most people have had troubles with it being in freshwater (pure). Either it just dies, or it gets a white slime coating that leads to death.

You will need to get him his own tank. Or you could get her her own tank. Either way, you will need to start converting it to brackish when you get the tank. Aquarium salt does not create brackish water, it only creates salty water. You will need marine salt and a hydrometer.

 

[drb]

This is a message from my friend that gave me the Eel. After reading this I would say that he will do better than fine in my tank and definitely a better home than where he was.
"I had the tank and the eel for 3 years. I put salt at the beginning till the small box ran out and I stopped. I also never really did a water change on the tank, I did once at the beginning and since I only added water every week to make up for the evaporated water. There was dry salt from the evaporated water so I just scraped and drop it right back. The eel and the stonefish are really hardy fish so there wasn't much maintenance to do =)
Also on the feeding, I kind of starved them a little bit... I fed them once a week, sometimes 2 times a week. I started w/dry shrimp till he was full (his whole body length) but when the dry shrimp ran out I just bought feeders, i dropped 30 for the eel, stonefish & bicher and he would eat a good 10 or so within a few minutes. If I were you I would feed him everyday or every other day till he is filled up, so he gets bigger & fatter =)"