Salt or no salt? Help!!!

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Peanut8987

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 1, 2010
5
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Collegeville, PA
Ok, so I have a semi-aggressive tank with...

1 Senogal Bichir
2 Clown Loaches
1 Hi-Fin Pleco
8 Tiger Barbs
5 Silver Dollars
2 Featherfins
1 Silver Tipped Shark

My question is, I know the shark and silver dollars prefer brackish water (the SD's are about 4 inches in diameter and the shark is about 6 inches long), can I add marine salt to the aquarium without hurting the other fish? I currently add freshwater salt, but I know they need marine. I don't have the finances to go and get another tank right now to convert to brackish and I really don't want to give them up. (And by the way, I do my research now before I buy fish so I don't get wrong ones. Pet stores are quite deceiving.) Please Help....
 
dude the fish should be fine as long as they have been acclimated slowly, many aquarium bred fish arnt as sensitive to these things, im not saying u can put a moray in fresh.
 
the shark can be in freshwater and is the only is in there that prefer brackish water...
 
Peanut8987;4593736; said:
Ok, so I have a semi-aggressive tank with...

1 Senogal Bichir
2 Clown Loaches
1 Hi-Fin Pleco
8 Tiger Barbs
5 Silver Dollars
2 Featherfins
1 Silver Tipped Shark

My question is, I know the shark and silver dollars prefer brackish water (the SD's are about 4 inches in diameter and the shark is about 6 inches long), can I add marine salt to the aquarium without hurting the other fish? I currently add freshwater salt, but I know they need marine. I don't have the finances to go and get another tank right now to convert to brackish and I really don't want to give them up. (And by the way, I do my research now before I buy fish so I don't get wrong ones. Pet stores are quite deceiving.) Please Help....
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:welcome: to MFK!

Is this silver-tipped shark "Columbian shark"? I'm having trouble with common names since I find scientific names more defined in terms of identification than common names shared by more than one species which is often the case.

The rest of your fish do NOT need salt therefore there is no reason why you should add salt. You will only do them more harm than help actually by adding the salt.
 
I wasn't sure about the solver tipped shark, but I was pretty sure that the silver dollars were fw only.

I was running .004 salinity for a while due to having a violet goby, I had a 8" common pleco in there when I was running salt, marine salt...He's now 12.5" and didn't really care IMO.

Most fish can adapt, especially popular breeds, to a wider range of conditions. The key is slow acclimation. When I was maintaining brackish, I added salt over a month to 2 months, raising the dosage a little at a time till I reached my desired salinity.

My opinion, run a little salt if you feel that the one fish will benefit, but keep your target salinity low. Buy a hydrometer most start reading at .004...If it is capable of FW only for life, just stick to regular aquarium salt.
 
Your clown loaches will hate the salt. I agree no salt.

Oh, and you absolutely need more than 2 clown loaches, they are social and will not be happy in a pair. Shoot for 6+
 
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