What type of fish can be in brackish water?

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Not to totally derail this thread, but...

1) Gator gars do not reach 10 feet.

2) Gator gars in some locales do spend their lives in brackish water. The species is native to both freshwater and brackish water, and is known to journey into the ocean as well.
 
(Of course, most gator gars in the hobby should be kept in freshwater...)
 
It has been PROVEN that freshwater fish can and will die from salt. The only time you add salt should be for disease treatment. And never for to long. The salt will cause kidney failure or permanent damage to the fish. I will say again. PROVEN. Not my opinion. A fact. They cannot metabolize the salt and they die. HOWEVER there are fish that survive in brackish/salt for long periods of time, BUT living there permanently WILL kill them, with some exceptions. Alligator gars can withstand brackish water but are still fresh water fish ( to my knowledge, someone should ask xander about this) and should not be kept in brackish permanently.

EDIT** I agree with Madding that gator gars do not reach 10 feet. At least not in captivity. But there is the lifespan argument.
 
Younglin;4870021; said:
Alligator gars can withstand brackish water but are still fresh water fish ( to my knowledge, someone should ask xander about this) and should not be kept in brackish permanently.
Click to expand...

See my post.

But you're right in your last point, I don't think anyone on MFK should keep their gator gars in anything but freshwater (unless they themselves caught it wild and tested the water).
 
Pufferpunk;4869791; said:
The man who wrote that article is a scientist in the field & has been contributing to this hobby for 60 years.
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And did he sit there and interview the fish Barbara Walters style asking them "How did that make you feel?"

No.

I still agree with you in saying that making a FW fish live in BW (and vice versa) is not cool. However, stating that adding any salt to an aquarium is "unfair" to the fish is absurd.
 
If a fish does not reach it's wild counterparts size (or exceed it), there is something wrong with the fishkeeper's ability to keep that species.
 
Um... no.
 
That particular concept is, I am sure, the result of under-housing and inappropriately feeding and insufficiently maintaining captive fish. If your fish is not as large or larger than the wild fish data, you are not doing something as well as you should be - diet, tank size, current, water conditions, tank maintenance, etc. are all highly significant factors. Few hobbyists have any real experience with quality care of really big fish. And to be brutally honest, most hobbyists grossly overstock, overfeed or inappropriately feed and under-maintain their tanks. Captive fish have many fewer threats to their life than their wild kin. If you cannot keep fish alive in captivity for more than their natural span, you need to change the way you keep that fish. If captives do not reach or exceed wild size, you are not doing it right.

Your fish should easily reach wild size and exceed wild lifespan - then you are doing it right.
You can carve that over the door to your fish room!
 
Is this not an alligator gar? Looks like a 10' fish to me:

alligator-gar.jpg

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/alligator-gar/
 
Lol. Actually the record was 8'10" the one you are referring to isn't anywhere near that size
 
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