Who adds salt to the cichlid tank and why
- Thread starter fishnutham
- Start date
Good posts! I also use mine mildly. The fish do seem to react to it when i leave it for a few water changes. Since i use uv in my tanks for prevention i guess a bit of salt cant hurt.
No added salt (sodium chloride) here, except when needed as an occasional therapy for a problem. When I started with rift lake cichlids I read and was told they needed aquarium salt, but this turned out to be false. As stated above, while the rift lakes do have varying mineral profiles, they are not nearly as salty (sodium chloride) as some hobbyist sources would lead you to believe or as some people imagine them to be. It's been years since I figured this out and stopped adding salt and I've seen zero detriment to their health, growth, breeding, or longevity, whether involving Malawi, Victorian, or Tanganyikan cichlids. What's more important imo is that they have sufficient calcium and magnesium, which each of the rift lakes have in varying amounts.
i do not add salt because they are not brackish nor marine fish. i havent yet had the need to dose my tank with NaCl to treat any infections (thank goodness). however i do add african rift valley cichlid salts to my aquarium. only when i do a water change though, not when i'm topping off because the salts do not evaporate. there are arguments on both sides whether or not it's neccessary to add the salts because you can achieve the same "purpose" of attaining proper GH and kH by adding bicarbonate and epsom salts but that method does lack some of the trace elements that the rift valley salts offer. all my fish are really colorful, healthy, and breed all the time. i cant say it's a direct relation to the salts being added but if it aint broke, dont fix it. some people say that it isnt rquired because they can get the same results (colorful breeding fish) in lesser quality water parameters (such as a low GH/kH/ and a pH around 7). africans, imo, are hardier fish and easier to care for than most people believe. and that is evident by the fish keepers who keep them at sub-par water quality requirments, don't check the parameters, and still get them to breed. which brings me to my next point, are cichlid salts needed? probably not, but adding them gives me peace of mind that i'm trying to offer a perfectly replicated enviroment even though it's not possible in the home aquarium. damn i just ranted on lol
depends on what type of cichlids your talking about but even so its better to have stable water parameters.
