Question...

[HZSK]

I have two mollies and two guppies in my tank and, for the mollies' sake, I wanted to add aquarium salt. I know that guppies can live in brackish water but I also have a chinese algae eater in the tank. How would the salt effect him?

[adamj]

do you mean marine salts or aquarium salt. Big difference.
Aquarium salt itself doesnt do much, however marine salt will raise the salinity of the tank. If you're curious about how saltwater affects freshwater fish, then i suggest you read up about osmosis, and osmotic death. Hope that helps

[HZSK]

Well that does help as to what it would do to him, but I have no idea if CAEs can be in that kind of water. All well, its too late. I think the store kept them in brackish water so the move to freshwater must have caused my female molly to be more vulnerable because she has ick now and it wasn't in there before.

Oh, and I was talking about aquarium salt. I got all my info. from books and that's what they said to use.

[madhippoz]

My tale of woe. "Aquarium Salt" is an actual product, it comes in a milk carton, its a tonic for Freshwater tanks. Adding "Aquarium Salt" does not make your tank Brackish. You must add a Marine Salt like they use for pure Salt water tanks. Brackish water just has a lower salinity level than salt water, but higher than freshwater. Here's a good beginning link for what type of fish prefer Brackish water.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishS...bracfishes.htm

[adamj]

hippoz, for a minute i thought you're new avatar was a picture of the grand canyon with snow capped mountians in the back or something... i just woke up :P

[Lai Liu Ha]

rofl

[Avalon]

Uhhh, I just thought you would like to know:

Mollies are freshwater fish, not brackish.

What's this nonsense I speak?!?

Yes, mollies are freshwater fish that have a bad habit of swimming out to sea (literally) in brackish water tributaries. Just because you can find them in brackish water, doesn't mean you should keep them in it.

I am very well versed in molly keeping, and they thrive quite well in soft water with a pH of 6.4. They can also do very well in very alkaline waters. So what does this mean? Mollies are very adaptable fish! I speak from experience. I've put my mollies through hell and back (i.e., experiments, etc.) with very minimal losses; they are sheer troopers! They are amongst the hardiest fish I've ever kept.

[catfishmike]

i hate to aruge but it's really a case of all three fresh brackish and sea water.but like you said a real trooper in the way of fish.i think it just depends on the locality of the fish in question.from what i understand most are found in areas that are mainly fresh, but very close to estuaries and open seas,although they have been found very far inland and thriving.there have been many studies on which is better and the genral consensus was all three are fine ,but there were less problems in brackish and salt.but that just goes back to the whole salt makes lazy aquarium keepers argument.anyways just my two cents

[adamj]

something to consider we must.

[madhippoz]

Yah its my small fuzzy crappy new Avatar, don'cha juz love it? I may switch back to the other one. I don't think many people will recognize it as a pair of Colombians lazing on a rock.