Pleco in salt?

[mattdoe78]

Hello everyone I have a question that a customer of mine asked me
Some lfs say that any type of fish can be born in freshwater but can be trained to live in salt water through brackish. This is question if that is true Can she take a pleco and through brackish water treatment can you make it in a salt setup? I know some fish are able to do that cause I live in Southeastern Louisiana and theres gators and bass in the gulf lol. Ok hopefully Ill get lots of replies and not just one person guessing.

 

[aresgod]

well, plecos naturally occur in some places in the the semi-brackish waters of river deltas. So in theory I guess they could tolerate some salt water, but never a full blown reef, and I seriously doubt it would be possible to "raise" them to salt, but stranger things have happened.

 

[mattdoe78]

hey aresgod where in mass are you located?

 

[mattdoe78]

I just want people to answer this question so Im going to make it reappear on top on the main forum page

 

[1979camaro]

i would agree with aresgod...brakish is one thing (possible) salt water is another (impossible long term imo)

 

[aresgod]

Western mass.

 

[FroggyFox]

Some fish are more capable of tolerating the salt than others...like Mollies have lived in fresh, brackish, salt...but I think most fish if they are capable of being partially salt, doesn't mean they could completely switch from fresh to salt...maybe from salt to brackish...or fresh to brackish. I'm definitely not an expert on this...but hey you wanted some opinion

 

[mattdoe78]

ok im just thinking bout putting one of those huge plecos from a pond into a brackish pond thats all lol how big does a pleco get neway ivbe seen ones at a lfs at 18 inches so i dunno

 

[dbacksrat]

yeah the common plecs get a whopping 18 inches--they are truly monsters at that size

 

[wayne]

I tihnk it's rubbish. Some fish can do it, most fish can't. Most fish have their body organs organised so they can either deal with living in water that's more or less salty than their body fluids. If they live in salt water a fish is permanantly extruding fluid through it's skin and has to drink to get more water in and has a kidney developed ot remove salt. If it lives in fresh the fish will be permanantly absorbing water through it's skin and needs to pee it out through the 'normal ' route and it's gills.
I tihnk she has no hope of getting a pleco to live in salt water as they come from freshwater and I don't even think they handle slightly brackish to well. I find it amazing an lfs would be so badly informed