Anybody heard of this?

[WaterPond]

Last night at my aquarium society meeting they a bunch of people were talking about how the acclimated a green terror cichlid into full saltwater. They said they read it in a magazine, cant remeber which one they said though. They were talking about how it was living quite well too and didn't seem to be showing any signs of stress.

Anybody heard this?

 

[Zagz]

I haven't heard anything about it at all. Couldn't find anything on google either. It would be interesting to know if anybody has heard of this.

 

[WaterPond]

I think they said it was in the latest FAMA magazine issue. But i'm not positive.

I'm googling like mad to find something about it. no luck though.

 

[blazeyreef]

I have read you can "convert" mollies and other brakish species to "full saltwater" but never believed it....

 

[JulieB]

The question is why? Why would you want to do that to a fish?

 

[Marc118]

I have read you can "convert" mollies and other brakish species to "full saltwater" but never believed it....

Ive seen that with mollies. At the LFS i used to go to they had mollies in a nano reef.

 

[Zagz]

I think they said it was in the latest FAMA magazine issue. But i'm not positive.

I'm googling like mad to find something about it. no luck though.

Me either, google must be burning up from you and I. LOL. If you do find anything post it ok? I'm curious now.

 

[WaterPond]

Yeah... guppies and mollies can be kept in full salt, but i really want to know if this is true what they were talking about.

 

[toddnbecka]

Are you sure it wasn't a Green Chromide? Green and orange Chromides are brackish water cichlids, and would be more likley to survive in full salt than a FW species. Mollies will live, even breed in full salt. Only thing is, they're easy prey for just about any hungry predator.

 

[hamburgler]

I have seen mono argenteus kept in both fresh and salt. Obviously different than a GT since they are a brackish fish, but i have seen huge ones in salt tanks at rainforest cafe.

 

[WaterPond]

positive it wasn't a chromide. I woulden't have found it suprising to hear if it were a brackish fish, and thus woulden't have made this thread.

I can't find anything at all. :?

 

[Marconis]

I wonder if any of those awesome SW fish can be "converted" to a FW fish.

 

[coldmachineUK]

There's something similar being discussed over at The Puffer Forum at the moment regarding whether F8 puffers are brackish or FW.

The reason I mention it is this: there's a theory that these fish benefit from hard, alkaline water which the addition of some salt goes towards creating.

Since some cichlids also prefer hardwater (esp. ARLCs), and since green terrors number among them (preferring medium to hard water), it could be for that reason they've had success acclimatising it to a salty environment.

 

[WaterPond]

Since some cichlids also prefer hardwater (esp. ARLCs), and since green terrors number among them (preferring medium to hard water), it could be for that reason they've had success acclimatising it to a salty environment.

Hmm... green terrors being south american though, you would think they'd have tried african rift lake cichlids instead seeing as how they live in very hard water.

That makes sense though. But the big difference between fresh and saltwater fish... what i always thought was the main reason why these changes could not happen...

Freshwater fish need to drink fresh water, while saltwater fish do not need to drink at all. Thats true isn't it?

 

[toddnbecka]

Fish don't drink water, but FW and SW species have different osmotic regulatory systems to control the amount in their bodies.

 

[WaterPond]

yeah, then that chain email full of random facts was totally wrong then.

 

[Devilishturtles]

There is an article in FAMA this month (you can read it online for FREE!) about crater lake cichlids that are eating sponges (which only sw fish eat) and are thriving in these high high pH conditions.

My guess is while they might adapt to saltwater conditions for a while, that they won't thrive there....but that is just a guess. I really don't have a clue.

 

[coldmachineUK]

Hmm... green terrors being south american though, you would think they'd have tried african rift lake cichlids instead seeing as how they live in very hard water.

I know! When I first thought about it, I thought "no, it can't be that because SA cichlids generally prefer much softer/acidic water in general" so I went and checked up on the ideal water params for GTs and lo and behold they're a medium-hard water fish. Why they tried it out on them, I've no idea! I have no experience keeping GTs; I wonder though: are they hardier than ARLCs in general? Could be that was a contributing factor in choice as well!