Beta+ other fish?

[Somethingclever]

No it's not OK. You may have heard otherwise, there's alot of bad info out there on salt. They can acclimate to brackish, which is a acheived using marine salt, the same salt used to make saltwater. The betta will absolutely be harmed by the salt. Aquarium salt should only be used to cure disease.

If you want to have a brackish tank for your shark and mollies, you'll need to get rid of the betta and any other freshwater fish, and start slowly acclimating them to low doses of marine salt.

Gotcha. I currently us "jungle aquarium salt". My columbian sharks are only about a few inches long and i have read mollys like the salt. I also know that columbian sharks can survive in fresh water while young and NEED brackish water as they mature. Will they be alright if i just cut off the salt for now?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Moved to Freshwater & Brackish - General Discussion

 

[siva]

Mollies can thrive in FW or BW. Columbian sharks however, are a BW species. They are not OK in FW or in FW with aquarium salt added. You have incompatible species together. If those three are the only species you have it should be a pretty easy fix though, I would recommend you set up a 5-10 gal tank for your betta, purchase marine salt, and start converting your main tank to BW. That is the only way all your fish will survive long term.

I also just want to make sure you know that columbian sharks get huge and need like a 90 gal tank minimum.

 

[Somethingclever]

Mollies can thrive in FW or BW. Columbian sharks however, are a BW species. They are not OK in FW or in FW with aquarium salt added. You have incompatible species together. If those three are the only species you have it should be a pretty easy fix though, I would recommend you set up a 5-10 gal tank for your betta, purchase marine salt, and start converting your main tank to BW. That is the only way all your fish will survive long term.

I also just want to make sure you know that columbian sharks get huge and need like a 90 gal tank minimum.

Oh goodness! 90 Gallons??? I was thinkin 55-75 when they started to grow. oh man, i am really fond of them too

 

[siva]

Well they can easily hit 14" so I was thinking atleast 90. I did some poking around online, since I am no columbian shark expert, and did see care sheets with 75 listed as the minimum. Personally, I don't think 75 sounds big enough for a 14" catfish..especially if you have more than one. Again, I'm not an expert on them, JMO.

 

[Somethingclever]

Well they can easily hit 14" so I was thinking atleast 90. I did some poking around online, since I am no columbian shark expert, and did see care sheets with 75 listed as the minimum. Personally, I don't think 75 sounds big enough for a 14" catfish..especially if you have more than one. Again, I'm not an expert on them, JMO.

Well thank you very much for your help.

 

[siva]

No prob!