Should I or not add some salt?

[[email protected]]

The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.

I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
say to add salt and those that say no way.

My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
quantity.

So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
plants.
Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
hoping not affect the other fish and plants?

Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
live plants. :)

Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.

[m]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've read
that neon tetras and salt don't mix well.
I'd definitely suggest waiting until someone here says it would be
fine.

-m

On 25 Apr 2005 11:24:42 -0700, "
> wrote:

>The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>
>I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
>say to add salt and those that say no way.
>
>My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
>quantity.
>
>So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
>it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
>aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
>plants.
>Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
>hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>
>Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
>die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
>guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
>live plants. :)
>
>Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
>I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.

[Gill Passman]

"m" > wrote in message
...
> I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've read
> that neon tetras and salt don't mix well.
> I'd definitely suggest waiting until someone here says it would be
> fine.
>
> -m
>
> On 25 Apr 2005 11:24:42 -0700, "
> > wrote:
>
> >The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
> >
> >I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
> >say to add salt and those that say no way.
> >
> >My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
> >quantity.
> >
> >So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
> >it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
> >aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
> >plants.
> >Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
> >hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
> >
> >Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
> >die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
> >guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
> >live plants. :)
> >
> >Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
> >I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>

My Neons (with the exception of one) have coped well with the salt I've been
using for the Ick treatment but the salt that I have added has been very
small (half dose).

My question would be unless there was a medical reason for adding salt (like
the Ick outbreak on my Clowns) why add anything additional to your water
conditioning and plant fertiliser?

[[email protected]]

Mainly because of the red crabs that I have. They look fine with the
current water, but from the information I have been gathering they like
brackish conditions. So I figure that adding a small amount of salt to
the tank, just enough that it wouldn't affect the fish and be
beneficial for the crab.

[[email protected]]

Oh yes, I am not adding anything to the water, even when I do water
changes.

The only thing I am putting is just a capfull of plant gro (plant
fertilizer, mainly Iron) once a week nothing else.

[Elaine T]

wrote:
> The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>
> I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
> say to add salt and those that say no way.
>
> My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
> quantity.
>
> So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
> it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
> aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
> plants.
> Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
> hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>
> Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
> die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
> guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
> live plants. :)
>
> Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
> I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>
One tsp of salt for 30 gallons of water will hurt nothing in your tank.
It's simply too tiny of an amount to bother plants or even the many
sof****er fish you have. It may help the crabs, guppies and mollies.

You'll want to add one drop of reef iodine once a week to help the crabs
molt, and possibly use sal****er tank salt mix rather than regular salt
if your tapwater is soft.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[[email protected]]

Thanks Elaine, you are a well of info. :)

My water is hard, and I did get aquarium salt from the lfs.
Can't remember right now what brand it is but it is salt for freshwater
tanks. :)

I will start droping a tbs every two weeks along with my water change...

[Elaine T]

wrote:
> Thanks Elaine, you are a well of info. :)
>
> My water is hard, and I did get aquarium salt from the lfs.
> Can't remember right now what brand it is but it is salt for freshwater
> tanks. :)
>
> I will start droping a tbs every two weeks along with my water change...
>
Careful there - if you want to stay at a tsp/30 gallons then when you
change 25% of the water, you only add 25% of the salt - 1/4 tsp.
Otherwise the salt concentration will creep up. Also, top off for
evaporation with unsalted water.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[[email protected]]

You are right... lets say then a tbs every month... :)

[Elaine T]

wrote:
> You are right... lets say then a tbs every month... :)
>
You're gonna have to use less to stabilize to one tbsp/30 gallons.
You're removing about 56% of a tbsp in 2 water changes and putting a
whole tbsp back. :-| You'll have to do the math 'cause I'm too lazy -
I just add the correct amount of salt with each water change.

Anyway, it's better for your fish if you add at each water change so
they always live in the same salt concentration. It's like matching pH,
temps and everyting else. Remember, your sof****er fish have to adjust
a bit to live in salt and you don't want to stress them by changing it
more than necessary.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[NetMax]

"Elaine T" > wrote in message
. ..
> wrote:
>> The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>>
>> I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
>> say to add salt and those that say no way.
>>
>> My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
>> quantity.
>>
>> So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted,
>> if
>> it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
>> aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
>> plants.
>> Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
>> hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>>
>> Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
>> die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats,
>> pleco,
>> guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
>> live plants. :)
>>
>> Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
>> I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>>
> One tsp of salt for 30 gallons of water will hurt nothing in your tank.
> It's simply too tiny of an amount to bother plants or even the many
> sof****er fish you have. It may help the crabs, guppies and mollies.
>
> You'll want to add one drop of reef iodine once a week to help the
> crabs molt, and possibly use sal****er tank salt mix rather than
> regular salt if your tapwater is soft.
>
> --
> Elaine T __
> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><


At those concentrations, why not just use iodized table salt?
--
www.NetMax.tk (always messing with the status quo ;~)

[Elaine T]

NetMax wrote:
> "Elaine T" > wrote in message
> . ..
>
wrote:
>>
>>>The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>>>
>>>I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
>>>say to add salt and those that say no way.
>>>
>>>My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
>>>quantity.
>>>
>>>So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted,
>>>if
>>>it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
>>>aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
>>>plants.
>>>Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
>>>hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>>>
>>>Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
>>>die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats,
>>>pleco,
>>>guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
>>>live plants. :)
>>>
>>>Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
>>>I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>>>
>>
>>One tsp of salt for 30 gallons of water will hurt nothing in your tank.
>>It's simply too tiny of an amount to bother plants or even the many
>>sof****er fish you have. It may help the crabs, guppies and mollies.
>>
>>You'll want to add one drop of reef iodine once a week to help the
>>crabs molt, and possibly use sal****er tank salt mix rather than
>>regular salt if your tapwater is soft.
>>
>>--
>>Elaine T __
>>http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
>
>
>
> At those concentrations, why not just use iodized table salt?

Didn't think of it 'cause I never use table salt in fish tanks. I guess
the anti-caking agents aren't a problem with this little salt. That's
way cheaper than reef iodine.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[MarAzul]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>
> I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
> say to add salt and those that say no way.
>
> My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
> quantity.
>
> So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
> it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
> aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
> plants.
> Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
> hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>
> Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
> die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
> guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
> live plants. :)
>
> Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
> I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>

Many Corydoras species, and I believe many Pleco species are sensative to
salt. They generally don't tolerate it well. While it's true you're not
using a lot of salt, would it be worth it to possibly lose your cats? All of
my main tanks focus on Cories (I have at least 10 species) so I would never
let salt near them. But that's just my .02 cents.. :o)

--
Mar
---------
Vet Tech student

[Elaine T]

MarAzul wrote:
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>
>>The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>>
>>I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
>>say to add salt and those that say no way.
>>
>>My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
>>quantity.
>>
>>So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
>>it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
>>aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
>>plants.
>>Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
>>hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>>
>>Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
>>die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
>>guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
>>live plants. :)
>>
>>Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
>>I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>>
>
>
> Many Corydoras species, and I believe many Pleco species are sensative to
> salt. They generally don't tolerate it well. While it's true you're not
> using a lot of salt, would it be worth it to possibly lose your cats? All of
> my main tanks focus on Cories (I have at least 10 species) so I would never
> let salt near them. But that's just my .02 cents.. :o)
>
Not picking on you in particular, MarAzul, but this is why nobody
understands salt. I have first-hand experience with this. I used to
work in a store where ALL the freshwater systems were kept at 0.1%
salinity. That's about 1 tsp/gallon. Cories, neons, cardinals, angels,
rasboras, loaches, discus, rams, plecos...all were fine. There is a
bizarre hysteria about salt in this newsgroup that IME is completely
unfounded.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Jürgen Beisser]

"Elaine T" > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
. ..
> MarAzul wrote:
>> > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
>>
>>>The salt question it seems to be a tricky one to answer.
>>>
>>>I've been reading the newsgroups and it's a toss up between those that
>>>say to add salt and those that say no way.
>>>
>>>My impression is that adding salt is okay as long it is in small
>>>quantity.
>>>
>>>So I was wondering because I have two red crabs and one just molted, if
>>>it would make an impact something like 1 tea spoon (or table spoon)of
>>>aquarium salt (that I just bought) in my 30gal thank to the fish and
>>>plants.
>>>Obviously it is a small amount, but will it benefit the crabs and I am
>>>hoping not affect the other fish and plants?
>>>
>>>Right now I have and don't plan on adding anything else unless they
>>>die, Gouramis, neon tetras, sherry barbs, apple snail, corycats, pleco,
>>>guppies and I'm not sure if they are platties or mollies and lots of
>>>live plants. :)
>>>
>>>Would a tea/tablespoon of salt for 30gal of water be a problem?
>>>I also make a 20%-25% water change every week.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Many Corydoras species, and I believe many Pleco species are sensative to
>> salt. They generally don't tolerate it well. While it's true you're not
>> using a lot of salt, would it be worth it to possibly lose your cats? All
>> of my main tanks focus on Cories (I have at least 10 species) so I would
>> never let salt near them. But that's just my .02 cents.. :o)
>>
> Not picking on you in particular, MarAzul, but this is why nobody
> understands salt. I have first-hand experience with this. I used to work
> in a store where ALL the freshwater systems were kept at 0.1% salinity.
> That's about 1 tsp/gallon. Cories, neons, cardinals, angels, rasboras,
> loaches, discus, rams, plecos...all were fine. There is a bizarre
> hysteria about salt in this newsgroup that IME is completely unfounded.
>
> --
> Elaine T __
> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
> rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Elaine,

0.1 % salinity is hard to believe. I equals to 1000 ppm or 1000 mg per
liter. This will increase the electric conductivity by about 700 muS/cm.
Many aquatic species will not be happy about that. For example, it is said
that blue rams like water of 100 to 150 muS/cm.

Juergen

[Derek Benson]

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 04:39:16 GMT, Elaine T >
wrote:

>MarAzul wrote:

>> Many Corydoras species, and I believe many Pleco species are sensative to
>> salt. They generally don't tolerate it well. While it's true you're not
>> using a lot of salt, would it be worth it to possibly lose your cats? All of
>> my main tanks focus on Cories (I have at least 10 species) so I would never
>> let salt near them. But that's just my .02 cents.. :o)
>>
>Not picking on you in particular, MarAzul, but this is why nobody
>understands salt. I have first-hand experience with this. I used to
>work in a store where ALL the freshwater systems were kept at 0.1%
>salinity. That's about 1 tsp/gallon. Cories, neons, cardinals, angels,
>rasboras, loaches, discus, rams, plecos...all were fine. There is a
>bizarre hysteria about salt in this newsgroup that IME is completely
>unfounded.

It is well known that corydoras do not like salt; they come from
waters that don't have any. This is also true of other species. The
point is to attempt, within reasonable limits, to give a similar water
environment in our homes that our specific fish have in the wild. I
would think it not a good idea to keep Tanganyika or Malawi cichlids
in the average ph7.0 tapwater. Minerals or salts (or whatever it is)
have to be added to keep these cichlids thriving.

Back in the days when I bothered to ask store people about their use
of salt in their tanks, they always told me it was preventative,
hopefully would help prevent parasitical illness or bacterial illness
for that matter while the fish were in their custody. So: How long is
the average fish in the store before they sell it? Let's say one week.
The cories and other salt-haters are in a mild salt bath for a week,
then they are moved out to some wonderful private citizen like us.
This one week regimen is presumably much less drastic than a bathing
in malachite green, acriflavin, methylene blue, etc. which we are
sometimes forced to give our fish. So it's maybe okay for the store to
do this. This does not indicate that it's a good idea for these fish
to be kept in the same salt concentration permanently.

I never use salt in an aquarium, although I would if I were keeping
mollies.

-Derek

[Elaine T]

Jürgen Beisser wrote:

> Elaine,
>
> 0.1 % salinity is hard to believe. I equals to 1000 ppm or 1000 mg per
> liter. This will increase the electric conductivity by about 700 muS/cm.
> Many aquatic species will not be happy about that. For example, it is
> said that blue rams like water of 100 to 150 muS/cm.
>
> Juergen

I cleared my blue ram of ich very nicely at 0.1% salt and 86 degrees F
for three weeks. He showed stress coloration, but continued eating. I
DID slowly lower the salt back down to pure freshwater again once the
ich was gone. Cichlids are amazingly resiliant.

Agreed that rams and discus in particular are best maintained for the
long term in the softest water possible.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Elaine T]

Charles wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 04:39:16 GMT, Elaine T >
> wrote:
>
> (snip)
>
>
>
>>Not picking on you in particular, MarAzul, but this is why nobody
>>understands salt. I have first-hand experience with this. I used to
>>work in a store where ALL the freshwater systems were kept at 0.1%
>>salinity. That's about 1 tsp/gallon. Cories, neons, cardinals, angels,
>>rasboras, loaches, discus, rams, plecos...all were fine. There is a
>>bizarre hysteria about salt in this newsgroup that IME is completely
>>unfounded.
>
>
>
> A question. Was your water quite low mineral before adding salt? A
> couple places here use RO systems, after that I can see adding salt.
> My tap water runs about 600 to 1000 ppm tds, so I think it has enough
> stuff in it already.
>
> I don't believe in adding salt unless there is some specific reason
> for it. I am far from expert, tho
>
>
Baltimore water is pretty hard and alkaline but I don't remember the
exact GH or KH. I believe Dennis maintained the store systems with both
salt and copper to prevent protozoan infections. I never saw a single
spot of FW ich the whole time I worked there, and the only velvet I saw
came in on the fish. Finrot seems less common in salted tanks too.
I've always wondered if it keeps the Aeromonas level down a bit.

We also recommended customers keep tanks at 1 tsp/gallon salt and I did
that at home on my first tank and added Aquarisol (copper) at every
water change. I didn't have a quarantine tank - couldn't afford it -
but was able to add new fish with no troubles with the salt and copper
in my display tank. I ended up with black skirt tetras, platies, cory
punctatus, angels, clown loaches, and cardinals. They all did fine, and
I didn't lower the salt until I got REALLY into plants and optimized the
tank for plants a few years later.

As for whether to salt or not, I agree that a blanket recommendation to
salt tanks is probably not useful although it sure helped me out when I
was a beginner. I was more trying to make the point that IME sof****er
fish will not keel over and die in the presence of salt under otherwise
normal conditions. It's safe to use for disease treatment or for adding
in small amounts to community tanks containing salt-loving fish like
mollies.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Elaine T]

Derek Benson wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 04:39:16 GMT, Elaine T >
> wrote:
>
>
>>MarAzul wrote:
>
>
>>>Many Corydoras species, and I believe many Pleco species are sensative to
>>>salt. They generally don't tolerate it well. While it's true you're not
>>>using a lot of salt, would it be worth it to possibly lose your cats? All of
>>>my main tanks focus on Cories (I have at least 10 species) so I would never
>>>let salt near them. But that's just my .02 cents.. :o)
>>>
>>
>>Not picking on you in particular, MarAzul, but this is why nobody
>>understands salt. I have first-hand experience with this. I used to
>>work in a store where ALL the freshwater systems were kept at 0.1%
>>salinity. That's about 1 tsp/gallon. Cories, neons, cardinals, angels,
>>rasboras, loaches, discus, rams, plecos...all were fine. There is a
>>bizarre hysteria about salt in this newsgroup that IME is completely
>>unfounded.
>
>
> It is well known that corydoras do not like salt; they come from
> waters that don't have any. This is also true of other species. The
> point is to attempt, within reasonable limits, to give a similar water
> environment in our homes that our specific fish have in the wild. I
> would think it not a good idea to keep Tanganyika or Malawi cichlids
> in the average ph7.0 tapwater. Minerals or salts (or whatever it is)
> have to be added to keep these cichlids thriving.
>
> Back in the days when I bothered to ask store people about their use
> of salt in their tanks, they always told me it was preventative,
> hopefully would help prevent parasitical illness or bacterial illness
> for that matter while the fish were in their custody. So: How long is
> the average fish in the store before they sell it? Let's say one week.
> The cories and other salt-haters are in a mild salt bath for a week,
> then they are moved out to some wonderful private citizen like us.
> This one week regimen is presumably much less drastic than a bathing
> in malachite green, acriflavin, methylene blue, etc. which we are
> sometimes forced to give our fish. So it's maybe okay for the store to
> do this. This does not indicate that it's a good idea for these fish
> to be kept in the same salt concentration permanently.
>
> I never use salt in an aquarium, although I would if I were keeping
> mollies.
>
> -Derek

Two things. First, many of us mix fish from different water conditions
in community tanks. I did it myself when I needed to add Otocinclus to
my hard water guppy tank after a brown algae explosion. (Nobody told me
Flourite was rich in silicates.) Joe's got a similar mix of soft and
hardwater fish and adding some salt for the crabs is reasonable.

MarAzul wrote after Joe and I had decided on a safe salt concentration
for the tank and suggested that cories would literally die at 1 tbsp/30
gallons, or 0.01%. My experience simply does not bear this out.
Granted, it's not ideal for cories or sof****er fish. It's not ideal
for the crab either, who would prefer a SG around 1.015. But die?!?

OK - I'm starting a new thread to see if anyone has mistakenly
oversalted cories, and how much they can live in.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Derek Benson]

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 22:38:08 GMT, Elaine T >
wrote:

>Two things. First, many of us mix fish from different water conditions
>in community tanks. I did it myself when I needed to add Otocinclus to
>my hard water guppy tank after a brown algae explosion. (Nobody told me
>Flourite was rich in silicates.) Joe's got a similar mix of soft and
>hardwater fish and adding some salt for the crabs is reasonable.
>
>MarAzul wrote after Joe and I had decided on a safe salt concentration
>for the tank and suggested that cories would literally die at 1 tbsp/30
>gallons, or 0.01%. My experience simply does not bear this out.
>Granted, it's not ideal for cories or sof****er fish. It's not ideal
>for the crab either, who would prefer a SG around 1.015. But die?!?

I will venture the following comment, which you may or may not agree
with: the crabs in question have no business in this tank. The
question of adding salt or not would then be nuncupatory.

-Derek

[Elaine T]

Derek Benson wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 22:38:08 GMT, Elaine T >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Two things. First, many of us mix fish from different water conditions
>>in community tanks. I did it myself when I needed to add Otocinclus to
>>my hard water guppy tank after a brown algae explosion. (Nobody told me
>>Flourite was rich in silicates.) Joe's got a similar mix of soft and
>>hardwater fish and adding some salt for the crabs is reasonable.
>>
>>MarAzul wrote after Joe and I had decided on a safe salt concentration
>>for the tank and suggested that cories would literally die at 1 tbsp/30
>>gallons, or 0.01%. My experience simply does not bear this out.
>>Granted, it's not ideal for cories or sof****er fish. It's not ideal
>>for the crab either, who would prefer a SG around 1.015. But die?!?
>
>
> I will venture the following comment, which you may or may not agree
> with: the crabs in question have no business in this tank. The
> question of adding salt or not would then be nuncupatory.
>
> -Derek

Aye, but they're there. And possibly mixed with mollies, which I also
don't personally believe belong in FW. However, I don't like to tell
people to go buy new tanks or get rid of fish unless they've done
something that is bound to end in tragedy like say, mixing tetras and
oscars or angelfish and mbuna. Just my own thing - YMMV. This tank may
work out OK as some folks report success with some of the species sold
as red crabs in FW.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[[email protected]]

I don't have any mollies.

The red crabs seem to be doing okay, one just molted a couple days ago.

Myself I prefer to have bottom feeders like corycats, plecos, shrimp,
crabs, etc.

They provide more entertainment than fish just swiming left and right.
:)

[Elaine T]

wrote:
> I don't have any mollies.

Oops. Must have you confused with someone else. :-O
>
> The red crabs seem to be doing okay, one just molted a couple days ago.
>
> Myself I prefer to have bottom feeders like corycats, plecos, shrimp,
> crabs, etc.
>
> They provide more entertainment than fish just swiming left and right.
> :)
>
Inverts are way kewl! I love my Amano shrimp.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Ray Martini]

Making your water brackish may be undesireable to your fish inhabitants.
Typically you would do a brackish tank with the crabs and maybe mollies or
other brackish type fish.


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Mainly because of the red crabs that I have. They look fine with the
> current water, but from the information I have been gathering they like
> brackish conditions. So I figure that adding a small amount of salt to
> the tank, just enough that it wouldn't affect the fish and be
> beneficial for the crab.
>