can they survive brackish water?

[Splitskull]

Hi

I have a 27Gal freshwater and

2 banjo catfish
1 yoyo loach (he ate all but 1 snail)
1 common pleco
1 red pleco(he's not red at all but the LFS insisted it is a red pleco)
3 zebra danio
3 pristella
2 rummynose
6 neon tetra
1 betta male

and some plants(no idea what are they)...

Can I add a bit of salt? Ocean salt or what? I want to "keep the doctor
away" and I want too add 2 fiddler crabs. Or I just add the crabs without
salt? Lfs told me the fiddler crabs should be ok in freshwater but I want to
hear more opinions.

TIA

--

------Splitskull-----

[Dave Gunter]

Splitskull wrote:

> Hi
>
> I have a 27Gal freshwater and
>
> 2 banjo catfish
> 1 yoyo loach (he ate all but 1 snail)
> 1 common pleco
> 1 red pleco(he's not red at all but the LFS insisted it is a red pleco)
> 3 zebra danio
> 3 pristella
> 2 rummynose
> 6 neon tetra
> 1 betta male
>
> and some plants(no idea what are they)...
>
> Can I add a bit of salt? Ocean salt or what? I want to "keep the doctor
> away" and I want too add 2 fiddler crabs. Or I just add the crabs without
> salt? Lfs told me the fiddler crabs should be ok in freshwater but I want to
> hear more opinions.
>
> TIA
>
In a word, no. None of these fish will tolerate salt (even at a low
level). Fiddler crabs are a salt water crab if I remember right.

--
Dave
www.baarks.co.uk

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: Re: can they survive brackish water?
>From: Dave Gunter
>Date: 3/26/2004 7:09 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <3w49c.79$la.73@newsfe1-win>
>
>Splitskull wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I have a 27Gal freshwater and
>>
>> 2 banjo catfish
>> 1 yoyo loach (he ate all but 1 snail)
>> 1 common pleco
>> 1 red pleco(he's not red at all but the LFS insisted it is a red pleco)
>> 3 zebra danio
>> 3 pristella
>> 2 rummynose
>> 6 neon tetra
>> 1 betta male
>>
>> and some plants(no idea what are they)...
>>
>> Can I add a bit of salt? Ocean salt or what? I want to "keep the doctor
>> away" and I want too add 2 fiddler crabs. Or I just add the crabs without
>> salt? Lfs told me the fiddler crabs should be ok in freshwater but I want
>to
>> hear more opinions.
>>
>> TIA
>>
>In a word, no. None of these fish will tolerate salt (even at a low
>level). Fiddler crabs are a salt water crab if I remember right.
>
>--
>Dave
>www.baarks.co.uk

I've always kept them in freshwater and they've done great.
All the shops around here have them in fresh, not brackish.

[Rob]

>--
> >Dave
> >www.baarks.co.uk
>
> I've always kept them in freshwater and they've done great.
> All the shops around here have them in fresh, not brackish.

I have a friend who has kept a large brackish tank for several years now,
and she says that most stores keep their brackish stock in fresh water as
they expect a quick turn around (i.e. the livestock can tolerate pure fresh
water for a short while). I wouldn't go by what the shops are doing. You
may be able to pull it off for a while, but will probably be hard on the
crab(s). The first hit I got from Google confirms this:

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rarespecies/a/fiddlercrabs.htm

As for your fish - most of them are very intolerant of salt in the water,
particularly the various catfish.

- Rob

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: Re: can they survive brackish water?
>From: "Rob"
>Date: 3/27/2004 8:39 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <Dmg9c.22115$R27.16899@pd7tw2no>
>
>>--
>> >Dave
>> >www.baarks.co.uk
>>
>> I've always kept them in freshwater and they've done great.
>> All the shops around here have them in fresh, not brackish.
>
>I have a friend who has kept a large brackish tank for several years now,
>and she says that most stores keep their brackish stock in fresh water as
>they expect a quick turn around (i.e. the livestock can tolerate pure fresh
>water for a short while). I wouldn't go by what the shops are doing. You
>may be able to pull it off for a while, but will probably be hard on the
>crab(s). The first hit I got from Google confirms this:
>
>http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rarespecies/a/fiddlercrabs.htm
>
>As for your fish - most of them are very intolerant of salt in the water,
>particularly the various catfish.
>
>- Rob
>
>

Very interesting, Rob.
I will have to say that when I kept them, I was adding aquarium salt to the
tank...not brackish, but my Bettas benifit from the addition of salt and it
never dawned on me until I was reading from the link you provided that there
was salt in my tank, and probably why they did fine.
I also knew that they needed to get out of the water and dry out. I had this
little shelf thing. It looked like rocks and ended in a shelf just above the
surface.
I couldn't have them now, as I have a couple types of Cories.
Tanks for the info. = )

[luminos]

The main problem is that fiddler crabs absolutely must be able to get out of
the water. They should not remain submerged (in fact if given the chance
they will spend most of the time on the banks of a water ledge).

In an aqua-terrarium, I had no trouble with them and freshwater.

[Rikko]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2004 17:12:26 -0500, "Splitskull"
> wrote:

>Hi
>
>I have a 27Gal freshwater and
>
>2 banjo catfish
>1 yoyo loach (he ate all but 1 snail)
>1 common pleco
>1 red pleco(he's not red at all but the LFS insisted it is a red pleco)
>3 zebra danio
>3 pristella
>2 rummynose
>6 neon tetra
>1 betta male
>
>and some plants(no idea what are they)...
>
>Can I add a bit of salt? Ocean salt or what? I want to "keep the doctor
>away" and I want too add 2 fiddler crabs. Or I just add the crabs without
>salt? Lfs told me the fiddler crabs should be ok in freshwater but I want to
>hear more opinions.
>
>TIA

Loaches hate salt - I wouldn't add *any* if you have those guys. Same
with the banjo cat. Bettas seem extremely salt intolerant as well.

The other guys can handle trace amounts, but nothing near what I would
call "brackish" water.

[Splitskull]

TY all for inputs
--

------Splitskull-----

"Splitskull" > wrote in message
...
| Hi
|
| I have a 27Gal freshwater and
|
| 2 banjo catfish
| 1 yoyo loach (he ate all but 1 snail)
| 1 common pleco
| 1 red pleco(he's not red at all but the LFS insisted it is a red pleco)
| 3 zebra danio
| 3 pristella
| 2 rummynose
| 6 neon tetra
| 1 betta male
|
| and some plants(no idea what are they)...
|
| Can I add a bit of salt? Ocean salt or what? I want to "keep the doctor
| away" and I want too add 2 fiddler crabs. Or I just add the crabs without
| salt? Lfs told me the fiddler crabs should be ok in freshwater but I want
to
| hear more opinions.
|
| TIA
|
| --
|
| ------Splitskull-----
|
|

[Rob]

"luminos" > wrote in message
...
> The main problem is that fiddler crabs absolutely must be able to get out
of
> the water. They should not remain submerged (in fact if given the chance
> they will spend most of the time on the banks of a water ledge).
>
> In an aqua-terrarium, I had no trouble with them and freshwater.
>

Hi,

Thanks for the info re: having a dry patch - as for the brackish issue, I'll
defer to others' opinions here, having not kept 'em myself. :-)

I just wanted to pass along the info that the way a shop is keeping their
animals is not always an indication of the optimal way to keep them. Even
in the better stores staff knowledge tends to vary a lot, and some will keep
their brackish animals in fresh water at the store but will ensure that
customers know how to keep them in brackish when they get them home, etc.

- Rob

[luminos]

"Rob" > wrote in message
news:dTt9c.31876$li5.21512@pd7tw3no...
> "luminos" > wrote in message
> ...
> > The main problem is that fiddler crabs absolutely must be able to get
out
> of
> > the water. They should not remain submerged (in fact if given the
chance
> > they will spend most of the time on the banks of a water ledge).
> >
> > In an aqua-terrarium, I had no trouble with them and freshwater.
> >
>
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for the info re: having a dry patch - as for the brackish issue,
I'll
> defer to others' opinions here, having not kept 'em myself. :-)
>
> I just wanted to pass along the info that the way a shop is keeping their
> animals is not always an indication of the optimal way to keep them. Even
> in the better stores staff knowledge tends to vary a lot, and some will
keep
> their brackish animals in fresh water at the store but will ensure that
> customers know how to keep them in brackish when they get them home, etc.
>
> - Rob
>
>

This is true...they also keep the fiddlers submerged in every pet store I
have been in. They will die quite rapidly (that is why the are furiously
struggling up the glass of the aquarium).

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: Re: can they survive brackish water?
>From: Rikko
>Date: 3/27/2004 11:03 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>On Fri, 26 Mar 2004 17:12:26 -0500, "Splitskull"
> wrote:
>
>>Hi
>>
>>I have a 27Gal freshwater and
>>
>>2 banjo catfish
>>1 yoyo loach (he ate all but 1 snail)
>>1 common pleco
>>1 red pleco(he's not red at all but the LFS insisted it is a red pleco)
>>3 zebra danio
>>3 pristella
>>2 rummynose
>>6 neon tetra
>>1 betta male
>>
>>and some plants(no idea what are they)...
>>
>>Can I add a bit of salt? Ocean salt or what? I want to "keep the doctor
>>away" and I want too add 2 fiddler crabs. Or I just add the crabs without
>>salt? Lfs told me the fiddler crabs should be ok in freshwater but I want to
>>hear more opinions.
>>
>>TIA
>
>Loaches hate salt - I wouldn't add *any* if you have those guys. Same
>with the banjo cat. Bettas seem extremely salt intolerant as well.

Bettas are not intolerant of salt.
They benifit from it.