Freshwater fish in saltwater tank?

[Sharkbait]

I saw a Mollie in a huge saltwater tank, and it made me start thinking.I'm curious about acclimation of freshies to saltwater.I want to know what fish can be switched. I know mollies can, what else? Does anyone know the procedure?

[Woodstock]

It seems like any brackish fish could be acclimated to full salinity... not sure though. Good question~

If I ever set up a pony tank, I plan on having a black mollie tank just to help feed them.

[BoomerD]

Mollies aren't actually freshwater fish, but rather brackish water. They can be acclimated quite nicely to saltwater, but of course, since this is not their natural habitat, they don't usually live as long. Many people use the s/w acclimated ones as feeder fish. Supposedly they are more nutritious than goldfish for the salt water predators.

[mps9506]

Originally Posted by BoomerD

Mollies aren't actually freshwater fish, but rather brackish water. They can be acclimated quite nicely to saltwater, but of course, since this is not their natural habitat, they don't usually live as long. Many people use the s/w acclimated ones as feeder fish. Supposedly they are more nutritious than goldfish for the salt water predators.

Ditto.

Other brackish fish sometimes seen in the FW hobby include "FW puffers", monos, scats, flounder, various gobies.
Some types of killies, and other topminnows can be acclimated to full salt.

FWIW, sailfin mollies are pretty common in the salt marshes on the east coast.

[Witfull]

ive also acclimated swordfish to salt water, only the wild scpecies really do it well,,,the hybrids dont fair as well.

[fishhead]

Puffers

[fishhead]

Where's all the saltwater frogs?

[Witfull]

bevis and butthead took them,,,lol

[Sharkbait]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated to all.How slow should this acclimation be?

[Cougra]

Mollies have an amazing ability to adapt. I have seen people put them from a freshwater tank right into a fully saltwater tank and live, however I think it would be best slowly to raise the salinity over the course of a week or two. If the Mollies have been kept in a system that has a bit of salt added all the time then they can be acclimatized faster then one that has been kept in a completely salt free tank.

Not all freshwater fish can be adapted to saltwater conditions. There are primary and secondary freshwater fish. Primary freshwater fish have evolved in freshwater and as such can not handle high levels of salts in the water for long periods of time.
Secondary freshwater fish are fish that started off in the oceans and slowly moved inland. These fish tend to do better with a bit of salt in the water but still can't really adapt to full salwater conditions.
Then there are brackish water fish that can adapt to full saltwater and full freshwater conditions but still tend to do better somewhere between the two extremes. (This is where mollies fit in.)

[Witfull]

feeder guppies are lil toughies too...drop em in and a week later you see one or two hidimg for their lives but no problems with the water.

[Little Luey]

I used a molly to get ammonia in to my 20gal for 3 weeks. I used the old floating the bag acclimatation, but it was a lot slower, it probably took me 3 hours to release him in the tank. This was probably over kill but i wanted to go slow. After 3 weeks he developed kind of like an air bubble on his head and I had to sacrifice him. I always wanted to try swiching a fish like this. It is also a lot less expensive since the mollie was $1.50 compared to a $10 damsel.

[gqjeff]

I have always heard any live bearing freshwater fish can be acclimated over time to salt.. Not 100% sure if this is true but many fish you mentioned are live bearer's SP?

Jeff

[Cougra]

No not all livebearers can be acclimatised to saltwater. In fact only mollies are really suited to being in brackish water conditions. In the wild swordtails don't come into contact with any sort of saltwater although they are secondary freshwater.

[jmanrow]

Guppies, will adapt to full strength seawater, but will not reproduce in it.
As far as adapting mollies(which breed in any salinity!) and flounder to saltwater, replacing freshwater with saltwater as a 50/50 mix adapts them without any ill effects in two days.
This also prevents a possible pH shock.