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Can you mix saltwater and freshwater fish? - Page 2

post #21 of 34
12/27/09 at 1:59pm
look. fish bodies are built to maintain a certian salinity level through a proccess of osmosis and diffusion through their gills. in a sense, fish never stop drinking, their gills naturally will absorb either more water or more salts depending on the salinity level already in their bodies. Through diffusion, the gills will stop absorbing salts and increase absorbing water when the salinity of their enviroment increases and vice versa. freshwater fish have a higher salinity level than the freshwater they live in and saltwater fish have a lower salinity than the ocean. this isn't adapting in the sense that their body is physically changing to accept saltwater, it is the level of osmosis and diffusion in the cells of the fish's gills that change. the reason why you can't just put a freshwater fish right into a saltwater tank is because changes that effect osmosis have to happen slowly because cells only react so fast.

think of a reverse osmosis water purifier, only the water flows through while any impurities(salts)stay on the other side, the cells in fish gills act the same way.
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post #22 of 34
12/28/09 at 4:07pm
Originally Posted by davebrace5533 View Post
look. fish bodies are built to maintain a certian salinity level through a proccess of osmosis and diffusion through their gills. in a sense, fish never stop drinking, their gills naturally will absorb either more water or more salts depending on the salinity level already in their bodies. Through diffusion, the gills will stop absorbing salts and increase absorbing water when the salinity of their enviroment increases and vice versa. freshwater fish have a higher salinity level than the freshwater they live in and saltwater fish have a lower salinity than the ocean. this isn't adapting in the sense that their body is physically changing to accept saltwater, it is the level of osmosis and diffusion in the cells of the fish's gills that change. the reason why you can't just put a freshwater fish right into a saltwater tank is because changes that effect osmosis have to happen slowly because cells only react so fast.

think of a reverse osmosis water purifier, only the water flows through while any impurities(salts)stay on the other side, the cells in fish gills act the same way.
Sounds like you are talking out of your gills right now.
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post #23 of 34
12/28/09 at 4:30pm
Fair Warning:

Flaming other members will result in folks getting banned and this thread getting closed. The only reason it's not closed right now is that there is some worthwhile discussion going on.

Let's all take a deep breath and relax a bit. If we don't agree with each other, there is a right way and a wrong way to express it.
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post #24 of 34
12/28/09 at 4:35pm
Originally Posted by SCSInet View Post
Fair Warning:

Flaming other members will result in folks getting banned and this thread getting closed. The only reason it's not closed right now is that there is some worthwhile discussion going on.

Let's all take a deep breath and relax a bit. If we don't agree with each other, there is a right way and a wrong way to express it.
Pretty sure no one was "flaming" or whatever you consider it to be. Looks like typical science to me.
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post #25 of 34
12/29/09 at 3:10pm
i've literally dumped FW feeder shrimpinto SW tanks with no acclimitation to them and they've lived a month or so before becoming snacks.
they were smart too, learnt to go at the top of the rocks were it was too shallow for the triggers to get them,
triggers gone now tho:(
so are the shrimp lol
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post #26 of 34
1/1/10 at 6:59pm
living in alaska I've seen more than a few salmon swim out of the ocean and a couple hundred miles into the freshwater streams...
we all know what happens at the end of that journey :)
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post #27 of 34
1/1/10 at 7:16pm
uh... thats called their stomachs disolve to make way for eggs and milt to spawn... and we are not talking bout going from saltwater to fresh but from freshwater to salt.
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post #28 of 34
1/5/10 at 9:26pm
Can we have this conversation with less disrespectful sarcasm? I hardly think this is a good tone for a friendly forum community.
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post #29 of 34
1/5/10 at 11:10pm
Realistically, if you got little guppies or something and had them acclimate properly, what kind of long term effects could there be to the sw and fw fish? it sounds like a really neat concept (not that im thinking about doing it, just saying)
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post #30 of 34
1/6/10 at 11:01am
it is a neat concept, these are aquariums not nature. these fish have the exact types of food they need when they need it, mixing unnatural species(peacefull/comunity) should not be a problem or considered unethical as long as it is done in a reasonable manner(no paranah on a reef lol). the only time i would really advise against it would be if you wanted a truly natural looking tank and ecosystem.
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post #31 of 34
1/6/10 at 11:33am
Originally Posted by Kraylen View Post
What a dumb idea... that's like seasoning a porterhouse steak with dried cat feces.
+1 that's hilarious
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post #32 of 34
5/12/10 at 9:16pm
I've acclimated a mollie and now deeply regret it. It has no place in a reef enviroment and looks very out of place. It lives in my sump now because I don't know what else to do with it. Plus it would try to school with my clowns which would piss them off.
Its a boring fish that just sits there and eats. No personality to speak of.
Plus when I did it and told peeps on this site about it everyone threw a hissy fit. So My advice is if you do do it keep it to yourself.

However on the other hand I acclimated my GSP and he doesn't look one bit out of place. Hes much more active and has grown a lot. I can see a huge difference, he looks much happier. I didn't tell the folks here about that one. Lesson learned from the mollie.
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post #33 of 34
5/13/10 at 12:11am
It can be done.... I have seen and done it with black mollies as well.
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post #34 of 34
5/14/10 at 11:10pm
Mollies are brackish fish, they can handle sea water, but I think they look out of place also. GSP are also brackish and can handle salt or fresh. They apparently do better with salt. There are quit a few species that are brackish and shouldn't be kept in full strength sea water or fresh water for the best health. The archer fish is one of them.
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