Longterm Hypo

[joojoo]

Was thinking today... how long can a fish stay in hypo? Particularly a Snowflake Eel. If I have a brackish set up with a Green Spotted Puffer, can I acclimate a SFE down to hyposalinity and house the 2 together? When the Puffer gets to be a few years older, he will have to be acclimated to full marine conditions anyway.
So, can an eel survive YEARS in hyposalinity? Or is it suppose to be only a temporary situation? All input welcome!

 

[nicetry]

Studies have been done that show fish can live comfortably in hyposaline conditions for a few months. I'm not aware of any that have spanned a few years and given that it's not a natural environment, I would suggest against it.

 

[joojoo]

That's what I've been thinking, too. But while researching brackish environments, a couple sources said that Snow Flake Eels have been caught in brackish waters. Now I'm not sure if they meant the marine animal sold in this hobby, or the "freshwater moray" which is also sometimes referred to as a "snow flake eel..." which also needs to be converted to full marine with age.

 

[lion_crazz]

There have been studies done on the subject of fish living in low salt levels over an extended period of time, and the conclusion was that fish that are kept in very low salinities over an elevated period live a much shorter life.
For this reason, I do not believe it would be possible.
Besides, green spotted puffers are fin nippers anyway, and I am almost positive your SFE's tail would look pretty damaged after the puffer was done with him.

 

[julie853]

I owned two green spotted puffers a few years back and they pretty much tore up everything I had in there with them.I eventually had to separate them into there own tank.

 

[saltn00b]

i have read that while, at first it is a stress reliever, prolonged periods of 2 months or more in hypo conditions can eventually cause stress, organ damage and death.

 

[joojoo]

Thanks for all the replies. Guess it's not such a good idea

Are they really that aggressive? Geez, I was gonna throw some fancy guppies in there too...