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Curiosity......

From what I understand, Corys do not tolerate salt. So why does everyone recommended one to have a school of corys in a tank of livebearers ??

I personally have livebearers with corys. I have salt in my tank. The corys don't seem to mind the salt at all. If the salt is having an ill-effect on them, what symtoms would they display ?

It is actually a myth that cories do not tolerate salt at all. While I have found mine do better without any salt, they can tolerate salt better than most Locarids. I was recently reading some material from Ian Fuller on this subject and he confirms that they can handle some salt in their water with no ill effects.

Thanks for the info, Alkyne. That's what I've been told too but then I continually read information to the contrary so it makes my little mind even more :%)

What other kind of "clean-up crew" would be recommended (that tolerates salt) ?

So why does everyone recommended one to have a school of corys in a tank of livebearers ??

Another point though is that not all livebearers require salt. For example Endler's do not, with platies & guppies it's mentioned that salt will do the fish good but it's not a requirement for keeping them.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

true, true - it was actually when I first started this hobby (ahem one bowl one fish ) with mollies that it was recommended I add the salt. I have noticed the mollies and platties seem to really appreciate the addition.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-09 12:31][/span]

Now take my opinion about dosing salt...

Tropicals do not require salt in their water.

It's true that freshwater fish "leak" salt because the concentration of salt in freshwater fish is much higher than in the surrounding water.

Fish ingest large amounts of water and since there's trace amounts of salt in all fresh water their kidneys extract all that is required and place it back into their bloodstream.

Ion pumps in their gills also aid in the removal of salt from fresh water.

So you see there's no need to dose salt in a freshwater tank, an outdated belief that continues on and on.

In fact, I would say that dosing salt may indeed mess up the very system the fish use to help balance their metabolism. Those who experience constantly sick fish should take this into consideration.

I would never consider dosing salt for any reason in my tanks and have never done so.

--garyroland.

So, I shouldn't add the Instant Ocean to my 55g marine tank?



[span class="edited"][Edited by TheGoldenDojo 2004-07-09 12:44][/span]

A couple months ago at my aquarium club's monthly meeting the guest speaker was a man who specializes in sailfin mollies. I can't remember his name, but he's written articles, has done lots of research, breeds them, has gone on collections, etc. Anyhow, he went back & forth on what all the 'experts' have to say, scientific data & such, and he does not use salt with his mollies.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Theresa_M 2004-07-09 13:35][/span]

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Atleast my cory's (albino) did tolerate salt. I didn't know back then that not all fish like salt in the aquarium.

They even laid eggs back then. I have come to believe that salt usually hurt more then it fixes things, that's why I stopped dosing the salt altogether.