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I am currenlty keeping some silver hatchet tetra and some lemon tetra in my 29 gallon tank. I am currently adding 1 tsp of sea salt per gallon of water. Do tetra like salt, should I lower the dosage, or stop adding salt all together?

Fish CAN fly!

I wonder, why are you adding salt in the first place?
Freshwater fish do not actually need salt in their water.
It is not really useful, in my honest opinion.
I do not even use salt with Mollies and they do excellent.
Unless you are keeping brackish water fish,
I would refrain from the use of salt in the water.


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Agreed. Your fish don't need salt, and it's debatable whether the stuff does any good at all in freshwater. Many think that salt makes a good general preventative tonic, but I don't think it really helps much if at all. It certainly isn't essential. I look at it this way: If the fish don't need a certain product, all that product will do is suck up money and add another variable to the water. Too much aquarium salt can certainly stress fish who aren't tolerant of it.

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Thanks!


Fish CAN fly!

Salt and Pepper go together but never Tetras. It would be the last thing I would ever add to a Tetra tank or a Tetra in a tank.

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Ok, Thanks! I was always under the impression that all fish needed atleast a tiny bit of salt in their water. Thanks for clearing that up!

Fish CAN fly!

Freshwater fishes are divided into two principal categories from the standpoint of biology. There are the primary freshwater fishes, which evolved long ago in freshwater and have remained there ever since, and the secondary freshwater fishes, which have ancestors that were more recently brackish or marine.

For example, Cichlids are actually considered to be secondary freshwater fishes, because their closest relatives are the marine Damselfishes (Family Pomacentridae), with which they share a great many anatomical features and for that matter behaviours (the principal distinguishing feature is in the structure of the eye socket). These fishes had a common (and presumably marine) ancestor, but the Cichlids moved into fresh water. Cichlids have probably been freshwater fishes for less than 50 million years (I'm sure Dr Paul Loiselle at the Cichlid Room will know more about this in fine detail than I do), and indeed Etroplus suratensis the Green Chromide, is a brackish water Cichlid.

Characins, on the other hand, are primary freshwater fishes. Their freshwater ancestry traces back to at least the Jurassic era and possibly beyond - their ancestors were among the first of the Actinopterygii or ray-finned fishes to appear. Consequently, they have never had, in their evolutionary lineage, the osmoregulatory machinery to deal with salt, while the Cichlids (courtesy of their common ancestry with the Pomacentrids) did once possess this.

While secondary freshwater fishes will stand small quantities of salt (and in some cases need it because they're actually brackish fishes), the primary freshwater fishes should never be exposed to salt (except in desperation as a short term medicinal bath if all else fails). The primary freshwater fishes are the ones that used to be known under an old taxonomic scheme as the Ostariophysans, which includes the Characins, the Carps (Cyprinids) and the Catfishes (Order Siluriformes).

Hope this answers your question!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I never add salt in my tanks & i never had any problems.

There are some fish that need some salt, but not Tetras.


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Thanks Calilasseia for that information! That really cleared things up for me! Thanks everyone else for your help also. Starting with my next water change I am going to slowly get rid of the salt. Thanks!

Fish CAN fly!

the only fish that i can think of that needs salt is indian glass fish as they go into the sea to breed so i have been told

There are other brackish species (puffers come to mind, along with Monos and Scats), and a fish called Therapon jarbua that is even more euryhaline than the Scats - it will withstand anything from full fresh to full marine, though it's usual preference seems to be half strength marine water.

Some Sailfin Mollies also prefer brackish water. Sailfins that were derived originally from Poecilia latipinna are more adaptable in this regard, while Poecilia velifera tends to be more touchy, and for optimum health should be given brackish water. in fact, if anyone goes diving in Mexican waters, it's entirely possible to see Poecilia velifera living in fully marine conditions!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

"Agreed. Your fish don't need salt, and it's debatable whether the stuff does any good at all in freshwater."

I disagree. Biologically, salt affects osmotic balance, and definitely aids in gaseous transport, which is useful during times of illness--especially gill infestations.

I've heard that salt is actively harmful to some Tetras (although it seems to be much more harmful to Corydoras catfish, for whom it can be seriously dangerous).

However, let me add one important and popular fish to the list of those who seem to genuinely need it: Celebes Rainbowfish, which come originally from shoreline regions with a significant salt content, and which (like Mollies) seem to absolutely require it or they quickly fall victim to Ich and similar fatal skin infestations.