[heights]

Hi everybody!!!!

I'm new to the hobby, I want to start an aquarium with both fresh and saltwater species. I plan to do this by putting in saltwater first and then slowly adding freshwater. Has anyone tried this?


:animated_fish_swimm

 

[petlover516]

welcome to the site! that will be quite hard and i wouldnt reccomend doing that. I have done it b4 it is very difficult. U must start with a SW tank. Use damsels as the subject fish. Over a period of at least 6 months slowly lower the salinity level to 0. After the damsels have acclimated well than u may start adding FW fish. Damsels are very aggressive and need alkaline water, just like rift valley cichlids. No other fish or coral will make it through, only damsels and gobies. Hope u may suceed. Would love to see pics!

 

[Marty]

Yea i agree with tyler.This is nearly impossibleto do.This is one reason i went with a cichlid tank.The fish have great colors..

 

[Somethings_Fishy]

hi guys! This is "Something Fishy" (cute, huh!?? my new boyfriend says I'm really creative anyway, my lifemate Adam and I just got on here and we talked with one of our friends who has both fresh water and salt water fish in one tank, and he says he did it like this:

1) Get 2 tanks.
2) start with the freshwater fish in 1 tank, and the saltwater fish in the other
3) every so slowly, only 1 part in 100 each day, start adding fresh to salt and salt to fresh
4) Based on evolution, both kids of fish will slowly adapt
5) This will take 50 days to reach "saltquilibrium" as he has termed it
6) with your 50/50 mixture, add both kinds of fish into one tank

Hard to believe, and I suggest you try it yourself, but this works. I was there yesterday and will be back later this week and can provide pictures.

I <3 you guys! thanks for the help!

 

[Chickadee]

Welcome to our forum and we do hope that you will like it here. While you have a project that is unusual I am sure you will find some who will want to discuss it on the forum with you in both the Freshwater and Saltwater areas of the forum.

I would do a lot of discussing this with some of the really fully experienced and long time fish keepers before trying the introductions of fish into unnatural habitats and see what they say.

Thank you for joining and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Rose

 

[Somethings_Fishy]

Welcome to our forum and we do hope that you will like it here. While you have a project that is unusual I am sure you will find some who will want to discuss it on the forum with you in both the Freshwater and Saltwater areas of the forum.

I would do a lot of discussing this with some of the really fully experienced and long time fish keepers before trying the introductions of fish into unnatural habitats and see what they say.

Thank you for joining and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Rose

Hi Rose!

I see you have deleted a few of my posts here, and I hope I haven't offended anyone! I read your rules and guidelines, and I don't want to break any of them!

I do hope you will allow us to discuss this very important topic of salt/fresh tanks, or "SFtanks" as I have dubbed them. I feel this is one of the few unexplored areas of water-animal keeping, or "WAK". I know I'm not an expert, but I have read lots of information on both forums and Wikipedia about fish, fishing, and evolution. I hope you keep this post and my future ones that will document my 1-50 part transformation of salt to fresh and fresh to salt. (STFAFTS)

Btw for anyone keeping track I am on day 3, and currently my fresh tank is 3parts salt, 97 parts fresh and my salt tank is 3 parts fresh and 97 parts salt.

tyvm, and godspeed Rose. Godspeed

 

[petlover516]

i hope im not going off track again, but don't use wikipedia! anyone can edit an article there, even as a joke! btw, any fish in your tank yet?

 

[archer772]

How about giving us a list of fish you are trying to do this with

 

[heights]

I am starting the project with a lot of fresh rock (i found many interesting rocks in the desert around my home), corals, blennies, oscars, angels, wrasses and lobsters.

 

[Somethings_Fishy]

How about giving us a list of fish you are trying to do this with

in the STF tank (salt to fresh) which is currently on part 4/50 on the way to "Saltqulibrium" contains:

(2) purple carpet anemone
(2) boxing crabs
(5-7) monkey shrimp, I can only find 5 at a time but I know I bought 7 - those little monkeys hide but I know they aren't dead because I haven't found them
(2) brown starfish that the monkey shrimp always play with
(4) angelfish
(1) blue grouper that I caught in the Atlantic ocean while vacationing in Myrtle Beach with my hubby and transported back in our used styrofoam beer cooler on the airplane, and no kidding he is still alive!

In the FTS (fresh to salt) tank, also on part 4/50 i have:

(2) oscar fish
(4) huge Plecos
(2) red texas cichlids that eat everything in sight
(1) puffer that's is really cool
(4) goldfish that likely won't be there in the morning

all my WA's (water animals) are in healthy condition and appear to be adjusting just fine to the slow change in their environment. If you check this article you can see that Evolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Evolution does in fact exist and my WA's are going through it as we speak. I will be taking some pictures soon to show you guys.

 

[archer772]

What type of salt are you useing and how are you checking the salinity? I will bet that your inverts will be dead before you get to the point you are trying to get to, most all puffers can handle brackish water so that one will probably make it, oscars have been known to handle slight brackish water and gold fish like some salt in there water so they stand a chance. I would really like to know what salt level you are shooting for and how you are checking it and the salt you are useing.

 

[archer772]

heights I was asking you the same things that I asked Somethings_Fishy. The corals will not make it or should I say 99.9% will not make it, you listed some fish but what ones are FW and SW. Evolution doesnt take place in months, it takes decades or better yet centuries, Somethings_Fishy your link is to an encyclopedia that explains what it is and that is all, you do relize that the animals cell structure needs to change dont you and do you really think that happens in the time frame you are talking about, you would need these animals to live long enough to reproduce in that environment and have viable off spring and then get to about 4-5 generations before you could try to call it successful. What do both of you consider the life span of the fish, invert and corals to be that you are trying this with???

 

[Marty]

Well this is not going to work.First of all out of the millions and millions of people who keep fish.You are always hearing the same thing.(I wish i had fresh water fish as pretty as those salt water fish)So you can rest assure that if this was possible we would be buying them today.Im sure their have been tons of people that have tried this and failed.And sadly been tons of life lost!

 

[Alleykat0498]

How about just buying an identical set up to your initial SW set up and push them together till they touch? This way you can sit in one place and see the best of both worlds.

And welcome to the forum...

 

[archer772]

I have seen a nice setup but it wouldnt be cheap and that was a 240 gallon cube 48x48x24 with glass siliconed down the middle with front side FW and the back side SW.

 

[Chickadee]

We would love to welcome you here, but could we please take the advice and questions to the correct areas of the forum so the members in general will know that they are there and respond to them. If they are posted here they will not receive as much attention. It is really important to see things in the correct area of the forum for the correct attention to be given to it.

This area is devoted to welcoming members and getting to know them and expressing a nice welcoming message the other parts of the forum are for questions and information about advising members on tanks and problems. That is why I moved the posts in the first place and why I am going to have to close this if we cannot keep it to this now.

Please just use THIS area to welcome this member and use the other parts of the forum to ask questions and to give advice where the other members will give the questions more attention.

Rose

 

[petlover516]

there is really no forum related to this topic, and when i need to ask something that is isnt related to another topic, i post it here. and im gonna have to agree with archer. everything archer772 said is exactly what i said but those posts were deleted because they were not welcomey.

 

[heights]

When Einstein first posited his theory of evolution, people got all worked up and said it would never work. Next thing you knew, viola, time travel was possible.

I don't want to stir up more fuss here on the welcome board. I am a solid, loving, non-sectarian fish evolutionist.

Thanks for all the kind words. Pics to follow. Saltquilibrium is the future.

 

[petlover516]

please heights can u post a new thread in "Brackish tank discussions", as this isnt the thread to discuss this topic. yes einstein would predict things that nobody believed, but what u r doing is something that needs to be done at a slow steady period, and should be done only be attempted by the very experienced hobbyists.

 

[heights]

What type of salt are you useing and how are you checking the salinity? I will bet that your inverts will be dead before you get to the point you are trying to get to, most all puffers can handle brackish water so that one will probably make it, oscars have been known to handle slight brackish water and gold fish like some salt in there water so they stand a chance. I would really like to know what salt level you are shooting for and how you are checking it and the salt you are useing.

I'm aiming for something like this...

* Specific gravity: 1.025 sg
* pH: 7.8 - 8.1
* Calcium: 420 ppm
* Alkalinity: 8 - 9 dKH
* Nitrate: 1 ppm
* Phosphate: Undectable
* Magnesium: 1350 ppm
* Temperature: 79�- 81�F)

I'm not sure how to achieve this, I guess I'll just eyeball it. If it tastes too salty, I can adjust it later.


:fishGreen: :lobster: