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Guppy Salinity Acclimation

C

calaxa

Just wondering if anyone has tried acclimating a guppy to saltwater conditions.

I've tried enticing my banggai with a feeder guppy but they wouldn't bite. Guppies died after a few hours. Tried this on my banggai in hypo. He gave a little chase but he's too well fed right now to really care about a feeder guppy. Noticed guppy was still alive a day later. Decided to drop in a total of 10 guppies. Salinity is at 1.008. Wondering if anyone has tried acclimating them to full reef salt conditions and how long would it take.
 
onefish2fish

onefish2fish

i think trop had mollies in their frag tank once so i dont see were the problem is.. i just wouldnt be able to tell you how to go about doing it besides the obvious, raise the salinity slowly overtime
 
C

calaxa

I was wondering about personal experience if possible. I usually bring hypo back to normal reef in a week but that might be harsh on the guppies. They did go from SG 1 to 1.010 with zero acclimation and are still living.
 
onefish2fish

onefish2fish

what if you put a pregnent guppy in salt and have her drop her babies into whatever the salinity is. that way theyre born into it. i wonder if that would work ???
 
C

calaxa

That's what I am trying for. It doesn't look like any of the guppies I have are pregnant (but then again, I wasn't looking that carefully). They are feeder guppies but I do swear I have a lot more than I bought. I did notice there was a male in there with a fancier tail.
 
shipwrecked

shipwrecked

I have acclimated mollies,catfish and platies over to saltwater by taking a spackle bucket and adding freshwaterfish with a dripline from the saltwater tank,it takes several hrs but worked for me,never tried it with guppies,gd luck I'll follow this post to see results :)
 
C

calaxa

Ok just to update. I made the exact count of guppies today. There are 11. Basically a group of 5 and a group of 6. Banggai completely ignores them now (I think he is way too well fed). Maroon clown tries to nibble on them (but he's not much bigger than them). It's a little funny watching these guppies trying to ride the MJ-1200 current. I won't be moving the salinity until end of month so I fully suspect that they will live till then and hopefully breed.
 
C

calaxa

Another update. Well the guppy groups have broken down smaller and they dart all over but it seems I have lost two. I notice my banggai is no longer attacking live blackworms so I think he has decided to make use of the guppy's feeder status.

I raised the dedicated feeder tank water up from total fresh to 1.003, then to 1.006 and finally 1.010 and no casualties. Hard for me to go slow since this is in a 5 gallon tub but I think I will need to slow it down to get them to survive correctly.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
I never tried it with guppies was always under the impression they would be to stressed out from the salt. I did acclimate mollies to salt. Very easy with the drip method and only took a few hours. They reproduced quickly and the babies were greedily ate up. Only problem was the other fish some how figured when the females were pregnant and attacked them, killing them. Then they turned on the males. Good luck.
 
C

calaxa

I think the myth of having to slowly acclimate guppies to SW has been dispelled. They can acclimate as fast as SW fish going from hypo back to SW, which means probably over the course of 1 week if done slow or a slow drip over 24 hours. Today I slowly raised the feeder tank from 1.010 to 1.015. They are now out of the brackish category and headed into FOWLR marine levels. No casualties in the feeder guppy tank so far.
 
T

tbone212371

OK I have done this with Mollies (Sailfin)..
I acclimated from fresh to marine sality within 6-12 hours..
I started with a small 1.5 gallon tank all fresh water and then every hour
Just added a cup of display tank marine water..
Until they have acclimated...
There were no issues and they have been in both of my tanks...
One tank is fowlr(aggressive tank with wrasse/ puffers/ dwarf angel/ damsels/ urchins)
Other tank is reef with softies hermits/ emeralds/ scallops/ clams/ etc)
I have had no issues what so ever..
If anything only success...
They are live bearers and they have had a few litters in the marine sality....
Not all the fry survived but some did and are doing well..
The reason I chose mollies is because they are GREAT algae eaters...
Well, best of luck with your acclimation...
Slower is best...
 
C

calaxa

I'm doing this with sailfin mollies as well. Just testing the process with guppies since they are so much cheaper. Other places I read said acclimation takes months which I found hard to believe as these two fish are from the same family.
 
T

tbone212371

No way months...
Way to long...
12 to 48 hours is long enough...
My next fish to do is Clown Loaches...
We'll see how that goes.. Cross my fingers....
I think I'm going to do them over a week long acclimation though..
 
R

REEFLECTIONS

clown loaches can be acclimated to salt? i've never heard of this, and from my experience with them in fresh water, they seem like they could be sensitive to a switch like that, if was possible to do it at all, i would go way slower
 
C

calaxa

Just an update:

Checked the feeder tank and 1 dead guppy. SG was higher than expected at 1.018. Not sure he died from the salinity though. Raised SG to 1.020 and then scooped out 20. Guess I had more than I thought. I dripped these 20 to 1.024 and then dumped them into the tank (1.026). One upped and died. Another touched my frogspawn and started swimming with only one fin. Got sucked into powerhead and died. Everyone else seems to be looking for hiding spots. Will see in the AM how many are left.
 
J

jgana

Calaxa, thanks for the updates. Tbone: I'd be interested to hear how it goes with the clown loach too. Hadn't heard you could do that. A clown loach and an angelfish are the only two things keeping me from tearing down a freshwater tank. Would love to acclimate one or both to my saltwater tanks if at all possible.
 
C

calaxa

Update:

20 feeder guppies down to 18 immediately. Took a look last night and counted 11. No bodies found so I think something is getting them. Took another look this morning and seems less than 11 but not sure. All of them crowded around the frogspawn and orange tree sponge. All looked very nervous and stressed. Peppermint shrimp came out (which he never does) and boldly stood on the crocea clam trying to grab at them. I think I found the predator. Not my intent to feed the shrimps. They were meant for the Banggai who probably decided not worth the effort. Will try to get a picture.
 
C

calaxa

The count is still 11 and here is a picture

DSC_0060-1.jpg


Ignore the huge amount of caulerpa. I will deal with that soon enough. The guppies have found their home nestled between the crocea clams, sponge and off to left is an unseen frogspawn. I wish I got the shot this morning. The pep stood on top of the clam trying to snatch at the guppies. Now I wish I had acclimated fancy guppies instead. These things are kinda drab looking.

That coral skeleton was my first torch. About 40 heads and died within 3 days. Hard lesson learning about brown jelly disease :'(
 
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