silvertip shark (catfish) #2

Question
Thanks again for your help.  I went back to the store i got the fish from and asked them a couple questions and was told that they have some salt in all their tanks.  Needless to say the sell most of the fish i have and i was wanting to know if i can put any salt in the tank and not affect my other fish (danio, blood parrot, eel). You said they require more salt as they get older, is that when my other fish will have problems with the water or is it all salt will affect them.  Any suggestions will be appreciated.   Thanks again

Answer
Hi Mike,
The fact about Brackish water is that although many people consider just "aquarium salt" added to the water is enough to make brackish water..It just isn't the same thing. You must use Marine salt. The real marine salt that is sold for marine tanks. Marine salt contains the trace elements and minerals that are required to make "true" brackish water. While aquarium salt is just plain salt. Many people still just use Aquarium salt on their 'brackish' water fish because other freshwater fish can tolerate it somewhat. Though not all fish. I'm not sure how your eel will react. Many kinds of fish have delicate skin and cannot tolerate even just plain aquarium salt, such as many catfish or loaches.

Your current fish may tolerate aquarium salt, but they won't tolerate true brackish water very well. Which would be what your shark really needs. Silver tips originate from coastal brackish water areas from California to Colombia. The fish breeds in freshwater, so juveniles are particularly found in freshwater or brackish water areas but the mature ones are actually marine fish. Silver tips are best kept in brackish water aquariums as juveniles and then later moved to marine tanks.

If you could provide for these unique fishes needs then that would be awesome, the fish can grow into beautiful creatures and they really do resemble a 'shark'. Look under this link-
      {Copy and paste it into your search box)
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=700

Best wishes,
Karen~