Salt and Cichlids

Question
I have been in and out of keeping freshwater tropicals since my teen years (I am 59). My Uncle owned a wholesale pet supply business, which started as a hobby when the only source of supplies and livestock was mail order. People came to him to buy fish he had breed and that grew into a big business. I worked through high school and 2 years after fo him, so I think I have a fairly good knowledge of this business. I have breed South American Cichlids, live bearing tropicals, and I even had a modest Angel fish breeding business for about 5 years. In all this time, I never added salt to my tanks except for disease treatment, but I did not have the internet and all it's wealth of knowledge then either to tell me about this subject. I have never had any trouble getting the fish I bread to do their thing, I even had to seperate some Angel pairs, because they tried to breed all the time and I feared they would suffer exhaustion. Why should I consider using salt now?  

Answer
Hi Douglas
I just recently noticed this section on all experts, of unanswered questions.  I apologize your question has remained there for so long unanswered, so here's my 2 cents if you'd like it :)

I agree with you.  I have several tanks currently running, have and have had several different kinds of South American cichlids as well as a wide range of other types of fish.  I'm the same, I only use salt for actual disease treatment or to aid with another treatment.  I think in this hobby, things are always changing, usually for the better.  One day it's you have to do this, the next it's not a necessity.  There's a lot of debate out there now on this topic, still a lot of old school people though to convince otherwise :)

Christy