[AquaticLife] Salt Needed?
Paula,
Pretty much all fish can deal with a very wide range of conditions. How well they do in them, though, can be a different question.
Many livebearers available in the hobby had origins, a long, long time ago, in environments that had contact with marine water and/or water that was hard. This is why it is often suggested to add salt to the water that they are kept in. However, there are livebearers that come from softer, virtually salt free environments as well. The addition of salt for these species would not benefit from it.
Now, as for those fish found in the store, it depends on where they are from, what type of water they were bred and raised in. If they are from Florida farms, they would tend to come from harder water of a higher pH. If they are imported from the far east, they would tend to be raised in softer, more acidic water. The question then, would be what kind of water do you have, and, by extrapolation, what kind of water the shop has that they are being kept in. You are probably perfectly OK to keep them in water with no salt added. They will do fine.
Generally, the recommended ratio of livebearers is one male to two or three females. If you have one pair or two pair of the same species, the males may worry the females too much, which may shorten the life of the females. The males may also “compete” against one another, leading to undesirable results for the weaker of the two. Since you are talking about only a 10 gallon tank here, one trio of any of the suggested fish would be plenty for the tank, when you consider that eventually there will be fry of various ages also living in the tank prior to your ability to remove them.
As for using the excess fish as food, fear not. The best food for any fish is another fish. Mom Nature tends not to be so squeamish as humans are, and this is the natural order of things. Many breeders keep fish just for this purpose, ridding themselves of excess fry and fry that does not measure up to what their goals are.
\Steve//
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
