Saltwater cichlids

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Brazzen1

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Aug 18, 2013
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Chickasaw Nation
Hi everyone, I plan on starting a saltwater aquarium in the future and really love cichlids. I have heard that Mayans and Tilapia (no one mentions what kind) can handle saltwater. Are there any others and has anyone ever tried it? Please list potential tankmates also.
 
Why would you want to? There are tons of saltwater fish to choose from that would look much better.
 
True, but this is going to be my first saltwater tank and I wanted to try something besides mollies to get into it. I figure if they are hardy enough to live, naturally, in these different types of water then they would hopefully survive any blunders that I will undoubtedly make.
 
Just start off with damsels. They're cheap and easy to care for. Just cuz a fish is hardy enough to handle saltwater doesn't mean that they'll be happy or live long in it


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Although most uropthalmus (Mayans) tolerate some brackish/salt water, in order to be truly successful you would probably need to acquire the strain that lives in strictly in salt water from Isla de Mujeras (troeschelli).
Alcolapia alcalicus comes from a soda lake in African that is in part a higher salinity that sea water.

and it is said that as the Indian cichlid, Etroplus suratensus ages, it tends to enter more and more saline waters.

 
Damsels are basically saltwater cichlids. They behave very similarly, though not as much personality, IMO. If you want personality in SW you have to look into the less "pretty fish" and more unusual fish, like hawkfish, blennies, jawfish, dragonettes, eels, triggers, puffers... But captive bred Clowns are extremely hardy. Easily as hardy as most FW fish. Mine lived trough tons of things when I first started my SW, and he does have a nice, if not super unique, personality. My number one peice of advice regarding getting into SW: Never, ever, ever, buy fish from Petco, or low quality LFS, unless you plan to quarantine. Getting ick and other similar parasites/diseases in SW is a much bigger deal than in FW. It will kill, fast, and is very difficult to treat in your show tank. Everything else in SW is fairly similar to FW, with the added requirement of keeping the salinity stable, which isn't hard, it is just a pain, unless you have an Automatic Top Off.
 
In a broad sense, many african cichlid species live in salt water. The issue that will be difficult to transcend is that the salt in african rift lake areas is comprised of calcium chloride. Not the sodium chloride found in oceans.
 
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