Does salt inhibit breeding?

[tdr1919]

We had a good thread going under "water conditions" about the use of Aquarium salt. I have always liked to keep my tank with 1 tbl spoon per 5 gals. Over many years, it has always seemed to help keep my discus healthy. Of course there is conflicting arguments, and one is that this will inhibit them from breeding.
I have had Angels breed and spawn in these water conditions but NEVER had my discus even pair off. Could this be due to a continued salt content in the water, maybe one of you successful breeders could help me out.
Thanks,
Tom

[Giniel]

Hi Tom, I am a begining breeder,but I can say that I had salt 1tbsp to 10 gallon in a tank with my green turquiose because of an injury. She spawned in that concentration and the eggs did hatch.Now with fresh water the babies are fine and now 2 days freeswimming .
HTH
Debbie

[ShinShin]

Debbie,

That's very interesting, but conflicts with all I have ever read about or experienced with salt. Have you ever been able to duplicate a successful spawn under the same conditions?

Mat

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Salt raise's the waters conductivity...a higher conductivity will inhibit eggs to hatch. Now Debbie's water is probably very soft if she has added salt to the water and the eggs were able to hatch....Debbie, do you know your water hardness?

-Ryan

[Giniel]

Hi, yes my water is very soft at 3 drops . ph is 6.8 to 7.0 straight from tap with very little chlorine.I still use prime to dechlor just in case. So I would have to say yes it would probably work for me adding salt every time ,though I do not do that for that reason. The male usually tears up the female so bad that I add a little salt to help the healing process. I try not to have too much salt in tank when I have fry in the tank.
HTH
Debbie

[tdr1919]

Mat & Ryan,
My water is very soft, like Debbie's, 3 drops, and 7.0 right from the tap.
Mat, have you been successful at breeding your discus?
I have no problem lowering the salt content, my water conditions are great,
I do 25 - 30% changes every other day, and the amonia - 0 nitrites 0
stay constant, temp 86 F. I had angels that bred, and successfully hatched the fry(removed from the tank). I have four adult discuss that show no signs of pairing off, could I have four of the same sex?
Tom

[ShinShin]

My water is ~55 microseimens and pH of 6.7 from the tap. I have no problem breeding discus in this water. My thoughts were not with the conductivity, but with osmotic pressure. NaCl will not raise water hardness, just conductivity.

[Giniel]

Tom , your discus might not like each other . I have a tank with 14 discus in it and they do not pair off ,they are 1 year old + . I have 9 others in another tank annd they show no signs as of yet either. So it might be possible that you do have same sex . How old are they?
Debbie

[hexed]

Tom do you have any pics of your discus you can post here? I have a tank with 8 turks and 7 are males LOL! The one female lays and a different males goes over the eggs and the other 6 eat them. I don't have a tank yet to seperate a pair in, all have other pairs on eggs or with fry. If your not getting eggs, all could be males like I have.

[tdr1919]

Guess What!
Maybe talking about them does the trick! My red Dragon and one of my Marlboro's are doing the shimmy, and cleaning the filter tube. This could be it.
I did a 30% w/c, with cooler water, dropped the temp to about 83 and it spurred them on. I'll see if I can get a picture or 2.
Tom

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Good Deal!
Well, that is kind of right. It is always good to start with low conductivity and work your way up. So I guess that is why I would say that it really would depend on your water to start and not what the conductivity meter says or other breeders. You see, a conductivity meter will measure all salts as a total. These salts would include: calcium chloride, potassium, sodium chloride, magnesium, and manganese. All of these salts can be in your water but each at different amounts with a vase variety of diffrence around the world or state to state. however a conductivity meter will not tell you that. Again it will add them all up as a total giving you one measurement. My point here is that some salts are bad on eggs and fertilization where a salt like sodium chloride has no effect on breeding IMO and in My water. This is why it is not uncommon to see people breeding as high as 400mS. This would only tell Me that they are higher in sodium chloride salt than the more harmful ones that cause problems When Breeding. this is also why some will not have success at 130mS because they are high in calcium and may need to go lower. So on a last note in my water I believe hardness and PH not to really mater but conductivity to be the most important!

I breed at 73PH, 135mS, 120ppm temp 84, GH 7 KH 7 But this will only help you some again everyone's water is not the SAME! Your water needs to be mastered by its owner for the best results.

IMO You Should Practice different types of water for breeding pairs or go to Your local water company and get a full report to the tee to find out what salts You have and how much!
this helped me much long ago when Fourms did not exist and help was not cheap either.


hth
Cary Gld!

[tdr1919]

Heres a Crude shot of the Marlboro & the red dragon cleaning the filter tube.
marb&RD5_5_05.jpg

[tdr1919]

Cary,
I bought a Pond care salt level test kit, and results tell me that my water
as per the "salt concetration chart" is .08% how does this corrilate to micro seimens ?
Any idea?
Tom