Saltwater Guppies?

[Oscaror]

So I've been reading around, and apparently many people have tried acclimating guppies over the span of a few days, and not only have they had success keeping them, but they even breed in the saltwater! Imagine those ultra colorful cobra guppies swimming between the branches of your SPS colonies . This made me think about their compatibility with other marine fish. For those of you who use feeder guppies, which fish do and don't eat them. I'd love to keep guppies in a reef in the future as freshwater bores me but I've always loved these fish. In fact, people who keep these fish in reefs say their fry feed their corals. If you keep seahorses, these fish can supply them with a much better food source than brine shrimp (since these fish just breed and breed).

Maybe this isn't that big and everyone knows about this, but I know I didn't, and it really shocked me! I've posted some pictures of these fish in saltwater tanks as I don't make my claims without backing them up. I would link the threads but they're on other forums. I do however have a wikipedia article on guppies, and have quoted a sentence from it with the included source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy#cite_ref-7
"They can withstand levels of salinity up to 150% that of normal seawater"
And a quote from the original source "After a 30 day stay in 150% sea water (58.5%), fish were readapted to fresh water over a 5 h period. The results indicate that they were well able to tolerate the abrupt change from 100 or 150% sea water to fresh water. Females that stayed in 150% sea water (58.5%) for 30 days had embryos in their gonads"
Chervinski, J. (April 1984). "Salinity tolerance of the guppy, Poecilia Reticulata Peters". Journal of Fish Biology

Guppy fry happily living in its (completely unnatural) saltwater habitat:

I hope I didn't just waste my time and everyone just knew about this

 

[4FordFamily]

I've heard of this but not this in depth! Many freshwater livebearers are really brackish fish or at least very recently in evolutionary time they were.

Guppies are so fragile I would hate to see what marine fish do to them!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

There's no such thing as wasting people's time with discussion!! Discussion is goooood. I started breeding guppies 20 years ago for my seahorses. Just remember they are a freshwater food item and don't contain the correct fats for saltwater fish.

They don't have as many babies in saltwater as they do when they are in the freshwater. I found pretty much everything would eat them. They were a popular snack. I now use them to convert new fish from live food to taking frozen.

 

[Oscaror]

Guppies are so fragile I would hate to see what marine fish do to them!

I know, if I chose to keep them in a reef I would have to rule out some of my favorite saltwater fish, but ruling out those fish allows me to keep more corals. This hobby is all compromise. Do you think wrasses (not the big shrimp eating ones but something like flashers or fairy's or leopards?) could make good tank mates for them? I know they're pretty much an ideal match for mandarins, being the graceful little fish they are, and providing a consistent food source.

 

[Oscaror]

They don't have as many babies in saltwater as they do when they are in the freshwater.

Well I think the resulting babies would have a strong tolerance to saltwater, since they grew up in it.

 

[Untamedrose]

I tried a molly once wanted to go more predator with that tank and kinda killed trying to take it back to FW :/ oops

Guppies might make a good refugium fish...nice pop of color, small and I don't think they would eat to many pods.

 

[eatbreakfast]

They do not handle any substantial flow at all though.

Other fish tht don't like flow would be a good choice.

Everyone will eat rhe babies.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

They do not handle any substantial flow at all though.

True, I found that as well.

 

[Oscaror]

They do not handle any substantial flow at all though.

But don't they naturally live in rivers?
By substantial flow what do you mean? Acro level, torch level, or softy level? As long as they can handle the flow required for LPS I'm okay with it, as I usually keep SPS above LPS and make the flow at the top much higher than that in the middle and bottom of the tank. If they can't, I prefer a reef over some guppies, and there's plenty of other fantastic SW fish out there.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

The ones I've used tend to go to the top level of the tank which makes them hard to use when training bottom dwellers. They just seem to constantly battle the stream of a standard JBJ. Maybe it's something to do with the saltwater versus the fresh.

 

[knukles55]

So that person acclimated them over a 5 hour period huh...... so question can fresh water fish bring disease to saltwater fish...... is it neccasry to qt guppies?

 

[Reef kid]

I might have to throw some in my sump lol

 

[eatbreakfast]

But don't they naturally live in rivers?
By substantial flow what do you mean? Acro level, torch level, or softy level? As long as they can handle the flow required for LPS I'm okay with it, as I usually keep SPS above LPS and make the flow at the top much higher than that in the middle and bottom of the tank. If they can't, I prefer a reef over some guppies, and there's plenty of other fantastic SW fish out there.

In the wild they populate small streams and pools much more than fast moving rivers. Domestic strains are less able to handle flow, as they have been bred for larger tails, which hampers their ability to swim in high flow.

Guppies are also much more inclined to stay in the top level of the tank, so high flow there will be problematic.

 

[Oscaror]

In the wild they populate small streams and pools much more than fast moving rivers. Domestic strains are less able to handle flow, as they have been bred for larger tails, which hampers their ability to swim in high flow.

Guppies are also much more inclined to stay in the top level of the tank, so high flow there will be problematic.

Thanks for the help

 

[Oscaror]

So that person acclimated them over a 5 hour period huh...... so question can fresh water fish bring disease to saltwater fish...... is it neccasry to qt guppies?

That was the time it took to adapt them for SW to FW, not FW to SW. SW to FW is normally done over a period of a few days.

 

[knukles55]

That was the time it took to adapt them for SW to FW, not FW to SW. SW to FW is normally done over a period of a few days.

Got it thank you

 

[evolved]

Maybe it's something to do with the saltwater versus the fresh.

Might well be a buoyancy issue. Their FW swim bladder might not be able to go down to pressures low enough to make them buoyant at lower depths.

 

[spartanman22]

Is there any evidence of freshwater ich surviving in saltwater? Is QT necessary for these?

Breeding guppies in my office tank would be great. I've got a Multibar trio coming in that may prove challenging to feed.

 

[Casket_Case]

So I've been reading around, and apparently many people have tried acclimating guppies over the span of a few days, and not only have they had success keeping them, but they even breed in the saltwater! Imagine those ultra colorful cobra guppies swimming between the branches of your SPS colonies . This made me think about their compatibility with other marine fish. For those of you who use feeder guppies, which fish do and don't eat them. I'd love to keep guppies in a reef in the future as freshwater bores me but I've always loved these fish. In fact, people who keep these fish in reefs say their fry feed their corals. If you keep seahorses, these fish can supply them with a much better food source than brine shrimp (since these fish just breed and breed).

Maybe this isn't that big and everyone knows about this, but I know I didn't, and it really shocked me! I've posted some pictures of these fish in saltwater tanks as I don't make my claims without backing them up. I would link the threads but they're on other forums. I do however have a wikipedia article on guppies, and have quoted a sentence from it with the included source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy#cite_ref-7
"They can withstand levels of salinity up to 150% that of normal seawater"
And a quote from the original source "After a 30 day stay in 150% sea water (58.5%), fish were readapted to fresh water over a 5 h period. The results indicate that they were well able to tolerate the abrupt change from 100 or 150% sea water to fresh water. Females that stayed in 150% sea water (58.5%) for 30 days had embryos in their gonads"
Chervinski, J. (April 1984). "Salinity tolerance of the guppy, Poecilia Reticulata Peters". Journal of Fish Biology

Guppy fry happily living in its (completely unnatural) saltwater habitat:

I hope I didn't just waste my time and everyone just knew about this

I’m getting in the car to go pick up some guppies. I want to try this!!

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I knew about this with mollies, but not guppies. I might go take a look in the freshwater section next time I’m at a fish store.