What will happen if you put a saltwater fish into a freshwater aquarium?

Answer 1

No, definitely not. Saltwater and Freshwater Fish are adapted to totally different conditions, and so they can't live together in the same aquarium. Both freshwater and Saltwater Fish have a certain concentration of salt in their cells. This concentration is very similar between fresh and saltwater fish. This concentration lies somewhere between that of freshwater (which contains, by definition, no detectable salt) and seawater. The natural process of osmosis is the movement of water from a less concentrated salt solution into a more concentrated salt solution through a semi-permeable membrane (one that allows the free passage of water through it, but not salts - such as the membrane which encloses a cell.) The salt level inside the cells of a freshwater fish is greater than that of the water it swims in. This means that a freshwater fish is always trying to retain salt, and excrete excess water. Its kidneys have evolved to excrete the excess water as extremely dilute urine, and retain virtually all of the salt that it ingests. On the other hand, the salt level inside the cells of a saltwater fish is much less than that of its marine environment. This means that a marine fish is constantly trying to prevent a fatal buildup of salt inside its cells, and to get water. It drinks seawater and constantly excretes salt through its gills and urine. These similar but opposite processes are known as osmoregulation. When you put a fish that has adapted to either fresh or salt water into the opposite situation, its osmoregulation system backfires. Placed in salt water, a freshwater fish will experience a rapid buildup of salt in its tissues and will die of salt poisoning, because it has evolved to retain salt, not excrete it. Placed in freshwater, a saltwater fish will become quickly waterlogged because it has no mechanisms to cope with the fresh water that is entering its cells, and it will die.

There are a LOT of scams on the internet that claim they can acclimatise freshwater fish to saltwater, saltwater fish to freshwater, and either fresh or saltwater fish to brackish water (which is somewhere between fresh and salt water in salinity.) They're called scams for a reason. If acclimatised slowly, freshwater fish can usually cope with a small amount of salt, and saltwater fish with a fair amount less salt than is found in normal seawater. However, this causes suffering to the fish, is extremely likely to stunt its growth and shorten its lifespan, could render it sterile, and is very likely to kill it even in the short term. A lot of these scams concern brackish water or salt tolerant fish. There are two groups of freshwater fish: primary freshwater fish (which evolved in freshwater) and secondary freshwater fish (which evolved from seawater fish). The latter still have some mechanisms to cope with salt in the water. A lot of them are brackish (live permanently in water that is between fresh and saltwater in salinity), estuarine (cope with wide daily swings in salinity with the tides), or migratory (move between areas of different salinity in their lifespan.) A lot of them are usually sold for either fresh or saltwater tanks, but can be easily adapted to just about anything in between. Good examples include most mollies (Poecilia spp.) which can cope with hard freshwater to marine conditions. So it is possible to keep SOME species that are usually associated with marine or fresh conditions, in brackish water. However, if you have a freshwater aquarium and you've got your eye on a saltwater fish - forget it. It's never going to work, and any claim that you can acclimatise true saltwater fish to freshwater is totally false.

Answer 2

Most (98%) will die and almost all will die if the change is made quickly.

Salt water fish actually drink the salt water, excrete the salt, and are left with unsalted water in their body; they do this because the sea water, through the process of osmosis, draws out water from the body.

When they are placed in fresh water, they continue to drink the water, but since the water is now less saline that the fish, water is no longer being drawn out, and in most cases (especially if the transfer was too quick), will start absorbing water, hence they will typically die.

Answer 3

I believe that a flounder can ONLY be kept in a saltwater tank, otherwise it will die. You can get more information at your local pet store or on their website. ~Singer

Answer 4

NO! u crazy?? well, if ur taking about the TANK, then maybe, but the water, NEVER!

Answer 5

this is because the gills of a saltwater fish are addicted of salty water that is why it cannot survive in freshwater

Answer 6

no it is a salt water fish

Answer 7

You can sometimes it works not always .

Answer 8

No