JChacon

I was wondering if it's possible to put live coral (I guess coral that grows) in my freshwater aquarium with my mollies and zebra danios. The aquarium does have aquarium salt (which I don't think would be the right salt anyway). I'm just wondering if it's safe to do that.

Chrisson

I don't think coral can survive in the same habitat of a freshwater fish... If it can than it would be a huge thing to freshwater aquarists. Plus taking care of coral and upgrading the tank will lead up to alot of money.

tomchitown

i've heard of crushed coral with african cichlids. not sure about mollies and danios.. .and like chris said live coral cant survive in freshwater

sirdarksol

Crushed coral isn't alive. It's just used to provide mineral content to the water.

No coral that I know of can survive in fresh water.

JChacon

Money isn't a problem for me :P

My cousin owns a fish store and has a surplus of the coral. And I wasn't sure exactly where to put this. I didnt' mean coral as a substrate, but actual coral that are typically in saltwater aquariums.

tomchitown

no, will not work

Chrisson

I've read some stuff and freshwater coral actually exists! But no way ever should you add a marine one.

tomchitown

freshwater coral ? link please

Angela_96

No live coral would not survive in a FW tank. They have to have high pH, salinity (with marine salt) 1.23+. Plus the lighting, and heat they require to grow/survive.
Belive me when I say taking care of coral in the best of conditions is very hard work. Lower salinity/ph and higher salinity/ph can cause them to suffer, get sick, and die.

Angela_96

There are some freshwater sponges that I know of. Only because seeing them on the "FW Planet Earth" they were in extreme conditons with the only fw seals in the world.

tomchitown

great show

Chrisson

Heres a picture:


I don't think much studies are done on it. I can't find any information about them at all! Just saying they were seen.

Oh I found a gallery full of coral like things in pavillion lake: http://www.pavilionlake.com/media/Ph...ures/index.htm

Alessa

Like everyone above said, there is absolutely no way a coral can survive in even a brackish tank. Coral keeping is one of the most challenging hobbies for the saltwater hobbyist and even under the perfect conditions, the most experienced fail.

they need a salinity of around 1.25 with marine salt, not aquarium salt, very high output lighting (like metal halide, very expensive stuff) special supplements, special equipment, a lot of time, preparation and experience. Its like placing a rose bush underwater; it wont happen.

sirdarksol

Okay, so it seems that Chrisson has shown that there are forms of coral (or something close to coral) that live in fresh water. These aren't likely to be found in the aquarium trade, and the fact that these structures only live in one lake suggests that they likely have pretty demanding quality requirements that would make care in an aquarium all but impossible, but they exist.