Experiment converting corals to freshwater

BigTomo003 · Sep 18, 2020

So I'm going to do an experiment that nobody else has done, I'm going to v
Try and convert corals from saltwater to freshwater over the course of 1-5 years.

I can't explain here but I will be settling up a YouTube channel to document it.

The chanel details will be added once it is set up.

Leave your expectations and theory's down below (I'm expecting alot of negativity and hate for doing this but I think I'm on to something)

Cheers!

BighohoReef · Sep 18, 2020

You've sort of broken my brain on this one... I have so many assumptions that need to be undone about water parameters. I don't see a lot of success because of the required zooxanthellae for coral that isn't available in freshwater. What a kind of corals are you thinking of testing this out on? LPS, SPS, Softies? It'll be an interesting/costly experiment to say the least.

And I think it's a worth experiment, there has to be some one in the scientific community that's attempted a go at this, no?

BigTomo003 · Sep 18, 2020

BigTomo003 said:
So I'm going to do an experiment that nobody else has done, I'm going to v
Try and convert corals from saltwater to freshwater over the course of 1-5 years.

I can't explain here but I will be settling up a YouTube channel to document it.

The chanel details will be added once it is set up.

Leave your expectations and theory's down below (I'm expecting alot of negativity and hate for doing this but I think I'm on to something)

Cheers!

Also I don't want people saying "u can't do that". I know what I'm doing and I'm doing it for a good purpose.
ALSO I'M NOT PROMOTING MY CHANEL THIS IS A GENIOUNE EXPERIMENT and it will be done saflsy without hurting the corals.

BigRed78 · Sep 18, 2020

Unless the corals are spawning it won’t work. Coral growth is an exact genetic copy and thus will die. I guess this is theoretically possible if the corals are sexually reproducing but that’s very hard to do.

BigTomo003 · Sep 18, 2020

BighohoReef said:
You've sort of broken my brain on this one... I have so many assumptions that need to be undone about water parameters. I don't see a lot of success because of the required zooxanthellae for coral that isn't available in freshwater. What a kind of corals are you thinking of testing this out on? LPS, SPS, Softies? It'll be an interesting/costly experiment to say the least.

Softies. Probably zoas and maybe torches (lps) im going to do it as a very slow freshwater intro to the sw. As if a large river was at the base of a shallow reef, not brackish water but completely freshwater. I don't think sps could do this due to the requirements for them. Thanks for the positivity.

BigTomo003 · Sep 18, 2020

BigRed78 said:
Unless the corals are spawning it won’t work. Coral growth is an exact genetic copy and thus will die. I guess this is theoretically possible if the corals are sexually reproducing but that’s very hard to do.

This won't be a fast one, as I said At Least 1-5 years but probably more. I said tbe"conxept above" ty

BigTomo003 · Sep 18, 2020

Going to bed as it's 3am here lol... Will read comments in the morning.

As I said if you want to follow the process follow FreshwaterCorals on YouTube
I will post my first video on Monday
Thanks

afishbestservedcold · Oct 5, 2020

BigTomo003 said:
This won't be a fast one, as I said At Least 1-5 years but probably more. I said tbe"conxept above" ty

I'd guess 20 years at least, if you're lucky haha.

If you haven't already, you might look at the water chemistry of the African rift lakes, particularly Lake Tanganyika. They have very high PH, 8-9, and there are many inverts and other creatures that are "marine like".

Also check out Lake Towuti and Lake Matano in Indonesia, they have crazy PH and chemistry. and if you are so inclined, maybe you can do something with Craspedacusta sowerbii?

BigTomo003 · Oct 6, 2020

afishbestservedcold said:
I'd guess 20 years at least, if you're lucky haha.

If you haven't already, you might look at the water chemistry of the African rift lakes, particularly Lake Tanganyika. They have very high PH, 8-9, and there are many inverts and other creatures that are "marine like".

Also check out Lake Towuti and Lake Matano in Indonesia, they have crazy PH and chemistry. and if you are so inclined, maybe you can do something with Craspedacusta sowerbii?

Yeah I've looked into tangayeke cichlids. I'll update in a few

Tankkeepers · Oct 6, 2020

I would love to see you succeed but I dont think it can be done otherwise nature would of done it already I know some saltwater fish were converted long ago and then even when born in freshwater did not last long and had horable health problems due to no immunity to freshwater bacteria etc good luck and following along

BigTomo003 · Oct 6, 2020

BigTomo003 said:
Yeah I've looked into tangayeke cichlids. I'll update in a few

I've also set up a tank for neon tetras to convert them into saltwater, I don't know if I'll go ahead with it though,, the way I will raise the salt level will be to an absolute minimum every couple of weeks. If the fish shows any stress whatsoever they will be removed and put into a qt tank. I've researched this a lot and have pretty good knowledge on it.

For the record, how many of you guys would be interested in a one of a kind saltwater tetra? Do u think they would hit the market or just be seen as animal cruelty?

Tankkeepers · Oct 6, 2020

I will also say if your able to could be a way to repopulate natural reefs being bleached out by freshwater flooding

Tankkeepers · Oct 6, 2020

Id be interested in them after several proven generations

BigTomo003 · Oct 6, 2020

Tankkeepers said:
I would love to see you succeed but I dont think it can be done otherwise nature would of done it already I know some saltwater fish were converted long ago and then even when born in freshwater did not last long and had horable health problems due to no immunity to freshwater bacteria etc good luck and following along

Yeah man, will keep everyone updated.

Thanks for your interest

I posted this on another forum and got battered with hate comments saying I'm torturing live animals and that it would be impossible to do.

I believe differently and my main priority is the health of the animals

Tankkeepers · Oct 6, 2020

I dont think anything is impossible and if your monitoring health and try to fix it if it goes to far then by all means try and I really hope you succeed

BigTomo003 · Oct 6, 2020

Tankkeepers said:
I will also say if your able to could be a way to repopulate natural reefs being bleached out by freshwater flooding

Yes! It's exactly my thought process.

BigTomo003 · Oct 6, 2020

Tankkeepers said:
I dont think anything is impossible and if your monitoring health and try to fix it if it goes to far then by all means try and I really hope you succeed

Yeah, seperete tank set up for 30 neon tetras, including a qt for them, and a 10g tank for the zoanthids, which I'm going to frag each individual head and put them in the tank separate to see how the diddent heads react and if they re produce or if they start to die

Tankkeepers · Oct 6, 2020

Ya no clue how this will go and over several generations of small adjustments it may very well work the key is to get the cells not to dehydrate because of the lack of salt and keeping all the macro and micro nutrients stable durring the transision and reverse for fish you need to breed ones with strong livers to get rid of the extra salt and cells that wont explode due to salt saturation