Salinity tolerance of Betta splendens was evaluated in a complete randomized design, with six salt concentrations in the water (0; 3; 6; 9; 12 and 15 g common salt/L) with five replications (1 fish/replication). Adult female B. splendens were individually placed in aquariums in an incubation chamber at 26 ± 0.2ºC and 12-hour photoperiod. Fish were fed to satiation, once a day, with commercial diet. Feed intake and survival rate were measured every 12 hours. To evaluate the effect of acute salinity, the mean survival time and median lethal salinity-96 h were calculated, while the chronic effect (18 days) was assessed by calculating the survival salinity maximum and median lethal salinity. The mean survival time was significantly lower at 15 g/L water salinity. The median lethal salinity-96 h calculated was 11.88 g/L, the survival salinity maximum was between 6 and 7 g/L, and the median lethal salinity was 9.35 g/L. There was a significant interaction between feeding time and water salinity. Considering that the B. splendens is a freshwater species, it was concluded that this species demonstrated a high tolerance to water salinity.
median lethal salinity; siamese fighting fish; sodium chloride; survival salinity maximum
