caitie Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Hi. I don't know what you guys think about this but I have 3 sailfin mollies and one regular molly that I have acclimated to full marine condition. They are doing great so far and they add so much activity and color to my 29 gallon reef. I used the drip acclimation method and just let the drip work for 24 hours until the salinity in the bucket match the one in my tank. I chose to use mollies because I find marine fish expensive where I am and I just wasn't sure about my ability to keep a fish alive in there. The tank has been running for almost 3 years as a reef only but I wanted to start adding fish. Here's a picture of them. And here is the regular molly Link to comment
jeremai Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I like mollies. And I like em in reef tanks. They really go to town on algae, as long as the flow doesn't knock em around too much. Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 how long will these mollies survived? this is really unique how you can get freshwater fishes to saltwater. i would like to try on the tetras if that is possible. Have you ever try them either? lol noob question. Link to comment
jeremai Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 it won't work for tetras, lol. mollies have evolved osmotic adaptations that allow them to live in fresh, brackish or marine conditions. Link to comment
caitie Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 So far the little dalmatian molly has been in the tank for 6 weeks. She adapted very well. The sailfin mollies have been in since the beginning of this month but they had a bout of fin rot which I treated by giving them daily melafix/pimafix dips for an hour. I did this for 4 days and the fin rot disappeared. So far the small dalmatian molly and one of the sailfin mollies have both given birth but none of the babies survived. They have a tendancy to go and rest on the ricordia, and well I guess the ricordias are hungry too... Here is a pic of some of the babies, I might try and save a few next time. Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 unbelievable.. I might have to try this out. lol Link to comment
caitie Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Oh you should. I really enjoy watching them and when they have babies it is incredible, these little cuties go and hide under the corals or in the rocks. I find it incredible. Another interesting thing I found, is that after a few days in the reef tank the mollies colors really brighten up. If you do decide to try it one word of caution, don't pick small mollies, I did it the first time I tried and the filters where just too strong for them. The funny thing is that the babies that were born in the tank didn't seem bothered too much by the flow. Link to comment
ScubaJ Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 That is great. I never knew this about mollies! I can see my wife liking this... A molly or two in a NC12 Zoa Garden tank. Link to comment
Coastie Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 A girl at petsmart told me about this. She said that if you do this with black mollies they will develop a white stripe on their head. I don't know if there is any truth about that but she was right about the salt water thing! That's awesome! Link to comment
Alkomist Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 this is awsome!!! we need more pix of the mollies in the reef plz:) also have you tried adding a actual SW fish to the tank? how would they mix with other Non-Mollies? Link to comment
kydsexy Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 the coolest thing about them is the limitless supply of live food that the mollies make. i bet my fairy wrasse would LOVE eating baby mollies jampacked with enriched mysis and brine Link to comment
Coastie Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 next up guppies! Non stop feeding factories! Link to comment
nebthet Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Apparently you can do the same thing with guppies Coastie, and with the bright color variations they come out in and their long tails, I think it would make a nice match. Link to comment
Markushka Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 the coolest thing about them is the limitless supply of live food that the mollies make. i bet my fairy wrasse would LOVE eating baby mollies jampacked with enriched mysis and brine next up guppies! Non stop feeding factories! I have done both with this purpose in mind. I have currently 2 black female mollies and a male sailfin and I converted guppies too but they haven't done so well. I lost about 6 guppies but that is also due to me having to QT all the fish for ich. My mollies just had babies so I wonder how many will survive. Link to comment
paneubert Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Do the standard ich meds that you see for freshwater work in saltwater? I am imagining treating them for ich while also acclimating them to saltwater, at the same time, then adding them to the saltwater tank after I am good and sure that they don't have ich and they can handle the salinity. Will the salinity mess with the ich meds at all? Link to comment
Coastie Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Crap.... Now I am staring at my freshwater tank.... Uh oh. Link to comment
caitie Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 this is awsome!!! we need more pix of the mollies in the reef plz:)also have you tried adding a actual SW fish to the tank? how would they mix with other Non-Mollies? I haven't tried marine fish with them yet but I plan on adding some green chromis soon. From the research I did there shouldn't be a problem though. I expect if I do have a probllem it will come from the dalmatian molly because she is extremely territorial and aggressive. She even attacks the male sailfin. Here are a few more pics: And a few more of the babies: I had managed to save a few babies and I had them in my 1/2 gallon pico but they only survived a few days. Link to comment
MitchReef Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 I used to use mollies to cycle marine tanks back in the 80's. I had one that I couldn't catch when I set up a predator tank and he actually survived in there for several years. Got huge (for a mollie)...Only thing about them in saltwater is the higher pH makes them into reproducing machines. I kept a 45 gallon hex with just mollies and it would get so full of black mollies that you couldn't see through it....then it would be a trip to the LFS with a bucket full of them..... Link to comment
caitie Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 That's interesting. So far none of the babies have survived more than 24 hours in the main tank. I've seen the adults eat them, the shrimp also has her fair share, and the rest seem to get gobbled up by the ricordias. I have a ton of ricordias and the babies stop to rest on them and end up getting eaten. When you brought your baby mollies to the lfs did they take them as marine mollies or did you have to get them back into freshwater? Link to comment
Markushka Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Do the standard ich meds that you see for freshwater work in saltwater? I am imagining treating them for ich while also acclimating them to saltwater, at the same time, then adding them to the saltwater tank after I am good and sure that they don't have ich and they can handle the salinity. Will the salinity mess with the ich meds at all? I was using formalin to treat the ich as well as hypo-salinity. I was treating my SW fish as well. I dunno why I lost the guppies but it could be a lot of factors; from poor water quality due to the QT tank being uncycled to poor specimens. I probably should have just kept them in fw for a few weeks to make sure they were fit. I'd gotten some at walmart and some at my lfs and tried to choose the healthiest specimens available. The remaining guppies look alright, tho one is still in the qt with Ich. I used to use mollies to cycle marine tanks back in the 80's. I had one that I couldn't catch when I set up a predator tank and he actually survived in there for several years. Got huge (for a mollie)...Only thing about them in saltwater is the higher pH makes them into reproducing machines. I kept a 45 gallon hex with just mollies and it would get so full of black mollies that you couldn't see through it....then it would be a trip to the LFS with a bucket full of them..... This is good news! I will be able to keep my lion well fed then I haven't tried marine fish with them yet but I plan on adding some green chromis soon. From the research I did there shouldn't be a problem though. I expect if I do have a probllem it will come from the dalmatian molly because she is extremely territorial and aggressive. She even attacks the male sailfin. I haven't had any trouble with my mollies bothering other fish ( Rainfords and 2 occies) the mollies are more interested in mating than messing with the other fish. Link to comment
geccles Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 I've thought about doing this as a cheap food supply. Good to know it works! Link to comment
jeremai Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 I've thought about doing this as a cheap food supply. Good to know it works! as a food source for a marine predator? mollies and guppies may be better than goldfish, but they're far from ideal. fat content is still way too high to use them as a staple food. http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/Showart...hp?articleID=70 Link to comment
sandcruiser Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 since I'm feeling sad about the disappearance of my shrimp/goby, I think that a pair of mollies is just the right thing to get some movement in the tank again. Do guppies breed in salt water as well? My wife loves guppies. And the babies are smaller (better frogspawn food). Link to comment
MedRed Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 almost all of the livebearers can be acclimated to saltwater. Mollies, guppies, swordtails, and platies in that order of saltwater acclimation ease. A BIG problem is the amount of flow we have in our tanks. You may end up with fish stuck to your overflow. Link to comment
isu712 Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 This sounds awesome. I may give it a try with some guppies. How long does it take to acclimate them? I know the OP said they took 24 hours, but can it be done in a shorter time? Link to comment
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