Acclimating Mollies to Saltwater

[seabass]

I believe the guppies can be transitioned to saltwater, but I'm thinking the gobies (Brachygobius xanthozonus) might not.  However, you could feed your Banggai cardinalfish frozen mysis.

[Leo_ian]

I know i can feed the banggais mysis, the baby guppies are for additional fats

 

Do you think i should at least try to gring the bumblebees to salt

[seabass]

5 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

Do you think i should at least try to gring the bumblebees to salt

Not unless you can find real evidence that this works.  Mollies and guppies are both livebearers that come from brackish waters.  I believe both have been shown to be able to transition to saltwater.

[Leo_ian]

Brachygobius xanthozonus and knight gobies are both brackish fish commonly kept in freshwater, like guppies, so it will just be my theory that it could work

[Leo_ian]

ok so i was reading r2r and someone did manage to keep the "freshwater" bumblebees in saltwater

the person's username is paul b

[Leo_ian]

Anyone?

[seabass]

If the question is still, should you keep freshwater bumblebees in a full saltwater tank, then I have to say it is up to you.  The fact that one experienced reefer was apparently successful, wouldn't necessarily change my mind one way or another.

 

Now I didn't read the post(s), so I don't know about the long-term effects.  Initially I might have concerns about kidney damage.  Was the poster breeding them in saltwater?  Any impact on lifespan?

 

I personally feel this is a long way to go to feed Banggai cardinals.  You obviously don't share that same opinion (which is your prerogative).  Reef keeping doesn't look just one way.

 

I'm not sure if bumblebees are fin nippers or not.  If they are, they might not be a good fit with either the guppies or the cardinals.  That might be something to consider, or at least research some more.

[Tired]

You should look into just feeding the cardinals straight-up fish eggs. I believe fish roe is available as food, and would probably be fattier than the baby fish, in addition to being more humane and much easier to store and handle. 

 

IMO, don't acclimate fish to conditions they can only maybe survive in. Leave the bumblebee gobies in brackish water, and get a similar fish, but a saltwater one, for this tank. Mollies can be acclimated to saltwater because they've evolved to live in a variety of salinities, but most other brackish fish haven't done so and therefore can't live in saltwater long-term. 

[Leo_ian]

Ok I appreciate your advice and I will consider it. I will weigh the pros and cons for doing so

@Tired I can’t get fish eggs in my area that easily so it isn’t really viable for me

[Patscann]

On 12/12/2012 at 7:01 PM, ZephNYC said:

 

 

 

 

Just for the record, I used to breed mollies in fresh water to feed to my anglers, I would just throw them in the marine tanks without acclimation, and it would often take the anglers days to eat them and they always switched over just fine. No acclimation at all. But if these were for display I would be politically correct and acclimate.

 

On 12/12/2012 at 7:01 PM, ZephNYC said:

 

 

 

 

Just for the record, I used to breed mollies in fresh water to feed to my anglers, I would just throw them in the marine tanks without acclimation, and it would often take the anglers days to eat them and they always switched over just fine. No acclimation at all. But if these were for display I would be politically correct and acclimate.

To chime in: I live in n area with native caribbean saltwater-to-brackish-to-freshwater species (P. vandepolli). From what Ive seen, they automatically jump into rainwater streams the moment they sense them. Ive even kept them in a tap water tank outside and when it rained a whole school just jumped out and swam in rainwater down to a well water reservois. Within a day they were swimming around and multipying shortly after. 

 

Long story short: from what Ive observed coastal mollies freely migrate between water types on the fly with the seasons, no acclimation time. They seem to have evolved to do it.