Breeding SW Mollies for SW Feeders

deltablack22

deltablack22

Active Member
I have recently been toying with the idea of acclimating a trio of Mollies into SW for feeder breeding purposes. I realize that a multi-tank system would be best for quantity purposes but I'm really only looking for the occasional "treat" feed. I've got a few questions on the issue and would like any feedback or comments good and bad, but please spare the ethical/cruelty stance and keep the thread on topic.

Q1: It seems to be common knowledge that feeding freshwater feeders is a "no-no" in SW tanks due to fat content or something to that effect. Being that Mollies are actually brackish fish would housing them in SW negate that issue?
Q2: Would keeping them in fresh/brackish be any different?
Q3: Would any particular Molly variant be better suited for this purpose? (IE: size of offspring, growth rate, spawning rate, clutch size)
Any personal experience or trials would be greatly appreciated!
 
el pez

el pez

New Member
i used to breed mollies. Not a good idea cause they have LOTS of babies. You'll be overwhelmed when you wake up one day and your tank is overloaded with babies.
 
fishygurl

fishygurl

Active Member
i had 2 mollies in a fw tank i used to have and they bred pretty often and each time would have like 10 babies or something like that. It was awhile ago.. lol
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
freshwater fish even when raised in salt water are not nutritious enough for marine animals. fatty tissue disease and other problems will occurr is freshwater fish are fed too often.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
an excerpt from WWM
For the most part though, mollies are inhabitants of freshwater streams flowing across coastal plains. The water chemistry is typically hard and alkaline, pH 7.5 to 8.0 and hardness 15-30˚dH. Although water temperature may vary depending on geographical location, most mollies seem prefer warm water environments and are most common where the water temperature is around 25-28˚C (77-82˚F). These streams aren’t saline though, and while mollies certainly are found in brackish waters, that isn’t their primary habitat
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
i am trying to get mine to breed, i'm expecting babies soon..my last batch got ate up.
at first they will have small batches but the more the females breed the more they will be able to have out of one batch.
reefkprz i'm not sure if i 100% agree..once i transfered my mollies into saltwater, especially if they have been breed in saltwater, if they eat and live in the same conditions as the other fish in your tank they will get some of the nutritious value from there diet just like other fish. i'm not sure it woud be as good as feeding them saltwater fish int he first place but im sure they would get something from how they are breed and what they eat, correct? just my guess/opinion
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
not really, if you take a cow and feed it hay its a cow, if you feed it nothing but clover, its a cow, the animal is still only going to store the nutrition IT needs. feeding it a better diet is going to make it healthier not nescessarily make it store better nutrition.
its like gut loading crickets for reptiles, crickets arent a great source of nutrition so we feed them a great diet to load their stomach with nutrition but once they digest the gut load they again are nutritionally void.
same thing with brine shrimp, the popcorn of all fish foods. this is a creature that IS a brine dweller, you can fortify them (by gut loading) for adding nutrition but you have to feed them within hours of loading or the nutrition is lost and you must refortify them.
the same will be said for freshwater fish (mollies) not only do you have to gut load them but your still getting all the mad fatty tisues from the mass of the fish, and in the long run will kill your marine animal.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
While nutritional research on fish in the aquarium trade is next to nil, you can pretty easily find info on fish that are used for human consumption. Brackish water fish almost mirror true freshwater in their make up (proteins, lipids, fats, etc). So trying to gut-load them only leads to what reefkpr describes.
 
deltablack22

deltablack22

Active Member
Well I thought the post was clear enough to weed out basic posts about breeding mollies but I guess it wasnt... I know livebearers are easy to breed and can be considered prolific under the right conditions. Who doesnt?

I appreciate those of you staying with the topic of "Are molly offspring detrimental when used as live food for saltwater fish?".

So it seems that what I've read about their fat content holds true no matter what environment they are in. Thanks RKZ for offering the cricket/brine angle, I didnt really think of it that way. With these thoughts in mind it leads me into an additional set of questions:
Q1: I've heard of many people keeping Mollies in their reef tanks. Based on the assumption that the fat contents in Mollies make them poor food sources wouldnt housing this prolific species in a reef tank hurt the inhabitants long term?
Q2: I understand that a good population of cope/amphipods in a tank as well as regularly spawining inhabitants (ie clowns, damsels, cardinals) are a good renewable food source. Are their any other nutritious live foods that can be cultivated even on a small scale in order to vary the diet of your tank inhabitants?
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by DeltaBlack22
http:///forum/post/2719976
Q1: I've heard of many people keeping Mollies in their reef tanks. Based on the assumption that the fat contents in Mollies make them poor food sources wouldnt housing this prolific species in a reef tank hurt the inhabitants long term? yes, maybe not as bad as feeding larger fishes, the body mass of babies is lower, and they havent had as long to build up as many fatty tisseus, but still could be compared to a steady diet of adult brine or slightly worse than that
Q2: I understand that a good population of cope/amphipods in a tank as well as regularly spawining inhabitants (ie clowns, damsels, cardinals) are a good renewable food source. Are their any other nutritious live foods that can be cultivated even on a small scale in order to vary the diet of your tank inhabitants?
rotifers
, there are also some shrimps that are breedable the babys makes great foods, clownfish fry (I know its an appalling thought to some but that is life on the big reef, I'm just answering to the best of my knowledge) basicly any prolific marine fish fry would work.
 
deltablack22

deltablack22

Active Member
If I was gonna try it out I would've just been feeding the fry to my reef tank and not actually growing them out as large "sole diet" type feeders. My angle was a varied diet and live foods are always a good treat so I might just take a look at the rotifer idea, but isnt that geared more toward fry?
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
rotifers do make an ideal food for fry as they are very small, but they also feed other fish (anything with good enough eyesight to spot them) as well as coral food. the baby shrimp (I cant remember to name of them) but I'll figure it out, may be a better option if your looking for a slightly larger fish food.
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
the animal is still only going to store the nutrition IT needs.
thats a good piece of information. i never really thought about that
 
bronco300

bronco300

Active Member
a question to tie into that, if you don't mind me adding: is there actually a good and nutritional fish that could be used as a feeder..and possibly even one with breeding capabilities in the home aquarium?
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bronco300
http:///forum/post/2722770
a question to tie into that, if you don't mind me adding: is there actually a good and nutritional fish that could be used as a feeder..and possibly even one with breeding capabilities in the home aquarium?
clown fish are number one, bangai cardinals then, neon dotty backs. all in apparant ease of breedability, once you get a breeding pair of clowns they dont stop spitting out eggs every two weeks or so.
 
deltablack22

deltablack22

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bronco300
http:///forum/post/2722770
a question to tie into that, if you don't mind me adding: is there actually a good and nutritional fish that could be used as a feeder..and possibly even one with breeding capabilities in the home aquarium?
Not at all, it was the general direction I was heading anyhow...
 
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