Mollies??????????

[spmnarciso]

Has anyone heard of adding freshwater mollies to a saltwater aquarium? I was talking to someone that has an aggressive setup and he puts black/white mollies in his aquarium. He says that they are great and breed constantly, which provides food for the other fish. Says that they can be both freshwater/saltwater fish. What is your take on this?

 

[ekclark]

yeah it can be done...I have thought about keeping these guys as coral food. You need to do it slowly, say 24-48 hours, using the drip method to get them ready for salt water. They come from pools in mexico where the salinity varies depending on rainfall. They are tough little guys and can live through a lot. People keep them in reefs, fw set-ups, and backyard ponds.

 

[spmnarciso]

Anybody else...maybe a word from Kip or Bang Guy!

 

[nas19320]

Mollies can survive in SW, they have been used to cycle a tank by people. I believe BangGuy has or had some mollies in his lagoon.

 

[n.o.c.]

I put 7 in my reefugium inorder to set up a breeding tank that would eventually feed my stingray. However they did breed fast, I never saw the babies again. I have lots of calerpa in there and I gues the babies are hiding out in it. The adults are down to 3 now, about 3 months after puting them in. I didnt aclamate them at all and they did ok. I also put a mantis shrimp in there at about month 3 and I think he is what was kiling off the other mollies. I would not do this again because all those mollies do is poop. The reefugium got so full of poo that whenever the grass was moved the whole tank would cloud up with poo and whatnot. Whenever I went to look at the mollies they were pooping.

 

[spmnarciso]

The LFS told me that in a reef, mollies would not be a good idea since they multiply and survive in the rocks. A reef could become over populated. Is that true?

 

[nas19320]

I wouldn't want mollies in my reef. They multiply rapidly, add to bioload and IMO are not as pretty as most reef fish.

 

[clarkiiboi]

Yes they can be coverted to SW. Drip method, like ekclark mentioned. I am not sure how long or the rate of drip though. IMO, if you have a fuge that would be the best place--think of them like pods, that's good breeding grounds and hopefully some get pulled into the DT. Or possibly a tank just for them, if no fuge.
N.O.C. Most likely the mantis is a contributing factor, it should be in a species only tank for that very reason.

 

[wjwaz59]

Used mollies shortly after cycling the tank. They breed very rapidly, and the babies grow fast. I agree with the "POO" statement. They are eating / Pooing machines. I spent a couple of months trying to get them out as I also agree with the post that they add bio load with very little 'eye candy' appeal.
So, in short, did it, wouldn't do it again

 

[gonfishin]

I cycled my tank with 3 black fantail mollies. 1 is still alive 6 months later and is one of the gang. They do eat diatomes and algae so they were real good when starting up the tank. They do poop alot but after the tank starts to mature you don't see it anymore. (then again I only have 1 )!!