Mollies in a Reef Tank

[jhallewell]

Yesterday, I bought a sailfin Mollie at the LFS. It was in brackish water so the aclimation process went well. I bought this to help with hair algae. I removed all the bioballs from the overflows on my reef and the tank is a lot clearer than before. There was so much sediment on the Bioballs, almost like brown mudd. I hope with the Chaeto in the fuge and no bioballs, two phosban reactors running with Rowaphos, 3 tangs, angel and a foxface and this little guy the hair algae will be gone in a few weeks. Does anyone have experience with Mollies in a reef? I have heard they do well eating algae, and also breed in the tank if you have a male and female, so there is live food for the other fish. Also, can I add another Tang to the setup to help with algae. I have a Kole Tang, Lavendar Tang, Sohal Tang, Foxface and an Eibli Angel. I wanted to add a Naso Tang as my last Tang along with a couple of clowns and some green Chromis. Would this be o.k. or too much? The reef was given to me as a 300, but this weekend I took measurements after seeing a 300 gallon at a restaurant. I believe mine is a 240 gallon. But I have a 50 gallon sump on it.

 

[darren24]

I can not help much but there are a few recent threads on Reef Central about Mollies in a reef. Evidently they will eat algae.

 

[kevin]

Ok... MOllies are great additions for removing algae from our tanks. they are also very hardy fish, but you shouldn't have any problems with that looking at your setup. HOw long has your tank been setup?

 

[family reefer]

There is a big interest in these fish for that reason right now. There are people on another site (ZOAS) experimenting with them now. I have heard that they are a brackinsh fish and will live in a marine environment if acclimated slowly (4-5 hours on a drip) I have also heard that they can only survive in a total marine environment during a specific time period during their life span. I don't know that to be true or not, just what I have read. No reason not to try. Even if you just let them clean up and then de-salinate for a return to the LFS. I have a rock with Bryopsis on it and am considering giving them a try as well.

 

[jhallewell]

This tank has been set up for a year, but the contents has come from other tanks. Some of the live rock is 8 years old.

 

[george]

I had not heard of this, but I used to keep mollies when I was a kid. My first tank was a pair of black mollies (and the resultant fry).

I think the best potential is for those of us with smaller tanks. Unlike tangs that require lots of living space to do well, mollies can do quite well in very small (even 10-20g) tanks which gives us access to a good grazer.

Plus, if your regular LFS doesn't carry them, they can be had in Petsmart and Petco for cheap.

Does anyone know about freshwater to saltwater parasite/disease transmission? Will freshwater ich survive in salt? Is there a difference between the two ichs?

 

[glxtrix]

interesting lil read:

http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/mollies.htm">http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/mollies.htm</a>

Think i might pick some up and give them a try, got a lil bit a hair algea poppin up in the reef tank.....guess its time to add more flow...or darn ;)

 

[george]

I found the part where the fry were eating marine ich interesting.

 

[johnqx4]

I have put black mollies in a reef tank several times. In fact I have used them to cycle the tanks on more than one ocassion. I am a patient person, this will probably make some of you sick. On a couple of ocassions I have set up the tank like I wanted, but with fresh water. This gave me the time to make changes and mess with the plumbing and electrical with out worrying about the parameters and such.

I have then topped if off with saltwater. It can take a month or two, but the tank cycles great and on the two ocassions I have done it this way, the tank never went though a noticeable cycle(obviously it did, it was just not noticeable).

Also, most pet stores have a lot of salt in their fresh water tanks. At pet smart a while back, the young lady there told me they were only a couple of points off of being completely SPG of 1.016 (or some such).

just fyi

johnny

 

[lifestudent]

johnqx4 wrote: I have put black mollies in a reef tank several times. In fact I have used them to cycle the tanks on more than one occasion....johnny

I've heard of people cycling their tanks with mollies. They're a lot easier to catch and remove once the cycling period is over than damsels. :yuk:

They also make an interesting contrast to the other reefsafe fish in the tank. Imagine your FW friends seeing a mollie swimming along side "nemo" or a seahorse or even a maxima clam. :fish:

 

[showtime305]

johnqx4 wrote: Also, most pet stores have a lot of salt in their fresh water tanks. At pet smart a while back, the young lady there told me they were only a couple of points off of being completely SPG of 1.016 (or some such).

just fyi

johnny

That's interesting. Is there a reason why they do this?

 

[glxtrix]

salt aids in medication for freshwater fish. I'm actually acclimating some mollies right now

 

[showtime305]

That's good to know. I'll probably never run a freshwater tank again, but atleast I can pass that info on.

 

[johnqx4]

That's interesting. Is there a reason why they do this?

salt aids in medication for freshwater fish. I'm actually acclimating some mollies right now

Yeah, right on the money. The young lady said that the salt is a natural deterent to freshwater "maladies"

In fact, I have noticed that some times you can actually see a cup of salt in their fresh water tanks.

I've heard of people cycling their tanks with mollies. They're a lot easier to catch and remove once the cycling period is over than damsels.

Well, the great thing here is that you don't usually need to catch them. Unless you don't like the looks of them, leave'em in. They don't "school" like chromis, but typically they hang together as a group.

I think they add to any reef tank. And... if they eat hair algae... how bad can that be?

Call it a win...:yay:

 

[glxtrix]

yeah we'll see if they eat hair algea or not, mine have been in the tank since 1am lastnight, so going on 10 hours and still alive, I guess thats a good sign. Took me awhile to acclimate them, prolly 4 hours, was at work and not really paying attention to them, I think that might have been easier in the acclimating process.

 

[glxtrix]

here is 1 of 2, and jsut so happens to be the fat one, lol. They seem to be doing quite well, seen them munchin on algea here and there, but not outright attacking it, which I hope they end up doing. The feeding schedules are different from freshwater to salt, so hopefully they will get on some algea on the off days of feeding. AAARRRGGG, and these darn microbubbles are going to be the death of me!!!!

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[burdundi]

Thanks for sharing Lee. Keep us posted on how they do.

-Andy

 

[glxtrix]

the clowns dont care for them, tho i think thats cuz when they are munchin on some algea the clowns think that they are getting food and not them.....fat fish. So far soo good. Ive seen them eating off the glass kinda like a blenny would. So far its worth the $4 investment.

 

[is_that_a_fish]

do you feed them marine based foods, or do you give them their own fresh water based food?

 

[glxtrix]

just marine stuff, they are fully adpt to eating brine in freshwater so there will be no worries with saltwater feedings. I actually think what I feed will be better than regular freshwater foods; I have a mix of all kinds of goodies chopped up and frozen from brine, mysis, cyclopeeze, squid and blah blah blah.