subsea Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 A live bearer in salt water that eats GHA as well as cynobacteria. What is it? Large Sailfin Mollies are breeding in my 135G Lagoon tank. I noticed one of the larger females eating sections of cynobacteria mat which is coating sponge on suction to Mag 12. Maybe I should train them into a performance to music. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 A live bearer in salt water that eats GHA as well as cynobacteria. What is it? Large Sailfin Mollies are breeding in my 135G Lagoon tank. I noticed one of he larger females eating sections of cynobacteria mat which is coating sponge on suction to Mag 12. Maybe I should train them into a performance to music. Patrick Sailfin Mollies? Always had those in the stock ponds growing up. I used to throw them in my FW tanks. Looking at Wikipedia, I guess they are euryhaline. Do you have to use Sailfin Mollies caught in SW or can you adjust FW Sailfin Mollies to brackish or SW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 The silver mollies and the gold mollies came from Petco and Petsmart one month ago. They were carrying young when introduced to tank and have now spawned. Two hours drip from fresh to full strength salt. The Black Mollies which I have were purchased one year ago and are now third and fourth generation marine. All of these mollies are very large compared to what I see in the fresh water store tanks. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 That's cool, I'm going to try that! So you can get peaceful/shoaling fish, and they breed (supply fresh food) and graze, too. Has anyone else tried? I'm wondering why I haven't heard of this before. Anti-molly or anti-FW fish bias? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michae52 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 You can raise mollies in salt water. Just acculamate them very very slowly. Subsea has some huge mollies in his tanks. Some pretty good color for a little bit of cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Some pretty good color for a little bit of cash. That's what I'm thinking, and a source of live food for the other critters. I can catch them in my folks back yard. Here's a question, would acclimating FW mollies to SW mollies require QT or would the salinity shift take care of that? In other words, are there any diseases or parasites that can also make the shift from FW to SW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michae52 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 The rise in salinity would probably kill anything that was on the mollies. Timfish would probably know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Some years back, I purchased Sailfin Mollis from C-Quest in Purto Rico. These Sailfin Mollies had been in the marine enviroments for eons. The owners of C-Quest along with Martin Moe mixed this DNA with some standard colorful fresh water cultivars. Very nice fish. I will try to re-establish this connection. The hatchery closed down last year to relocate in Wyoming, go figure. To complete the nutritional enhancement to marine quality food is completed in one generation of newborn. Patrick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Whhaaaaattt?!? I knew you could have mollies in salt water, but I never thought of them as good algae controllers. I may have to hop over to Petco and pick up one or two, my lawnmower blenny could use some help unfortunately.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I was so compelled by this that I just bought myself a nice pregnant molly. Hopefully she acclimates well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 If what you'll got does not make it, I will be glad to give you some that have been marine for a year. Get you some when you come out for the April Meet. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 sounds good to me. She has been acclimating for an hour now. She was definitely pregnant, there are 7 babies in the acclimation bucket with her now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michae52 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 That was a quick return on your investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 haha yeah, not bad for $2.35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I'm jealous. I got 5 at PetSmart on the way home. The first thing one did (within 5 seconds of getting in) was nip a bud on my RBTA! They may be fresh food for my anemones faster than I planned. All 5 are still swimming around ok. I don't think they like the higher water flow, though. My bicolor blenny is totally freaked out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I'm jealous. I got 5 at PetSmart on the way home. The first thing one did (within 5 seconds of getting in) was nip a bud on my RBTA! They may be fresh food for my anemones faster than I planned. All 5 are still swimming around ok. I don't think they like the higher water flow, though. My bicolor blenny is totally freaked out. Yeah the flow kinda worries me too, they are definitely meant for estuaries and river deltas/brackish swamps. I imagine if the babies survive and grow to maturity that some of their offspring will just be fresh meals for my maxi minis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Yeah the flow kinda worries me too, they are definitely meant for estuaries and river deltas/brackish swamps. I imagine if the babies survive and grow to maturity that some of their offspring will just be fresh meals for my maxi minis. Them being fresh food is one of the benefits (I hope). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 I would guess, that I have at least 100 baby mollies swimming in my lagoon tank I am flowing more than 3000 GPH and they manage ok. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I would guess, that I have at least 100 baby mollies swimming in my lagoon tank I am flowing more than 3000 GPH and they manage ok. Patrick That's good to hear (er, read). Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 As of this morning all five of my new mollies looked alive and well. I wanted the plain, silver ones, but PetSmart didn't have any silver males. I got the golden lyretails instead. They turned out pretty well, especially when swimming near the yellow BTA. My wife noticed them (before I mentioned what they are) and said, "Oh, so cute!" That cracked me up, because she has always hated FW fish. You can't get more boring old "FW-ness" than guppies and mollies (excpet maybe goldfish). She likes them, so they were really cheap, nice, grouping/shoaling/schooling fish that should eat the nasty stuff and crank out live food and replace themselves. Thanks subsea for the OP. (I had recently fed, so lots of particulates in the pictures.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 My black female and some of her new babies were swimming around the tank this morning before I left for work. Hopefully I'll see them picking at algae when I get home from class this afternoon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Aww they do look pretty cute in there! Marine lighting makes them look more impressive. Kind of tempted to try some myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 My black female and some of her new babies were swimming around the tank this morning before I left for work. Hopefully I'll see them picking at algae when I get home from class this afternoon! That's so awesome that yours was pregnant. Aww they do look pretty cute in there! Marine lighting makes them look more impressive. Kind of tempted to try some myself! I agree, they look much better under my LEDs than normal store fluorescent light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 By the way, I forgot to say; I've read that mollies start to swim differently in SW. Perhaps they'll start doing that after a while and then cope a little better in the faster current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Life will always find a way. Except when it's really expensive life. If not, then I can always get that 14-day guarantee from PetSmart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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