Black mollies: how to acclimate them to salt h2o?

[Reef Reaper]

Has anyone had success in acclimating black mollies into a saltwater environment and do they do well? Thanks!

 

[duromega]

just regular acclimation process until all fresh water been replaced with saltwater.

 

[Reef Reaper]

Ok, thanks! I will give it a shot!

 

[meherbas]

Yah just take your time, they are pretty hardy I've had saltwater mollies for awhile breeding is pretty easy too same as fresh

 

[Smotz]

any update? Curious how this worked. Also what is the benefit? Do they eat algae?

 

[theMeat]

I'm doing it right now. About to put them in reef tank in a few minutes. Have heard the 3-4 day method is safer. But I did the 3-4 hour method and they seem fine. Will post up results once they're in

 

[theMeat]

Just put them in. Flow seems a lot for them. Lowered it and will let them adjust. Will update tomorrow

 

[theMeat]

Made it threw the night. Seem fine other than....if I use my fish mind reading skills, they seem uncomfortable from the biggish other fish, even thou no one is bothering them at all, and the current seems too much, even thou I lowered it. Well see how it goes.

 

[Reef Reaper]

I guess i will pick some up and give it a shot. Just was curious how they will act and fit in , into a reef tank. Will give you an update afterwards.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

I've kept mollies in my refugium twice in an attempt for them to clean up the algae growing on my macros. As for acclimation, just a few hours in a drip bucket in enough. They will have diarrhea, similar to travelers diarrhea so feed them well other wise they will loose a lot of weight within days and start to flounder. Do not get any males, they will aggressively chase females around till they weaken and die. Get at least 6 females, other wise the biggest female will give chase to the weaker ones till they die. Use only the sailfin, black, solid white or Dalmatian mollies, anyone with a red, gold tint would be hybrids of freshwater species from central.south America.
Now as for usefulness. My goal of them cleaning my macros was successful. they grazed at diatoms, cyano and everything else eating everything up, however, there is not enough calories to support them and they would starve while eating everything up, which forced me to feed them lots and lots of flake food, which caused more algae growth then they were worth. When I tried to cut down on feeding, they would again start to waste away on just algae. They could be grazing constantly, I believe their intestines are too short to be herbivores. Also, they may not be eating all the algae, but simply biting and spitting, like a dumb goldfish. As a comparison, I can feed a small damsel 1 flake a day and it would be fine. A mollie would need to eat at least 10x more.

 

[Reef Reaper]

thanks for the info

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Oh, I forgot to mention a better solution than the mollies, which are killifish, eats anything, just as hardy and easy to find. In the early summer, the north side of Jone's beach in the protected kid's area, adjacent to Nikon theater. there are millions of them swimming around the shore line in water only inches deep, just bring a net.

 

[Reef Reaper]

The only thing about wild killifishes are unknown parasites that can be introduced to your tank. I guess if quarantine them, then they should be fine