Mollies

[Europhyllia]

what is the best procedure to acclimate mollies to saltwater (minimum duration, etc.)?

[RayAllen]

10g tank

Start with fresh water and 1/4 salt water, after 3-4 days do a water change and 1/2 fresh 1/2 salt water. after another 3-4 days 1/4 fresh water 3/4 salt after around 2 weeks they can be acclimated to salt completley. The acclimate very fast compared to some other brakish fish.

At one time I used to run brakish water tanks and it was a lot of fun. Mollies actually prefer salt over fresh so you shouldnt have any problems.

[RayAllen]

ive known people to acclimate them in a bucket over 1 day with a salt drip and they actually did alright, but the above is only around 2 weeks.

[Europhyllia]

Just talked to JT. AD has them in saltwater already so they should acclimate even faster to my tank :D

[RayAllen]

Just talked to JT. AD has them in saltwater already so they should acclimate even faster to my tank :D

Sweet, very cool little fish. Not many fish out there that prefer to swim near the surface.

[Europhyllia]

I am hoping they will eat algae and make lots of seahorse snacks :)

[BSJF]

Perfect! Provided you get the right parts!

[Europhyllia]

yes looking online for a picture of gonopodium right now

[jrsatx20]

I am hoping they will eat algae and make lots of seahorse snacks :)

How cruel. Fish are friends not food.

[Europhyllia]

shrimp are friends too (and they still get eaten)
Sorry :(

[jrnannery]

How cruel. Fish are friends not food.

Except for the ones at Sea Island!!

[jrsatx20]

Its ok I want a lionfish to eat a damsel

[Regric25]

okay I have acclimated mine before and this is what worked for me.

I temp acclimated and then popped them in. Thats all. :)

Im sure there is a safe procedure for acclimating Mollies like all the great peeps said above but I didnt do that. They survived and ate my bryopsis out of my tank in about 2 weeks. Great little grazers!

[jpond83]

i dripped for about 4 hours back when i had them in my sump. they started reproducing right away. you want more females and just one or two males.

[StevenSeas]

I believe the ratio you want is 2-3 females per one male. That way the male has more females to spread his love around to and each female gets "harassed" less. Typically a 1:1 ratio long term the females won't do as well. Oo and they should breed like rabbits for you. They tend to like reproducing more in brackish or saltwater than fresh and they repro tons in fresh.

[Europhyllia]

Thanks aggie.
I might get a few for the big reef tank and a few for the seahorse tank.

:)

Oh Rick, those sound great! Do you still have them?

[Reefer4ever]

Quick question on mollies. I get that they reproduce faster in saltwater, but do they have to be the same to reproduce? As in, the same color. Like black mollies have to breed with black mollies and white mollies have to breed with white mollies? Or can they breed interracially?

[Europhyllia]

I bet they wouldn't care about colors :)

[RayAllen]

Quick question on mollies. I get that they reproduce faster in saltwater, but do they have to be the same to reproduce? As in, the same color. Like black mollies have to breed with black mollies and white mollies have to breed with white mollies? Or can they breed interracially?

Mollies will breed with any molly, colors do not matter. Thats why there are so many variants available on the market.

[Reefer4ever]

I just thought they were like tangs? yellow tangs breed with yellow tangs. purple tangs breed with purple tangs. yellow tangs DO care AND purple tangs care, too. lol

[Reefer4ever]

I can't tell the difference between male and female, and I've looked really hard the last few times I was at petsmart, but I'm not getting a difference. Can someone explain the difference?

[RayAllen]

You will here the term Hybrid used a lot in the aquarium hobby, which simply meens different species were mixed to create the new hybrid . More so with freshwater fish, but you occasionally see something a little differnt in salt as well. Hybrid corals are readily available now.

Note: this is extremely rare in the wild. Most hybrid or mixed species have been created by hobbiest in their home aquariums or stores.

[RayAllen]

Karen im sure the sea horses will love the baby mollies. Apparently they taste pretty good, I cant remember a fish that wouldnt eat them if their mouths were big enough.

[Europhyllia]

don't call them Baby! Mollies! ack. that sounds so cute. now I feel bad.

[tebstan]

Good luck! That will be neat to have them swimming around in there. If it were a freshwater tank it would be boring, lol. What kind are you thinking of getting?



I can't tell the difference between male and female, and I've looked really hard the last few times I was at petsmart, but I'm not getting a difference. Can someone explain the difference?

Look closely at the anal fin, the one closest to the tail on the underside. On females, it's fan shaped. On males, it's pointed.

Male
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/images/graphics/blackmolly.jpg

Female
http://www.tropicalfishtanksonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Black%20Molly.jpg

[Reefer4ever]

Okay. I see the difference between the anal fins. I also see a difference in the dorsal fin? Also, even though they breed with all mollies rapidly, will they take to the same "race" faster?

[tebstan]

Okay. I see the difference between the anal fins. I also see a difference in the dorsal fin? Also, even though they breed with all mollies rapidly, will they take to the same "race" faster?


The dorsal fin is *usually* larger on the males, but it is not a guarantee.

The males will take to whomever is closest.

Let 'em mix it up! Then you get cool things like the orange dalmation lyretail balloon belly sailfin molly. My favorite. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/SashaNH/Fish%20from%20the%20Past/MaleBallonMolly2.jpg

[tebstan]

Now I want one.

[RayAllen]

this is making me want to set up a 30-40g fresh tank and do a community tank..... I used to have some lyretail ballon bellys just like the one in the pic. Really are neat little fish, the will even eat little misquito larvae from the surface.

[Reefer4ever]

Last post of questions. I promise. lol How many fry are birthed at a time and how often? Also, is there a size or age that the mollies must be before they breed? Is there a special kind of food I have to feed the fry? Can I just put in some finely crushed flakes? Do the fish come out of the womb with yolk sacs? If so, how long before I need to feed them? Is it not recommended to have more then one male? So, I could do one male with three females, but not two males with six females? I've heard that as soon as the mother gives birth to her fry, she sometimes eats them? Sorry for so many questions :)

PS: I love that fish! :D

[tebstan]

How many fry are birthed at a time and how often?

The younger and smaller they are, the fewer babies they'll have. Sometimes as few as 6, can be as many as 30, possibly even more for some species of livebearers. Gestation is a month.


Also, is there a size or age that the mollies must be before they breed?

Must be or should be? They can breed when they're still quite young. But babies having babies isn't good.


Is there a special kind of food I have to feed the fry? Can I just put in some finely crushed flakes?

You can, but it will dirty your tank. Get some live plants for the babies to hide in and nibble on. Or just let nature take its course to prevent you from being overrun with unwanted babies.



Do the fish come out of the womb with yolk sacs? If so, how long before I need to feed them?
They pop out looking like miniatures. I've never seen them being born, but I've seen them hours after, and I see no yolk sac. You don't need to feed them, they'll graze. If you're going to trap them in a breeding contraption of some sort then feed as soon as you see them to prevent cannibalization.


Is it not recommended to have more then one male? So, I could do one male with three females, but not two males with six females?

It depends on your tank and your fish. If you have more than one male, have a bunch of females. The males may still bicker anyway. It's not usually fatal, just annoying. Sometimes you just get a mean one, though. The reason I love the orange balloon bellies so much is because I had an aggressive one that had to be separated and moved from tank to tank. He was so mean he ended up with my uaru cichlid.


I've heard that as soon as the mother gives birth to her fry, she sometimes eats them?
Sure, it's possible. It's nothing personal. She's hungry, they're there. It happens.

[Reefer4ever]

Thanks for all that info. What kind of saltwater plant would be good for the fry to hide in and be able to nibble on? Would it need to be some kind if moss/hair type plant?

[tebstan]

Good question. I'm not sure, though. I've never done mollies in saltwater. After this thread, I want to try. The memory of that cheap little orange molly really stuck with me. He was a character.

Nutritionally, I don't know the best answer. The way they breed, you don't necessarily want a great success rate. Sorry, I know that sounds awful, but a few turn into hundreds very quickly. Do you have fish that are going to dine on the fry? If so, then don't worry about it. They'll hide in the rocks and eat what fits in their mouth, whether it's hair algae or pods.

[Gseclipse02]

the ones we have in the store were done on a fast drip basically air line hose with no valve into a 5g bucket with the water they came in from shipping i dont recall losing but one and all the scats did just fine (normally we dont do this but we ran out of room on the freshwater row)

[Regric25]

Karin no :( I don't have them anymore... I gave them away a looong time ago. I only kept them because I had a small bryopsis bloom and they eat that stuff up! After a couple of months I passed them on. I have a thread about it somewhere.

[tebstan]

What size bag did they arrive in? Did you drip till the bucket was full? How many did you acclimate? 1 of 6 not so good, the more you got the better the odds sound.

... any orange dalmation sailfin lyretail balloon bellies? :D

[Reefer4ever]

I do have fish, and later an eel to dine on these beautiful babies, as sad as it sounds. I think I will buy some live and dead rock and ask for some hair algae from someone in need of getting rid of some their problem. The first time I have ever wanted hair algae. LOL Maybe I will try chaeto but I don't think that would work as well. When I get this started, I will give you all my successes/failures.

[Gseclipse02]

i have no clue how many came in a bag maybe 15-20


were getting another freshwater order on friday ill count how many are in the bag and if we end up putting them in salt ill count the death tow

[Gseclipse02]

... any orange dalmation sailfin lyretail balloon bellies? :D

ill be honest i have no clue when it comes to FW fish names ill ask in the AM

[jpond83]

what i did was just pick pregnant females when i got them from the store. you can tell the difference easily. my wife picked the males she know how to tell. the fry are kinda bid though. i dont know if a seahorse will be able to eat it.

[Europhyllia]

Good luck! That will be neat to have them swimming around in there. If it were a freshwater tank it would be boring, lol. What kind are you thinking of getting?




Look closely at the anal fin, the one closest to the tail on the underside. On females, it's fan shaped. On males, it's pointed.

Male
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/images/graphics/blackmolly.jpg

Female
http://www.tropicalfishtanksonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Black%20Molly.jpg

Just noticed another thing: the female has TWO round ones, the male has 1 pointy one.

[Reefer4ever]

The one nearest the head is the pelvic fin. It is the anal fin that tells them apart. I think male mollies have both pelvic and anal fins, just as the females do, but is not shown in the picture?

[tebstan]

The one nearest the head is the pelvic fin. It is the anal fin that tells them apart. I think male mollies have both pelvic and anal fins, just as the females do, but is not shown in the picture?


That's right. Sometimes the fins are held close to the body while they're swimming so you've got to look closely. Both males and females have two sets of fins on the underside. Sorry I didn't notice that in the pic, I would have tried to find a more consistent pair.

[Europhyllia]

I just read something interesting here:
http://www.breedersregistry.org/Reprints/FAMA/v19_oct96/giwojna_pt1.htm


San Antonio Aquarium in Texas has successfully maintained seahorses on an exclusive diet of newborn mollies3.
Is that the aquarium inside the zoo?
I wonder what kind of seahorses they have...

I just got to get me some mollies today!

[Gseclipse02]

... any orange dalmation sailfin lyretail balloon bellies? :D

we didnt have any of these

[Europhyllia]

yeah what where the odds for that! lol

[Europhyllia]

I called the zoo. They keep Kuda seahorse and they don't feed them mollies. lol

[tebstan]

Maybe they meant the tanks at Sea World? (Do they have sea horses?)

[Europhyllia]

got mollies. :)
2 female dalmatian Lyretails
1 female gold dust lyretail
1 male black lyretail

The blacks seemed to pick on each other quite a bit when I was watching them but I figured maybe it was just too many males but even in the bag with the 3 females he nipped at the girls right away. Are there differences in personality tied to color genetics? I hope I didn't get a bully there. :(

I decided to try a slow drip acclimation process. Fingers crossed

[Europhyllia]

Maybe they meant the tanks at Sea World? (Do they have sea horses?)

I just read the article again. It was from 1996 ( a long time ago) and the source they quoted was from 1951!!! ( a really long time ago) lol

(3) Herald, E.S. and Rakowicz. 1951. Stable requirement for raising seahorses. Aquarium Journal 22: 234-242.So I bet they were referring to the San Antonio Aquarium and Zoo only that perhaps in the last 60 years they tweaked their seahorse husbandry a bit. lol

[Reefer4ever]

Got mollies:)
1 black
1 black lyretail
1 gold dust
1 orange dalmation
1 male dalmation

The gold dust looked like a female at the store, but now that its home, it looks like a male.

[Europhyllia]

Congrats. :)

My fishstore guy did a great job sexing them. I think they all of mine are correct.

Can't wait for them to be acclimated so I can take pics. They are all so pretty.
Mine will be Goldie, Snowflake, Spots and Harold :)

The gold one is very pretty :)

[Reefer4ever]

Haha. Harold. Where did that name come from?

[tebstan]

I wonder what Harold looks like?

I bet I can guess on the others. :)

[Europhyllia]

Harold is the grumpy one

[tebstan]

Harold is the grumpy one


Ha! That's awesome. I love old man names on pets. ;)

[Europhyllia]

reporting back with the death toll: 50% !

Harold and Goldie are dead. Snowflake and Spots appear to be doing okay.

The method I used was slow drip over a 15 hour period into a bucket with an air stone

Thoughts?

[Reefer4ever]

I am reporting 100% survivability! :)

I did a steady drip over a 3 hour period, bailing half of the water every hour. Salinity went from 1.001 to 1.020. I run this tank kind of low concentration for no reason.

Maybe you can acclimate them too long, stressing them out, and ultimately leading to death? I hope you don't have any more casualties.

FYI I have found out that mollies with black pigments do better in saltwater than mollies without black pigments.

[Europhyllia]

than mollies without black pigments.
sure I am reading that now that I picked up a white one!

Spots and Snowflake are still doing well and actually eating algae in the seahorse tank! That's awesome!!! What a great bonus.

I picked up a dalmation male and a silver female.

I'll try your method with the new ones.

Mine are starting out at 100% freshwater though and have to go all the way to 1.025. :(

[Europhyllia]

okay did the 3 hour quick drip method this time. Frosty and Frank are in the tank. fingers crossed...

[Reefer4ever]

I hope they make it:) good luck

[Europhyllia]

Thanks.
On first glance they seem to be doing okay and have joined the other two. Maybe fast drip is the way to go?
Morning will tell I'm sure

[kkiel02]

Also since you are going from freshwater to saltwater you dont really have to quarentine them correct? Im assuming the pests/diseases cant survive that dramatic of a change.

[Reefer4ever]

I think you assume correct :)

[Europhyllia]

That's what I was hoping for as well. Plus at least for the seahorses since they are scale-less they don't appear to be prone to ich from what I've been reading.

Snowflake is awesome! She's my favorite. She eats hair algae all day long. Way more efficient than a snail or hermit. Like a mini tang!
Spots likes to eat seahorse food so if she starts to bother the seahorses Spots may move into the reef tank.
Frank the new guy is doing well too so far. Frosty, the solid silver Mollie isn't looking so hot though.

Interesting that you found info on coloring and adpatability, Dylan.

If I look at my numbers I am guessing they will stay at 50% success (preparing for Frosty to not make it) but if I look at coloring it could turn out that 100% of Dalmations might make it.

[Regric25]

From what I was told when I bought mine if they have ick it wont survive because freshwater ick is not the same as saltwater ick.

[Europhyllia]

all 4 alive and kicking :D

If I get more for the reef tank I'll go with the fast trip 3 hour method again over the slow drip 15 hour with an airstone thing.

They all sleep together under the surface. Interesting

[Reefer4ever]

My male dalmation molly got voted out of the aquarium. My female orange dalmation molly was attacking him and his fins were all torn up this morning. I woke up late, missed the bus, and had my mom rush me to school for finals. No time to save him. I got out of school at 12 and got home at 12:40. I found him dead. Good thing the people at the store screwed up and gave me 2 male mollies! This brings my total to 4 mollies, 1 gold dust male, 1 orange dalmation female, 1 black female, and 1 black lyretail female. :)

[Europhyllia]

My molly bliss hit a little snag as well.
The mollies are okay but the seahorses are so still. Every once in awhile a molly mistakes them for a rock and 'grazes' on a seahorse. :o

I am going to have to evaluate how bothersome it is for seahorses to be grazed on. I briefly tried on in the big reef tank to see if I can move them there if it's not a good match with the seahorses and I wasn't thrilled about that either. He would have to exercise quite a bit to work up to swimming against FOUR MP40s.

So I am not sure what is going to happen yet.

If the seahorses like the fry I may keep the mollies with the feeder shrimp.
Otherwise I might have to rehome them.

[jlh81]

Just talked to JT. AD has them in saltwater already so they should acclimate even faster to my tank :D

Saw those at AD the other day. Had to look twice

[Europhyllia]

I am going to ambush them tonight when they are sleeping and move them to the shrimp tank. Hopefully that will be okay for them. They have now taken up residence in the seahorse feeding bowl and the seahorses are so slow and gentle I am not sure they can compete with the mollies although the mollies don't seem to bite them or anything.

I tried to catch them just now and ended up upsetting everybody. Try again tonight when regric said they're easier to catch ;)

[Regric25]

I am going to ambush them tonight when they are sleeping and move them to the shrimp tank. Hopefully that will be okay for them. They have now taken up residence in the seahorse feeding bowl and the seahorses are so slow and gentle I am not sure they can compete with the mollies although the mollies don't seem to bite them or anything.

I tried to catch them just now and ended up upsetting everybody. Try again tonight when regric said they're easier to catch ;)


Every night the 2 I had both would sleep near the surface of my tank. They were so easy to catch I could gently grab them! It worked every time! Hopefully you are as lucky as I am in catching them. Id wait an hour or 2 after lights out.

I think freshwater fish are easier in general. When I had my Mbuna tank I was aboe to do the same thing with them except they were not at the surface but i could put my hand in the tank and gently grab them and move them around funny stuff

[allan]

Hey, so if I got a few mollies would they eat the algae on my overflows?

[Europhyllia]

Hey I know some mollies you could try ;)

They do nibble on algae. They nibbled all day in the seahorse tank. But when I put one in the reef tank it seemed to struggle a bit around the 4 MP40s.
Not sure if they can do the all day grazing as easy in a reef tank with the strong water movement

[allan]

I was thinking of my frag tank, not much of a current in there. But I have algae growing all around the upper lip which I harvest every few weeks or so.

I'd love to try them.

[Europhyllia]

sounds like this could work out perfect then. any other fish in there?

[kkiel02]

Just bought my 4 lyretail dalmations today! They are drip acclimating now. They brought up a story of a guy who bought some of them to breed for cuttlefish to eat. I wonder who that was? lol

[Europhyllia]

lol what are you up to Kevin?

[Reefer4ever]

Okay. Only 2 left. Male gold dust and what looks to be a pregnant female black molly! :) The others died :(

[Europhyllia]

Hm. I wonder why? My 4 survivors are doing really well and getting to be actually a bit of a nuissance for the slow seahorses
(so I am glad they are moving to Allan's frag tank shortly)

[kkiel02]

lol what are you up to Kevin?

Just wanted to throw them in my reef and let them breed as a natural food source. I only have two left as last night I put the 4 in the fuge, well late last night I checked on them and three were in the sump area by the return pump! So I moved those three to the display. Sadly I never found the fourth one and last night one was out swimming by itself. I dont think it made it through the night. :( The two are swimming around together. I got Lyretail Dalmations and drip acclimated them. I bet I only have females left now though.

[jrnannery]

Are the fry of these guys something a small maroon clown, a small blue regal tang, a medium PJ cardinal, a lawnmower blenny, a yellow clown goby and a green clown goby might eat? I mean, if seahorses eat em, I imagine they are the right size for any of these fish...just don't know if they will do it!

[Europhyllia]

Richard. I got Reidis. Adult Reidi seahorses. They are way bigger than the little bitties you see in the pet stores. I would think only Adult Reidi or Erectus would eat mollies (if that)
My Reidi's eat ghost shrimp for example. I don't think my clowns would eat those shrimp

[jrnannery]

Gotcha.

[kkiel02]

I could definately see an adult maroon clown eating the babies. The others Im not sure about. Maybe an angel would? Other than that, of course, groupers, frogfish, etc.