Mollys In Salt Water

[MMAX]

I've heard of this being done before and have also heard that they are algae eating machines. Anyone ever had any luck and what would you have to do? Acclimatize slowly into SW and keep increasing salinity?

[flipzed]

i have done this with 4 black mollys. u just gotta take your time acclimatizing them to your tank, just use your tank water but just tiny bit at a time over 6 hours. they looked off for the first few days but they turned into good algea eaters.. just be prepared to have alot of babies if u get a male and a female..

[Snappy]

I have done it a few times with a few molly species and they will thrive but I would not call them algae eating machines. A foxface or scopas tang will out perform them in that regard.

[MMAX]

I'll still give it a try, I'm kinda off tangs for the moment.

[PoonTang]

I have done it with Black Mollys and aclimated slowly over 2 days. They didnt seem interested in algae at all so i took them back out after a month or so.

[SmallFry]

I had a couple for a while, can't say they ate much algae, easily outperformed by a turbo snail.. As already stated, just acclimatize slowly.

Oh yes, and they were dumb as a sack of hammers too - kept bugging a tomato clown, which is just not smart...

[MMAX]

So after a bit of reading and from what I've heard in here, it's mostly just a myth about them enjoying algae?

[toytech]

I tried this not too long ago , and well they died . I was trying baloon mollies dont know if that makes a difference.Aclimatised them over 8 hours they where in the tank for a day then dead. Im sure this is entirelly posible and i just did it wrong .

[AHHope]

i use mollies in 1 of my frag tanks at work. i dont feed that tank so theyonly can survive off what they find...algea

[MMAX]

Well after some debate, I figured I'd give it a try. Got a silver molly for $3 and acclimatized him for about 6hrs. He adapted to the salt no problem but that was the least of his worries. As soon as I put him in my clown pair went wild. I've never seen them so aggressive, they don't pay any attention to their other tank mates. This morning the poor guy's missing half his tail. Thinking I'll have to rescue him. And to the comment about being dumb as a sack of hammers--true. I have plenty of hiding spots in my rock but he prefers to swim right out in the open around the clowns.

[riceboy]

I tried to put one in my tank to help cycle initially but soon realized they aren't great swimmer and was soon stuck on the mp40

[naesco]

Excuse me but I thought mollies are freshwater fish that like a little salt in the water.

Why you would guys unnecessarily put a fish through the stress of living in an abnormal environment when there is such a variety of small saltwater fish to choose from?

[don.ald]

i have one that lives in an area of my sump. healthy and happy. prefers flakes over algea though.
if you have pairs they will provide live food for your tank.

[MMAX]

Excuse me but I thought mollies are freshwater fish that like a little salt in the water.

Why you would guys unnecessarily put a fish through the stress of living in an abnormal environment when there is such a variety of small saltwater fish to choose from?

Oh Oh, here comes the molly police. I did my homework before I put him in. They're pefectly fine in fresh or salt.

[cale262]

Excuse me but I thought mollies are freshwater fish that like a little salt in the water.

Why you would guys unnecessarily put a fish through the stress of living in an abnormal environment when there is such a variety of small saltwater fish to choose from?

From everything I've read about Brackish fish is they are perfectly fine in both environments and naturally move back and forth between the salt and fresh threshold ...?

[dunl]

Correct.

And while they will thrive in a saltwater environment, it's actually detrimental to keep them in a completely freshwater environment - which most people do. ;)

[phreezee]

I did this on first tank and the mollies thrived so well that they spawned twice before I sold them off.

[BigRedSpecial]

Not only will they thrive in saltwater (which they do in the wild as adults), they're an excellent source of live food. I plan to keep a pair or two in my sump when I finish my upgrade.