Dalmation Molly in 1.026 SG Reef Tank

exsequor

New member
Hi, I've had a Dalmation Molly in my 150g DT reef for around 6 months now. I acclimated him over the course of 6 hours, to the full salinity

Has anyone else ever kept Molly's in the reef?

Here's a video of him/her eating nori seaweed with the tangs. He eats like a pig.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DMtq7tjXSvs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
This is actually very cool to me, I wasn't aware that mollies could be kept in a SW setup. Guess you learn something new every day haha.
 
They are great algae eaters. They love brown and slime algae. You'll need to keep them with something to eat the baby mollies because they reproduce like crazy. Also, they get pretty big in a reef tank, so keep that in mind.
 
I have had two lyre tail mollies in my tank for about 5-6 months now. They haven't reproduced yet which has been a disappointment but I had so much algae I needed no supplemental feeding so that may have discouraged breeding. I didn't acclimate longer than a 30 min drip and I think one I just tossed in without acclimation.
 
My first saltwater tank in 1999 used black mollies to cycle the tank. Cant remember how many I put in but only one died. This was all pretty common practice back then when a lot of saltwater "fish" tanks didnt have liverock but used a hangon the back system biological filter. Mollies were cheap and if they didnt make it at least it wasnt a more expensive saltwater fish. Once the mollies helped cycle the tank then you could add the high dollar fish. Yeah this seems strange to me now but I didnt know better back then.
 
A quick note, you can also acclimate guppies to saltwater. Like mollies they are also brackish water fish can adapt to full saltwater. However, for guppies acclimation needs to be slower.
 
The days of cycling saltwater tanks with Mollies are long over. So with that being said why would anyone want Mollies in their SW tank? If you want Mollies get a FW tank??
 
Very cool! But what sort of heathen records video vertically!?!?!

And LEDJack, why not get them, they look cool and they can live in saltwater? If you have a saltwater tank, can only have that tank, whats the harm in adding them? And as someone else said they do eat algae, plus reproduce like crazy so keep the tank clean and provide live food for the tank.
 
The days of cycling saltwater tanks with Mollies are long over. So with that being said why would anyone want Mollies in their SW tank? If you want Mollies get a FW tank??

I considered a SW herbivore to battle algae but thought it would starve in my cube after a while (e.g. Lawnmower blenny). Mollies will readily take flake or frozen. I also was (cruelly?) interested in having a live food source since I heard they breed prolifically. Has not been the case though haha
 
Why my tank is cool? It's neat seeing the out of place fish swimming with the beauties. Plus it gets more beautiful in the reef tank, I swear, especially with reef lighting.

I used to feel how you felt, but then I decided to give it a shot in this tank and I don't regret it. Plus the molly is super easy to catch, so getting it out wouldn't be a big deal. But I don't plan to remove it, that's it's home now lmao
 
led jack I personally have one because I needed an herbivore in my system. in addition the majority of everything in my tank is captive bred. mollies are a nice addition, have 0 impact on our reefs, super cheap, and serve a purpose.. cant beat that
 
I equate putting a molly in a saltwater tank to keeping a rat on a horse farm. Just saying

Lol. I have (1) orange and (1) silver lyretail & they do look pretty sweet under the blue lights. They are pretty active fish as well which is nice. It does feel silly to have them since they are considered beginner freshwater fish but I enjoy it.
 
I had a couple male guppies in a reef tank a few years back, they don't handle the flow too well and liked to stay away from the other fish by hanging out at the surface in the corners, after a few weeks I returned them to freshwater since they never settled in

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