Saltwater molly?

[Calappidae]

My parents are tearing down their 55 gallon freshwater tank. Meanwhile I'm building my mini reef with harlequin shrimp, sexy shrimp, bumblebee shrimp, all kinds of corals, and a side refugium with a N. wennerae in it.

She has one Dabloon molly in there..I'm going have alot of neon and shiny sparkley corals like the diver's den hairy mushrooms and such.. It would match the tank..

I'm thinking about putting the molly in the mini-reef with an acclimation but I'm worryied of a few things.

1. It's freshwater tankmates have ick
2. Reef safe?
3. Coral sting resistant?
4. Bother the sexy shrimp and such
5. Will tankmates bother it etc..

 

[o2manyfish]

Someone donated some Mollys to me a couple of months ago. They have moved through the plumbing (and pump) and now are in all my tanks.

They just eat algae. They don't bother any of the corals.

I have lots of fish (100+) and nobody pays any mind to them.

Dave B

 

[triggreef]

As far as ich, the fw ich & sw ich are completely different. The fw will die in the sw so as much of a qt deal I have become, I would say qt would be pointless.

 

[Dmorty217]

I would assume that a FW fish acclimated to SW would be reef safe since it would of never seen any corals before. The ich isn't a concern. If it bothers shrimp I would say it needs to be fed more. Coral sting resistant? No probably not, most SW fish aren't coral sting resistant either.

 

[sanchezz]

I agree that QT would be pointless. Also, Mollies are naturally a brackish water fish, so they should do just as well in your SW tank as they would in a FW tank.

 

[Calappidae]

I would assume that a FW fish acclimated to SW would be reef safe since it would of never seen any corals before. The ich isn't a concern. If it bothers shrimp I would say it needs to be fed more. Coral sting resistant? No probably not, most SW fish aren't coral sting resistant either.

Exactly, it never seen corals before, So I was wondering if it would think coral is algae and nip at it.

 

[Dmorty217]

Exactly, it never seen corals before, So I was wondering if it would think coral is algae and nip at it.

I'm sure there would be some exploring if you will, but I wouldn't be too worried about it. Their mouths aren't specialized for eating coral and if the Molly is well fed there shouldn't be any issues

 

[homegrowncichli]

I've keep mollies in my refugium a few times before. Once was a master plan of having 8 females and one male, have them breed and feed my pair of bangaii cardinals continuously (failed since the male would harrass the females and they would drop alot of weight). The second time was to let them graze and eat all the algae, which I noticed they did the first time around, but I accidentally had an undeveloped male, who harrassed the females again. Anyway, the problem with mollies, is that they east SO much, just to maintain weight, otherwise they waste away. 1 mollie needs to eat as much as 3 or 4 damsels of equal body mass. Like a goldfish eats and eats, so I didn't want to over load my reef and so I let them all die off.

Anyway, be sure its a silver or black colored, or any combo of poka dot, as these have been bred from the brackish water species. Any yellow, or red colors, means they are hybridized with inland river mollies, which won't survive in seawater. The solid black ones seem to be a weaker strain, whereas the silver ones are hardier.

Yes, they don't bother corals as I've keep my frags in the refugium, great as eating everything off glass and plants.

 

[arnoldrew]

I have three dalmatian mollies I transferred from FW to SW. They're doing fine. They really hammered my hair algae and they haven't bothered any corals or other inverts. No one's bothered them, but my fish aren't really the aggressive types anyway.

 

[Calappidae]

I've keep mollies in my refugium a few times before. Once was a master plan of having 8 females and one male, have them breed and feed my pair of bangaii cardinals continuously (failed since the male would harrass the females and they would drop alot of weight). The second time was to let them graze and eat all the algae, which I noticed they did the first time around, but I accidentally had an undeveloped male, who harrassed the females again. Anyway, the problem with mollies, is that they east SO much, just to maintain weight, otherwise they waste away. 1 mollie needs to eat as much as 3 or 4 damsels of equal body mass. Like a goldfish eats and eats, so I didn't want to over load my reef and so I let them all die off.

Anyway, be sure its a silver or black colored, or any combo of poka dot, as these have been bred from the brackish water species. Any yellow, or red colors, means they are hybridized with inland river mollies, which won't survive in seawater. The solid black ones seem to be a weaker strain, whereas the silver ones are hardier.

Yes, they don't bother corals as I've keep my frags in the refugium, great as eating everything off glass and plants.

Sounds like the male molly was a lucky guy!