Feeding baby mollies to reef inhabitants - Page 2

av8 · #26 10/22/2007, 08:32 PM

Mollies are very good to keep in a breeding tank if you have a trigger. I used to keep a tank up for food production for my clown trigger. It did not matter if they were acclimated to saltwater. They don't last more that 4 seconds in the tank with the trigger.

lflint · #27 10/22/2007, 08:41 PM

I have black mollies in my sump at home (www.VirtualFlint.com/zoo) and at school (www.MrFlint.com/fish). We just buy regular black mollies from the LFS and slowly drip acclimate them to saltwater over the course of a few hours. You'll lose a few of them but they're super cheap. Buy a half dozen or so and you'll probably have three or four make it for the long haul.

Ours breed readily in the salt systems and we see the babies up until they meet Mr. Iwaki. I have only actually witnessed one baby in a display tank so far and it was being torn up by a damsel and a trigger.

ACBlinky · #28 10/22/2007, 10:48 PM

Holy feedback, Batman! This is great, I had no idea so many people were using mollies, thanks for all the info guys

Well, I went to the LFS in town and bought four silver lyretail mollies and they're now in the 21g in FW (I'm planning to acclimate them to nearly full salt over the next little while). Unfortunately I trusted the LFS employee when she said she could get 3 females and 1 male and didn't check the fish once they were bagged - I arrived home to discover I've got at least three males. They're juvies, so the fourth is questionable but I think she's female. Argh. Well, maybe we'll get some babies from the lone female - if not, I guess we'll just have to get a few more and check them this time

I went to the LFS with a friend who doesn't keep fish, and we had a ball - she convinced me to dress up the tank a little; she said just because it's a sometimes QT is no reason it can't be pretty to look at, and she's got a point. Why should the poor mollies live in a bare cell, when there are so many decorating alternatives out there? We did get a little silly, I admit. We came home with a polyresin castle, an artificial plant and some lovely blue gravel

Heck, why not? I've got two very natural looking reefs, and I doubt the mollies care if they're swimming around a castle, a rock, driftwood or a plastic diver, so long as they've got some shelter. Truth be told, it's kind of fun to have a 'tacky tank'. Besides, the blue decor and white fish go nicely with our blue and white bedroom!

Forgive the pic, as it's after lights-out, but here's our 'molly tank' (QT in disguise):

The tank is a Hagen 21g (24"L x 14"W x 15"T) rimless (the bottom rim is removable, and there's no top rim; the canopy slips over the top edge of the tank) with 2 x 18W T8 NO fluorescent, a FilStar XP2 canister filter (bio media only) and a 50W heater.

davidryder · #29 10/23/2007, 12:10 AM

Mollies are actually brackish water fish and do well in almost any natural specific gravity.

I would definitely put them in the sump as they will decimate the pod population in the refugium. And good idea BTW. I had a sailfin molly in my display and he just didn't fit in.

BTW, males have much more ornate and larger fins, are usaully more slender and smaller.

xtm · #30 10/23/2007, 01:42 AM

Am I the only one who thinks that this is cruel?

I've been keeping FW planted tanks, sometimes with mollies in them and I've always admired them. I mean, how would we (reefers) feel if a Shark keeper takes a Hippo Tang and feeds it to his pet shark? Oh well maybe it's just me, lol

Mr31415 · #31 10/23/2007, 01:56 AM

I guess the cheaper and shorter lived a fish is, the less we stress about it??

conorwynne · #32 10/23/2007, 02:35 AM

I was watching mine yesterday (and watching for pods -- tank in only 2 months old you see), and even though she passed by (and must have seen) some copepods -- I could see them sure!, yet totally ignored them.

From what I have seen, they are only interested in algae! They just pick pick pick all day long.
And mine is getting well fat too! No its not preggers, its a male!

dmarie120 · #33 10/23/2007, 05:03 AM

I've been keeping mollies for years. I keep them in my refugium and just let them breed and do whatever they want. I'm down to just a few adults now and will be adding to their population.

The black, dalmation and white ones work best.

boxerzz · #34 10/23/2007, 05:09 AM

Yeah this don't look good considering there are people talking about quarantining their marine fish and trying to give them big tanks to swim in and here breeding mollies, don't care they live or not and let them be fed to the other fish. This is contradicting. Both are fish that people keep.

Dave Cox · #35 10/23/2007, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by xtm
Am I the only one who thinks that this is cruel? I've been keeping FW planted tanks, sometimes with mollies in them and I've always admired them. I mean, how would we (reefers) feel if a Shark keeper takes a Hippo Tang and feeds it to his pet shark? Oh well maybe it's just me, lol

You're not alone...

I'm uncomfortable with this.

Ethical arguements aside (and I have a problem there too, but I respect that it's MY problem), I just don't think it's a natural diet for saltwater fish.

Most fish will scavenge, and tangs undoubtedly eat meaty foods occassionally in the wild, but I don't see eating baby mollies as occuring in nature.

I realise that it is impossible to replicate a natural diet in captivity, and flake and pellet isn't natural either, but I like to try...

elegance coral · #36 10/23/2007, 07:16 AM

I have used them to give my Elegance corals live prey to feed on. They don't seem to have the intelligence to stay away from their tentacles like SW fish do. Molly's just swim right into them and get eaten.

Pea-brain · #37 10/23/2007, 07:53 AM

Lol. Mollies are a cheap live food that is probably more nutritious than brine shrimp. Mollies breed about once a month. That means that its a monthly treat, not the whole diet.. The mother will have been in SW for a while and will have been eating SW algaes, so the babies would be more nutritious than if they were born in FW.

Now for the ethical issues. You could see it as wrong, and I understand it. But the babies are a nutritional food and the parents seem more than happy to graze on the various nutritional algae all day long. Plus the ones in SW seem more colorful and alert and generally healthier than the ones I've seen in FW. But thats just an opinion and observation.....

LukFox · #38 10/23/2007, 09:12 AM

Although mollies can adapt to fresh, brackish, and marine, they don't do equally well in them. They can only live in freshwater when young and get an increasingly weak immune system till something finally kills them, living a much shorter life span. I've read that sailfin mollies are actually more likely to do best in full marine long term.

As far as ethical issues, if you don't have a grow out tank or tons of plants for the babies to hide in, the parents will eat their own fry anyways. You're just feeding them to something else in this scenerio rather than to their own parents.

boxerzz · #39 10/23/2007, 09:22 AM

Quote:

have used them to give my Elegance corals live prey to feed on. They don't seem to have the intelligence to stay away from their tentacles like SW fish do. Molly's just swim right into them and get eaten.

I would rather say that mollies are not naturally marine fish so they do not have the marine instincts that most marine fish have. To them the tentacles will look like some safe place to hide in.

davidryder · #40 10/23/2007, 10:07 AM

Feeder goldfish? Brine shrimp? You know what's in some of the food you feed your other fish? Cruel is smashing a fish with a hammer - not keeping fish for a food source.

xtm · #41 10/23/2007, 11:58 AM

Whatever happened to buying Formula One food and soaking them in Selcon? Why do we have to go through this hassle of setting up a growout tank, growing fry (fries?) just to feed them to fish? Maybe I'm not seeing the big picture but isn't this more expensive than the traditional way of feeding prepared foods?

Maybe it's just me, but If you think about it......
Pair of Mollies = 5.00
20G growout tank = 30.00
Filter = 30.00
heater = 30.00
Misc additional stuff = 20.00
Total = 115.00

Formula 1/2 = $4.95
Selcon or Zoe = $9.95
Total = 15.00

Not having to watch a mean damsel chase and eat a helpless baby molly = PRICELESS.

please ignore my personal issues... lol

ACBlinky · #42 10/23/2007, 03:30 PM

I understand the cruelty concerns, but don't necessarily agree - fish that breed this rapidly and in such quantities do so for a reason; they're food for many things in the wild as well.

What about the silversides that are harvested as food for our fish and corals? Or the squid, octopus, urchin, fish, and shellfish that are ground up and used for pellets and flakes? We all feed our fish with other fish, only the manner in which we do so differs. I'm planning to gut-load and feed live babies to my reef, whereas with dried foods the animals have already been killed and processed so it's easier to remove yourself from the fact that something died to feed your animals.

While the adult mollies are in my care they're living in a spacious tank, fed the best foods, and receive the best possible care I can give them. The babies will be siphoned out and placed into the reef which will be at the same SG and temperature, and if they hide and survive, more power to them; otherwise, they'll become part of the food chain.

As for the cost, in my case I already had the QT set up and running, it was just sitting there looking unattractive in our bedroom. The mollies serve another purpose in addition to being a food source for the reef - their tank is now something fun to watch while lying in bed.

llama72 · #43 10/23/2007, 06:54 PM

My calcium is low and i don't know what to do.

Background:
75gal RR tank (contents listed below)
Used Kent Liquid Calcium
Tested calcium in May: .360
LFS said use "A" and "B"
Changed to Kent A & B
Put 2 capfuls each in daily
Tested Calcium in July: 410
Started putting 3 capfulls daily
Tested Calcium in Sept: 410
Tested Calcium on Oct 13: 240
LFS said go up to 4 capfulls each day
Tested Calcium today, October 23: 260

LFS said he doesn't know what I should do. I am still new to SW so I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!

llama72 · #44 10/23/2007, 06:54 PM

My calcium is low and i don't know what to do.

Background:
75gal RR tank (contents listed below)
Used Kent Liquid Calcium
Tested calcium in May: .360
LFS said use "A" and "B"
Changed to Kent A & B
Put 2 capfuls each in daily
Tested Calcium in July: 410
Started putting 3 capfulls daily
Tested Calcium in Sept: 410
Tested Calcium on Oct 13: 240
LFS said go up to 4 capfulls each day
Tested Calcium today, October 23: 260

LFS said he doesn't know what I should do. I am still new to SW so I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!

llama72 · #45 10/23/2007, 06:55 PM

PH = 8.4
Nitrates = 0

kysard1 · #46 10/23/2007, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by xtm
Whatever happened to buying Formula One food and soaking them in Selcon?

Formula one is made out of salmon. Much more ethical to raise a few mollies than harvest a natural resource as magnificant as a salmon.

Pmolan · #47 10/23/2007, 07:13 PM

Can anyone say for sure if they eat pods or not? I want to set it and forget it in my fuge. I want to sit on my couch and watch baby mollies shoot through my tank from the return line.

jman77 · #48 10/23/2007, 08:08 PM

"Am I the only one who thinks that this is cruel? "

Not sure about the rest, but i could care less. Just like I don't care when i defrost silversides, bloodworms, mysid shrimp, or eat a bid fat burger or some pork chops. Unfortunately for mollies, they are low on the food chain totem pole. People need to get a grasp of reality and understand that some animals serve the purpose of providing nutrition for others.

With that said , time to go eat some Ol’ Betsy .

BTW, I've never seen my mollies got after any pods

davidryder · #49 10/23/2007, 08:58 PM

My sailfin molly decimated my pod population - I think if a fish can see the pods it will try to eat them

yellowwatchmen · #50 10/23/2007, 09:59 PM

So do you just let the mollies reproduce in the fuge and they go through the return pump, or do you guy just net them and put them in the display. I have a coral beauty, Mandrin, YWG, and two occelaris clowns. Will any of these fish eat baby mollies?