subsea Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 One thing about the fast growing Caulerpa Paspoides, it needs prunnings to keep the forrest green. I do enjoy these mollies in my marine lagoons. They provide a peaceful community tank hierarchy that places a herbivore at the top of the food chain. Both mollies and amphipods grazing on the same rock, it was said in the Bible "the lion shall lay down with the lamp". All is not peaceful in "mollie land", they eat their babies. Enough about the cannibals. Here are a few pictures of my GOM live rock lagoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 I forgot to put mollies grazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I never thought I would say it but I think Molly's are the best SW fish I have ever owned. They are great at everything. I'm very impressed with this fish and highly recommend them. I have 3 different kinds and like all three the same. They have been breeding but the baby's must taste really good. They constantly clean the sand and pick at nuisance algae. And keep macro healthy and growing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 ok, i think i may be convinced to squeeze one more fish into my stocking plan. i say squeeze a bit liberally, i don't think my plan is close to over-stocked. i think you mentioned a 4 hour drip acclimation? is that 4 hours to double the water volume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I've always done 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. I tried to wait 4 hours but after testing salinity there was no point to continue. Although I'm not sure if it is "cruel", my daughter didn't know I had to drip acclimate and dumped the Molly straight into SW. The Molly didn't even seem phased and even ate a few minutes after being put in full saltwater. My friend in Clute tx has a water way in his yard that is fw then brackish then full SW. The Molly's by his dock stay there and never move. They are going from fw to SW daily. Pretty cool fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I have a long fin Dalmatian, the short fin all black (like Patrick) and the orange kind like Patrick has. Both black Molly's have mated with the orange one. The baby's look orange/yellow with black spots. But the baby's get eaten very quickly. Even in my sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 huh, it sounds like you just can't go wrong then. thanks bige. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 In the Red Planet 55G lagoon tank, mollies and cardinals make a very peaceful dither tank. I an interested in mixing in a Scat and a Mono Fish in one of my lagoons. Not sure of there personality, but I thought I would try it. I say, let the good times roll. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Mono and scats would be very cool. Let us know of your experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 After having a few species in my tanks, I'd Caulerpa Paspoides is my favorite macro. I like the shape and the size and growth rate. It is a fast grower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted June 26, 2013 Author Share Posted June 26, 2013 After having a few species in my tanks, I'd Caulerpa Paspoides is my favorite macro. I like the shape and the size and growth rate. It is a fast grower. Without a doubt, the herbivores jumped over tall buildings to eat this feather caulerpa. The tangs say they like it best. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Subsea, while you have a different approach to reef keeping than most (myself included), I can't help but really enjoy your tank threads, pictures, livestock choices, and overall philosophy. I'm just as into planted freshwater tanks as I am reefs so yours kind of interest me. I just added my first pair of dalmation mollies to my mixed sps dominant reef, mostly inspired by your tank threads. My buddy had them living in a hyper saline bucket with a sponge filter for the past several weeks and they are fat and eating. I took about an hour to get them down from 1.031 to 1.025. Too fast?? I hope not. What kind of life expectancy do they have in full salinity, disease aside? My source has a pair of black mollies that have been in his tank for 8 years in full salinity. That's insane for live bearers. I've never kept a guppy alive for longer than like 2-3 years in my planted tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Thank you for the kind words. I have had third and fourth generation mollies in my systems. These hybrid Creamcycle Lyretail are gorgeous and I am hoping to breed them. Hays, my high school assistant will manage that project. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 I really like those colors. In hindsight id much rather have a colorful pair of mollies in my tank, but my source only had dalmations. How long do you take to acclimate them from freshwater to full reef salinity? Part of the reason I haven't gone to petco to get any is I don't want to muck up the acclimation process. I may look for some yellow or reds to try in a month or two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 My daughter put fw mollies straight from fw to sw. She miss understood what I told her to do. The fish is fine. But the others I have were acclimated over an hour and a half. The orange ones are really pretty under the blue lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted July 17, 2013 Author Share Posted July 17, 2013 Subsea, while you have a different approach to reef keeping than most (myself included), I can't help but really enjoy your tank threads, pictures, livestock choices, and overall philosophy. I'm just as into planted freshwater tanks as I am reefs so yours kind of interest me. I just added my first pair of dalmation mollies to my mixed sps dominant reef, mostly inspired by your tank threads. My buddy had them living in a hyper saline bucket with a sponge filter for the past several weeks and they are fat and eating. I took about an hour to get them down from 1.031 to 1.025. Too fast?? I hope not. What kind of life expectancy do they have in full salinity, disease aside? My source has a pair of black mollies that have been in his tank for 8 years in full salinity. That's insane for live bearers. I've never kept a guppy alive for longer than like 2-3 years in my planted tanks In my early marine aquarium days, I would collect grass shrimp and silver mollies in fresh water ponds. I caught the same grass shrimp and silver mollies in salt water estuaries and used them for stocking a Gulf Coast biotheme tank. As the hobby progressed thru the years, I never lost my appreciation for these hardy fish. My appreciation for Gulf Coast biotheme has expanded to include colorful macro algae. For me, the mollie brings in good behavior with no bad attributes. The variety of macro algae from GOM is pronominal. This hobby does not need to be expensive to be enjoyed. The simplicity of a planted mollie tank with exotic macro algae appeals to me. I am glad that others find it appealing. I continue to be put off by the attitude that this hobby should be complicated and expensive. Keep it simple, Patrick. PS. Aside from temperature equalization, They go straight into the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Are the cream sickle color morphs easy to find? I haven't really noticed any but then again I haven't looked. I'd really like to hunt down some of those or some reds. I have read various opinions on which color morphs had better success in full marine. Is that of any merit or since they're all the same species does it matter much beyond taste? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Per smart is where I got mine. I would really like the red ones on live aquaria. Do you think there is any reason a red Molly wouldn't convert to sw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 All mollies will convert to salt water. The oldest marine ornamental marine ornamental hatchery in the world, CQuest, had marine mollies for thirty years. PerSmart mollies are good for me at $1.19. After these mass produced mollies are in marine systems they triple in size. Laissez la bonne temps roulez, Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorien Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 I love my saltwater mollies too. I got some at petsmart and some fancier ones at Aquatek. Then I saw some of the fancy ones at another petsmart. Try different petsmart and save $8 per fish. LOL! It doesn't look like I am going to need to buy more. One of my females had babies the first night in the tank, and 5 lived to be larger than meal size. I am going to have a lotta mollies soon... Great fun! Lorien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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