vtecintegra
Valuable Member
Molly has been in salt water for about three months.
mollys and guppies in a reef tank
- Thread starter reef4life!!!
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reef4life!!!
Active Member
hahha they should be fine just keep an eye on them(if you manage to see them longer than 1 minute loll)
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reef4life!!!
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i don't know about juppies but mollys definetely don't.Although i have seen a tang picking at my gsp so every fish is different.In general i don't think that guppies pick on corals either
N.Sreefer
Valuable Member
If you don't have anything to eat the babies the Molly's can really tax your tanks bioload. I have literally hundreds and selling some/feeding them to my lizards is the only way to keep the numbers somewhat in check. They really are a little 2 prolific if you'd like to look at your tank and see corals. Would be easy to mistake my tank for freshwater at this point. I keep mine at 35ppt they survived alot of swings in params including salinity when my husbandry left alot to be desired.
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reef4life!!!
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well it's not possible that the babies will not be consumed.Even the mollys themselfs will eat their babes in a big tank.And to produce many babies you need 4-5 females.For example i have 1 male and 2 females currently in a 65gallon.Even if they give birth to 20 babies each the chances of them survive is close to 0...
N.Sreefer
Valuable Member
I started with 6 females and 2 males in a 6 foot 150 gal now I couldn't guess how many there is its possible once that first group of babies grow up. They will breed with their own parents and eachother and next thing ya know they're everywhere. And ive never once seen one eat its own babies same with guppies livebearers put so much energy into producing babies that its really unusual for one to eat its own young. Not like having alot of them causes serious problems it just makes the tank look very crowded. My tank is infested with white balled coralimorphs and even those things cant keep the numbers down at this point. Another thing with mollys is as they get bigger they produce more babies with every clutch.
attiland
2500 Club Member
In nature there is thick vegetation saving the babies in a reef well 0
attiland
2500 Club Member
I had guppies and mollies in freshwater back in the day. I have witnessed with both the mother give birth to the young turns back and eats one or two. Cannibalism with them is natural every day thing.
Devaji
5000 Club Member
so I was thinking....and not to offend any fish or people BUT I think SwWfish are smarter than FW. maybe the word is personable?? IDK its been years since I have had FW fish.
that said its still an interesting idea.
that said its still an interesting idea.
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reef4life!!!
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as attiland said they can eat their own babies.It's not something uncommon.I had FW about 6-7 years ago and both guppies and mollys(and the rest livebearers) ate their babies in the tank.I don't know how your tank is overcrowded with babies but these babies even if they don't get eaten they need special food.There are many factors that makes them not get full grown.Maybe you are just lucky i don't know,what i believe is that it's not possible that the babies can survive on their own in the main display.Again this is what i believe.If you say that your babies survive i believe you and perhaps you just doing something correct idk.
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reef4life!!!
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nah i think they are the same.My 3 mollys when i had them in the small 20litre tank they knew after 4-5 days that when i turn on the ligths it's feeding time and they will come up to the surface.Same thing with my SW fishes,they know that when you come close to the tank you might get them food.Especially lionfishes and puffers,they are known for their ability to understand who are you.
KC's CNC Creations
Active Member
My Mollies have been in 35ppt water for so many generations most have never seen freshwater. They also do NOT have any issue coming to the surface to get food. they are excellent in frag tanks to keep frags 'clean', they spend 99% of their daylight hours looking for food, they are absolute algae vacuum cleaners.
attiland
2500 Club Member
Many freshwater fishes like cichlids take care of their young, some even risking their life to protect them. But look at some of the saltwater ones like sardines the pop the eggs and swim away.
there are two main tactics the fish in general do. Larger number of youngsters and less protection and smaller number of youngsters and more protection.
both are present in both fresh and saltwater. Goldfish said to be dumb but can be trained to do basic tasks for food.
ErocksReef
New Member
I started out with 8 b/w mollies and some cream and orange ones that showed blue specs under led blues. They reproduced and in 3 months I had alot of tiny babies swimming around 30 or so. I had a blue yellow tail damsel who devoured most of the fry and left some to grow that hid in the rocks. In 6 months I counted over 60 1in juvenile mollies in the tank. I gave them to various friends for their tanks. 35pt drop and go acclimation method only lost 2 when I put them in. I since torn down tank and made a smaller reef where i kept 4 of the og mollies so far they have been in salt for 5 years. I have not had any breed for around the 1 year mark. I now want to try some guppies since reading this post and will drop back in when I do so.
attiland
2500 Club Member
I was always wondering why they not conquered the reefs and than realised in nature they wouldn’t stand a chance. Just think about it. They born they have to get to the surface to fill their bladder with air than get back down to hide. I can see 3 part of this process not working out very well in sea. Journey up risky, staying up in the surface is very risky and journey back is risky too. The one tried ended up being a dodo.
KC's CNC Creations
Active Member
the major issue with Mollies (and Guppies i've converted) is high flow, they don't do so well in the high flow tanks, they'll find the lower flow areas and stay there.I was always wondering why they not conquered the reefs and than realised in nature they wouldn’t stand a chance. Just think about it. They born they have to get to the surface to fill their bladder with air than get back down to hide. I can see 3 part of this process not working out very well in sea. Journey up risky, staying up in the surface is very risky and journey back is risky too. The one tried ended up being a dodo.
Reefvision
Active Member
Currently have a lg black molly and two white w/ black specks .They are third generation. Been about a year since any new fry . My observation is that they are sensitive to salinity changes mostly. I started with a group of 5 b/w and had new fry within couple weeks, then more later . Eventually the male (Ithink)died and now just females (Ithink)are left . This is in 55gal. Sw @1027ppt. They are more aggressive toward each other now since being moved from a 20 gal long to the 55g. I feed them anything (pellets,flake,mysis) and have a melanarous wrasse, and rabbit fish currently as tankmates.
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