Want to know a little brackish secret.

[The guppy guru]

I love that so many people are loving this topic and I hope we can keep this up for a long time and inform as many people about this as we can. Hope you all have a good day and of course, if you have any questions just type them down below.

 

[Copingwithpods]

True that but another reef safe with caution puffer is the figure 8 puffer. The fish should breed but depending on how they are handling the change it could take some time for them to start breeding, but once they start breeding it will seem like there’s a never ending supplies of them they just keep coming out. My molly did breed in my reef but unfortunately all the fry where quickly caught by the clown fish and the anemone. But that just shows it can happen. So try your best and if you can get them breeding you could start selective breeding and slowly get them to regain their original hardiness.

Going to have to disagree here if gs puffers are thugs in a reef the figure 8 is the whole italian mob, much more aggressive, get much bigger and way more inclined to go after inverts.

 

[The guppy guru]

Going to have to disagree here if gs puffers are thugs in a reef the figure 8 is the whole italian mob, much more aggressive, get much bigger and way more inclined to go after inverts.

Well thanks for fixing my mistake I will be sure to do more research next time, sorry it’s just that I said by personal experience not by facts. I do specialize in guppies rather than other fish. BTW that joke, made me laugh.

 

[35ppt]

Yes that is true most fw fish are captive bred now a days but we’r talking 20 or 30 years compared to the thousands of years they’ve spent in the wild. It takes a while for species to evolve. Even the gold fish has come a long way and I didn’t become to iconic fish it is in 30 years it took hundreds of years of selective breeding to get it where it is now.

I don't follow you. You said that breeding FW fish could "really help to bring back the wild population" but if little to no fish are coming from the wild... ??

 

[The guppy guru]

That is true but when was that last time you saw a brackish water guppy........ probably not many times. The problem now is sure we are now breeding them now but back when we didn’t and we first started out we where catching them out in the wild and there old numbers have not been recovering as fast as they should be. And the problem now is that as more big farms start breeding these fish more and more they eventually lose there old brackish water traits and convert into pure freshwater fish. You can see this happening right now about 20/30 years ago you could just drip acclimate guppies and plop in mollies to your reef. Now they’re lowering there power the thing that let them survive and thrive for thousands of years all of that evolution, just to be tossed out the window with 30 years of intense breeding.

 

[The guppy guru]

“ I am once again asking you for your questions”

 

[35ppt]

That is true but when was that last time you saw a brackish water guppy........ probably not many times. The problem now is sure we are now breeding them now but back when we didn’t and we first started out we where catching them out in the wild and there old numbers have not been recovering as fast as they should be. And the problem now is that as more big farms start breeding these fish more and more they eventually lose there old brackish water traits and convert into pure freshwater fish. You can see this happening right now about 20/30 years ago you could just drip acclimate guppies and plop in mollies to your reef. Now they’re lowering there power the thing that let them survive and thrive for thousands of years all of that evolution, just to be tossed out the window with 30 years of intense breeding.

I've never looked for one but I know many people use mollys in salt tanks for various uses so they must be plenty available and able to be acclimated. I don't think any of the fish random hobbyists breed will ever be released to the wild though. Or at least in any meaningful way. And you say the wild populations are rising, so eventually they will go back to how they were I would assume. Idk, seems like kind of a non-issue. I'd rather see people breeding Banggais or other saltwater fish that are currently taken from the wild.

 

[AC1211]

No you really should not do this, maby about 20 years ago you could but now their genes are to mixed up and worn out. They’re not as resilient as they used to be.

So both mollies and edlers I would have to acclimate over time in a qt not a bucket for 24 hrs to make sure I got that right

 

[The guppy guru]

So both mollies and edlers I would have to acclimate over time in a qt not a bucket for 24 hrs to make sure I got that right

Mollies are the only fish you should really use the drip acclimation method for 3-4 hours endlers, guppies green spotted puffers, and figure 8 puffer need at least 35 days in a slow process of acclimation. Raid the salinity of the tank up by 1ppt per day for however salty your tank is. And I need to thank my friend copingwithpods for telling me that both the puffers I mentioned aren’t completely reef safe so be careful with that. I would classify them as reef safe-with caution. If you want to try out for one of the puffers, just be aware that you better say bye bye to your small inverts, some examples are, nassarias snails, sexy shrimp, anemone shrimp, pistol shrimp, hermit crabs and if he can get them probably cleaner shrimp as well. So be careful no puffer is truly reef safe they just don’t eat corals...... none that I know of at least. The brackish world is huge and diverse and you have to remember that not all fish are the same.

 

[The guppy guru]

I've never looked for one but I know many people use mollys in salt tanks for various uses so they must be plenty available and able to be acclimated. I don't think any of the fish random hobbyists breed will ever be released to the wild though. Or at least in any meaningful way. And you say the wild populations are rising, so eventually they will go back to how they were I would assume. Idk, seems like kind of a non-issue. I'd rather see people breeding Banggais or other saltwater fish that are currently taken from the wild.

Yeah you might be right, we should just let nature do it’s thing. And remember that it is true that we captive breed them but guppies are all bred in freshwater whiles most mollies have the luxury of being bred off shores in saltwater ponds.

 

[fish farmer]

Question is will they breed in sw, these are brackish water wish and as far as I know none of these live full time out at sea. I'm currently doing research on this topic including the long term effects of saltwater on reproduction, health and life span. Mostly doing research for the guppies as they are really they only ones worth the hassle IMHO. Mollies are just too dank and although green spotted puffers would be nice they are in no way reef safe if your reef includes shrimp, snails and hermits.

A quick search of salt tolerance of guppies I found this, mentions female developing embryos.

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onlinelibrary.wiley.com

 

[The guppy guru]

Hope you all are having a good day and now I come to say that The Reef Dork has seen one of the conversations I started with a group of people let’s hope more popular people see this thread and my private conversations, if we get them interested we could spread the word of reef guppies and mollies.

 

[The guppy guru]

If you guys have any questions just type them down below.

 

[The guppy guru]

I took a screen shot of a guppy that is very beautiful, it’s called the blue Moscow guppy.

 

[The guppy guru]

Aw man I want one like that for my reef but they can get a bit pricy. Right now I finally got some dumbo guppies, they are currently in my freshwater tank. Once they start eating and grow up, then I will start the saltwater transitioning period. They are the ones with red tails.

 

[The guppy guru]

If you have any questions just type them down I really want to here your thoughts.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Can plecos go into SW? Can glow fish go in SW? Can neon tetras go in SW?

 

[User1]

I don't think any of the fish random hobbyists breed will ever be released to the wild though.

No, they won't. Or maybe the better way of saying it is no, they shouldn't. It is illegal to take a fish in home aquaria and release to the wild. No different than a snake, rat, or similar animals. Forget the legal side of it. It also doesn't make sense to do so.

Mollies, guppies, and other similar fish are used in marine aquaria for a couple reasons. Mollies to be different and also to eat some algae. Most of the heavy and fast breeders are used for supplemental food. I know a few online stores or aquaculture use Monodactylus argenteus to help provide nutrients to their systems.

I believe it is a personal preference thing and also one of if the system can sustain them. Most marine fish are large so these smaller fish like guppies wouldn't last long in a healthy mixed reef. Not to mention they wouldn't know their surrounding so likely run into something and become the corals food.

 

[Copingwithpods]

No, they won't. Or maybe the better way of saying it is no, they shouldn't. It is illegal to take a fish in home aquaria and release to the wild. No different than a snake, rat, or similar animals. Forget the legal side of it. It also doesn't make sense to do so.

Mollies, guppies, and other similar fish are used in marine aquaria for a couple reasons. Mollies to be different and also to eat some algae. Most of the heavy and fast breeders are used for supplemental food. I know a few online stores or aquaculture use Monodactylus argenteus to help provide nutrients to their systems.

I believe it is a personal preference thing and also one of if the system can sustain them. Most marine fish are large so these smaller fish like guppies wouldn't last long in a healthy mixed reef. Not to mention they wouldn't know their surrounding so likely run into something and become the corals food.

I really want to give a guppy a shot but that is my number 1 concern. I don't want to spend 6 weeks acclimating the thing and next day find a mushroom or duncan or hammer ate it because it has no natural fear of such things. Also anemones and crabs. A guppy sounds like a lazy crabs wet dream, slow swimming, easily tired and no natural instincts to boot. You know what I think I just talked myself out of it.

 

[User1]

I really want to give a guppy a shot but that is my number 1 concern. I don't want to spend 6 weeks acclimating the thing and next day find a mushroom or duncan or hammer ate it because it has no natural fear of such things. Also anemones and crabs. A guppy sounds like a lazy crabs wet dream, slow swimming, easily tired and no natural instincts to boot. You know what I think I just talked myself out of it.

Lol - sorry. I didn't mean to do that. But you actually said it very well in the post when you said "no natural fear". I mean it would be death by ignorance as you said. They just do not know what is what in a reef tank.

Hope you have a great day!