Cycling my 210g FOWLR with Mollies

[sneakerpimp]

I'm going to cycle my new 210g(with 75g sump) and was considering using mollies. What are the advantages of using mollies opposed to just leaving a dead prawn in the tank to start the cycle? And how many mollies should I use for this size of tank?

Also, will mollies eat pods?

[Metal Man 1221]

you have to slowly acclimate them to your salinity in order to make them fully marine, but other wise any fish will produce a cycle

[dwd5813]

i wouldn't use any fish to cycle a tank. if you get good rock you won't have much of a cycle anyway and decay on non-cured rock will kick off the cycle anyway. in all other situations you can either add a shrimp, some fish food, ammonia itself, etc... there are options aside from knowingly exposing live fish to a toxic environment.

[John Blaze]

+1 to dwd5813. cycling a tank with fish is the old school method. All you need is live rock.

[sneakerpimp]

I was also thinking of using them as part of the clean-up crew after a month or so after the nitrate levels have dropped off. I hear they are good for controlling algae and sifting the sand.

But if it's cruel to keep them in salt water, I'll drop the idea.

[Beaun]

It's not really a problem to keep them in salt water, you just need to acclimate them to the salinity over a longer period of time.

[cpl40475]

i wouldn't use any fish to cycle a tank. if you get good rock you won't have much of a cycle anyway and decay on non-cured rock will kick off the cycle anyway. in all other situations you can either add a shrimp, some fish food, ammonia itself, etc... there are options aside from knowingly exposing live fish to a toxic environment.

+2
I wouldnt use any fish in a tank when starting up.