FW mollies with seahorses?

vlangel · 09/30/2014, 05:15 AM

I know I read somewhere of someone keeping FW mollies with their seahorses. I wonder if any of you have done that in the past or are currently keeping mollies in their seahorse tank? When I serviced tanks for a LFS one of our customers had a FW guppy in their sump for years. ( I'm guessing it was a feeder guppy who went over the overflow ). Anyhow if some mollies were acclimated to the higher salinity they could make peaceful tank mates who wouldn't be bringing in ocean pathogens. Some of the sailfin mollies are beautiful fish.

rayjay · 09/30/2014, 08:17 AM

I would like to see proper documentation on this topic as for 20 yrs I've been seeing that feeding fresh water fish to salt water fish can sometimes cause liver problems in the salt water fish due to different fatty acid profile.
As I don't know for sure, I make a point of never feeding fresh water fish to marine fish just in case.
Keeping them as tankmates may be a different thing though, unless they reproduce allowing the seahorses to feed on the mollie fry.

FinzAquatics · 09/30/2014, 09:08 AM

I have never heard of a FW guppy being put into salt water as they are not naturally a brackish water species. On the other hand, mollies will do rather well because they can be a brackish species by nature.

I used to keep mollies in my fish only when I had a much larger tank. I used their fry as a natural food source for my banded shark. I never really had many babies make it to adulthood as the shark kept the population under control. Never noticed any health issues with my banded shark and had him for a few years before giving him away to someone with a larger tank when he outgrew mine..

As far as acclimation.. They are pretty durable. I acclimated mine at the time in a bucket w heater over the course of 24 hours, which is probably not ideal but it worked

vlangel · 09/30/2014, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rayjay

I would like to see proper documentation on this topic as for 20 yrs I've been seeing that feeding fresh water fish to salt water fish can sometimes cause liver problems in the salt water fish due to different fatty acid profile.
As I don't know for sure, I make a point of never feeding fresh water fish to marine fish just in case.
Keeping them as tankmates may be a different thing though, unless they reproduce allowing the seahorses to feed on the mollie fry.

Yes you are absolutely correct about FW fish causing liver trouble in SW carnivore fish. I suppose as a very rare occasional treat, or to tempt a sluggish eater into adjusting its OK, which is what I suspect that customer was doing. I know for a fact that they predominantly fed a good variety of frozen because I brought it with me when I did the service.
I had not thought about the seahorse eating the fry but that could be remedied by only getting females.

knap_123 · 09/30/2014, 03:40 PM

I have mollies in my reef to help with algae controll.

pledosophy · 10/01/2014, 02:46 AM

I fed fresh water ghosts to a seahorse for over 8 years. He lived. I tried mollies s they are live bearing but after a few months I just had a ton of mollies. The seahorses never ate them .

JME

FinzAquatics · 10/01/2014, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pledosophy

I fed fresh water ghosts to a seahorse for over 8 years. He lived. I tried mollies s they are live bearing but after a few months I just had a ton of mollies. The seahorses never ate them .

JME

Lol that's funny.

HumbleFish · 10/01/2014, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinzAquatics

I have never heard of a FW guppy being put into salt water as they are not naturally a brackish water species. On the other hand, mollies will do rather well because they can be a brackish species by nature.

You can convert almost any FW live-bearer to full salt, you just have to acclimate much slower than you would a molly.

triggreef · 10/01/2014, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knap_123

I have mollies in my reef to help with algae controll.

I tried one in my frag tank for that purpose. It did nothing in terms of algae control.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HumbleFish

You can convert almost any FW live-bearer to full salt, you just have to acclimate much slower than you would a molly.

Interesting. I just mixed the bag water with a cup full of tank water a few times and dumped them in. They all did fine. I would't suggest that with anything other than black mollies though.

I know those silver tip catfish they sell in the fresh section can be converted to full salt rather easy too.

Betta132 · 10/01/2014, 10:04 AM

Acclimate a molly slowly and it can live in a saltwater tank.
Silver tip catfish are actually heavy brackish/saltwater fish, I believe.
I don't think you would have any issues with keeping them with seahorses. They're peaceful, not especially hyper, and won't compete with food too much. Now, I could see one nipping at the bumps on a seahorse because it thinks they're food... However, I think most seahorses would peck at the molly after they got annoyed. That or the molly would figure out that this thing wasn't edible.

marinemanohio · 10/01/2014, 10:08 AM

I've also tried mollies for hair algae and bryopsis. No positive results to report on either. Peroxide, however, get's the job done!

I agree though, they were model citizens with a very timid group of fish at that point. I don't see that it would be problematic to house them with a seahorse.

HumbleFish · 10/01/2014, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by triggreef

Interesting. I just mixed the bag water with a cup full of tank water a few times and dumped them in. They all did fine. I would't suggest that with anything other than black mollies though.

I once converted guppies, swordtails, platies for a science project. But I did it over a period of 1 month in a tank. Way overkill I'm sure, but for the sake of the project I didn't want any to die.

You can also easily convert most FW gobies, puffers, scats, monos, archer fish and some sharks.

09/30/2014, 05:15 AM	#1
vlangel Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,409	FW mollies with seahorses? I know I read somewhere of someone keeping FW mollies with their seahorses. I wonder if any of you have done that in the past or are currently keeping mollies in their seahorse tank? When I serviced tanks for a LFS one of our customers had a FW guppy in their sump for years. ( I'm guessing it was a feeder guppy who went over the overflow ). Anyhow if some mollies were acclimated to the higher salinity they could make peaceful tank mates who wouldn't be bringing in ocean pathogens. Some of the sailfin mollies are beautiful fish.

09/30/2014, 08:17 AM	#2
rayjay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,969	I would like to see proper documentation on this topic as for 20 yrs I've been seeing that feeding fresh water fish to salt water fish can sometimes cause liver problems in the salt water fish due to different fatty acid profile. As I don't know for sure, I make a point of never feeding fresh water fish to marine fish just in case. Keeping them as tankmates may be a different thing though, unless they reproduce allowing the seahorses to feed on the mollie fry. __________________ Seahorses. Culture nanno, rotifers and brine shrimp. Current Tank Info: Seahorses

10/01/2014, 02:46 AM	#6
pledosophy Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Beaverton Posts: 5,290	I fed fresh water ghosts to a seahorse for over 8 years. He lived. I tried mollies s they are live bearing but after a few months I just had a ton of mollies. The seahorses never ate them . JME __________________ 120g mixed reef 90g QT

10/01/2014, 10:04 AM	#10
Betta132 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 2,239	Acclimate a molly slowly and it can live in a saltwater tank. Silver tip catfish are actually heavy brackish/saltwater fish, I believe. I don't think you would have any issues with keeping them with seahorses. They're peaceful, not especially hyper, and won't compete with food too much. Now, I could see one nipping at the bumps on a seahorse because it thinks they're food... However, I think most seahorses would peck at the molly after they got annoyed. That or the molly would figure out that this thing wasn't edible. __________________ When you put an animal of any kind in a situation where it can no longer fend for itself, such as an aquarium, it's your job to care for it to the best of your ability. It's that simple.

09/30/2014, 09:08 AM	#3
FinzAquatics Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 323	I have never heard of a FW guppy being put into salt water as they are not naturally a brackish water species. On the other hand, mollies will do rather well because they can be a brackish species by nature. I used to keep mollies in my fish only when I had a much larger tank. I used their fry as a natural food source for my banded shark. I never really had many babies make it to adulthood as the shark kept the population under control. Never noticed any health issues with my banded shark and had him for a few years before giving him away to someone with a larger tank when he outgrew mine.. As far as acclimation.. They are pretty durable. I acclimated mine at the time in a bucket w heater over the course of 24 hours, which is probably not ideal but it worked

09/30/2014, 03:40 PM	#5
knap_123 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: alex city, alabama Posts: 756	I have mollies in my reef to help with algae controll.

10/01/2014, 10:08 AM	#11
marinemanohio Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 45	I've also tried mollies for hair algae and bryopsis. No positive results to report on either. Peroxide, however, get's the job done! I agree though, they were model citizens with a very timid group of fish at that point. I don't see that it would be problematic to house them with a seahorse.