Mollies acclimated to Salt Water

[KcMopar]

I thought some of the folks here might want to see a pic of my pregnant Molly that I acclimated to SW. Its not the best pic. I was trying to get a photo of the dark fish in the background (Yellow Eye Kole Tang) when the Molly swam by so I snapped a shot. The blue fish is a Yellow tail Blue Damsel.

 

[Thyra]

Is that molly pg or is it a balloon molly? I don't believe I ever saw any of mine get that "blown up" looking. I have two rather small bumble bee platies that never look pg and I have had them for a couple of months now. Every few days I will notice a couple of more fry. like maybe 1 -3 at a time. There is a good size betta in there, who may be getting a few, but so far I have 3 that have gotten too big for him to eat and a couple of others that are still working at it.

 

[KcMopar]

They are regular Mollies. She is PG and getting very close to popping out some food for the 150G. I hope a couple females make it. I have some VERY porous rock for them to hide so maybe a couple will not get eaten. If not thats fine to as they are intended to be food anyway.

 

[Persistency]

Will the babies automatically be acclimated to the salt? And also, if you ever get the time, could you list the steps you take to acclimate them? I think this is just the coolest thing and I want to do it sometime.

 

[KcMopar]

The babies are just fine with it as the Momma Molly has passed this salt deal to them already.
I started out with a 10G tank with FW first. Then every day twice a day I took about a quart of water out and added a table spoon of Instant Ocean salt mix to it. I then took this solution and dripped it in via my SW drip dosing hose. You can just add a couple ounces every few minutes as well if not equipped with a drip hose.
When I did weekly water changes I mixed the waters salinity to .02 more every week. After a couple weeks you will have Mollies acclimated to SW.

 

[OrangeCones]

I used sailfin mollies. I did have to rehome some of the fry that made it to adulthood, as the reef offered lots of hiding places and too many were survinving to adulthood.

 

[KcMopar]

I thought some might survive and I would just make them Oscar and JD food. They are easy to catch at feeding time if you skip the morning feeding. I would like to spend some more money on the better looking Mollies like the sailfins you mention. I would like the Black or Golden sailfin, I have Dalmatian and Platinum ones now, they were the 99 cent MUTTS.

 

[OrangeCones]

The jet black sailfins are beautiful under the SW lighting. They take on a blue-green sheen as they dart around. And you are right, its easy to catch any extras at feeding time!

 

[KcMopar]

I bet they would great under my LED, the Dalmatians have a greenish speckle to them under the LED. I have retro fitted only the right side of my tank with LED so the fixture on the other side is dual florescent still, and the difference is remarkable. I cant wait to see the Black one when I get it.