How many Mollies?(SW)

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lnelms2

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 27, 2008
663
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Miamisburg, Ohio
I have a 20H that I have a couple mollies in hoping they breed so I can use them as feeders, obviously the more I have the more/faster they'll breed, so I'm curious as to how many I can put in here. I've seen LFS's with 30 of them in a FW 20 long that all "look" healthy and are breeding and I know this isn't ideal so how many can I put in there safely.

I'm also in the process of turning my 55 into a sump/refugium for my 75 and was wondering if I could put them in the refugium section along with the LR/Macro/Hermits etc., or will their bioload be to much?

Thanks in advance.
 
I wouldn't do more than 30 in my opinion. They are going to breed to so consider a lot more. Same with guppies!

My sump is separated by eggrate so I can split mystery snails from crabs. If you have the room in a wet/dry split it! Thats where I keep my plants, it's the only place they won't die. Breed your mollies there and the fry will be sucked into the tank!
 
lnelms2;4799947; said:
I have a 20H that I have a couple mollies in hoping they breed so I can use them as feeders, obviously the more I have the more/faster they'll breed, so I'm curious as to how many I can put in here. I've seen LFS's with 30 of them in a FW 20 long that all "look" healthy and are breeding and I know this isn't ideal so how many can I put in there safely.

I'm also in the process of turning my 55 into a sump/refugium for my 75 and was wondering if I could put them in the refugium section along with the LR/Macro/Hermits etc., or will their bioload be to much?

Thanks in advance.
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I don't know the answer to the first part, but I would say quite a few if you are using them solely for breeding and feeding.

To the 2nd part, I would not keep them in there. You will have to feed directly in there and then it will need to be cleaned often, otherwise you will end up with water quality problems. It would be counterproductive to what you are trying to do in a refuge. I would stick with keeping them in a different tank.

The other thing I should mention is my concern about using a freshwater fish to feed saltwater fish. Freshwater fish have significantly more fat and a different body makeup than saltwater fish, so feeding your saltwater fish them is like us eating Mcdonalds for every meal. Not healthy at all.
 
Crotalus Scutulatus;4801055; said:
I don't do live.
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Dunno why seeing this reminded me of something else with feeding live fish. Feeding live food can cause behaviorial problems depending on what fish you have. They can get more aggressive towards other fish. I don't fully know why, but that it is pretty common.
 
I think you could probably put a harem of 1 male per 3 females down in your sump...maybe two of these if you had enough space, just make sure that the males dont go at it too bad. Mollies make the best SW feeders...but if you can get around it, its obviously best to try. I starved a clown knife nearly to death feeding mollie feeders...he was getting a ton everyday too. Hard to make them nuitritious in my mind.
 
FLESHY;4801197; said:
I think you could probably put a harem of 1 male per 3 females down in your sump...maybe two of these if you had enough space, just make sure that the males dont go at it too bad. Mollies make the best SW feeders...but if you can get around it, its obviously best to try. I starved a clown knife nearly to death feeding mollie feeders...he was getting a ton everyday too. Hard to make them nuitritious in my mind.
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nonstophoops;4801039; said:
The other thing I should mention is my concern about using a freshwater fish to feed saltwater fish. Freshwater fish have significantly more fat and a different body makeup than saltwater fish, so feeding your saltwater fish them is like us eating Mcdonalds for every meal. Not healthy at all.
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They're not freshwater. They're full salt 1.025. I feed them brine shrimp, frozen krill, and this flake food to make them as about as nutritious as you can make a feeder. I prefer to not feed live but I've had 2 fish so far that wouldn't take anything else and I'd rather breed them then buy them from a LFS, at least until I can ween them onto something else.

Right now I have 17 mollies and I'll keep them in the 20 instead of in my sump. Once I ween these fish onto MS and krill I'll sell the mollies or drop them in with my Jardini.
 
Nice...well let us know how this works. Like I said...I did the same thing, and it was just hard to keep up with demand...even with a 40, 20, and a 10 dedicated towards one small 4" CK.

Mollies breed every 4-6 weeks if they feel like it.
 
FLESHY;4802485; said:
Nice...well let us know how this works. Like I said...I did the same thing, and it was just hard to keep up with demand...even with a 40, 20, and a 10 dedicated towards one small 4" CK.

Mollies breed every 4-6 weeks if they feel like it.
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I will, I have 2 preggo females right now. My LFS got some in as feeders and they're selling them 12 for $9.99. I had 3 females and 2 males that I converted myself then I added 12, of the 12 at least 3 are male so hopefully they'll be fruitful and multiply, lol. Thanks for all the advice.
 
That is an outrageous ripoff...so now I wish you 2x the luck. Ha ha, let us know how it goes.
 
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