Saltwater Help?

Question

I just recently started a brand new saltwater tank. When do you recommend I get a molly to bacterialize my tank? The salinity is perfect and all the strips show good. I plan on adding my bagged sand and fake coral next week. What other actions should I take before adding any "dummy" fish? Please help, give me as much knowledge as you can share. Thanks a bunch.

FYI: mollys and guppies both can be fresh or saltwater, Someone please help with my question.

Answer 1

Hi again!

If you're not using live rock, you can add the molly anytime. But unless you get one that's already acclimated, you'll need to do that first. Your local fish stores may already have some acclimated to salt - if not, you'll have to do this yourself. There are basically two methods - a continuous drip, or adding salt periodically in small volumes. I know other pet store owners that have acclimated mollies in one day and guppies in four, but I tend to go slower - it seems to make the fish hardier.

Drip method: Put your fish in a small tank (a 2.5 gallon Explorer is large enough) with about 1/4 to 1/2 of the tank filled with water and salt at about 1 tsp. per gallon. Use an aquarium doser to drip saltwater into the tank (watch the level so it doesn't overfill, remove some water periodically so the saltwater gets the salinity as high as that in your tank.

Salt addition method: Use the same setup as above, but fill the tank with water. Add 1 tsp. of salt periodically till the correct salinity is reached (I do 2 tsp. per day, but this takes a while!).

I prefer mollies and guppies to damsels as the damsels are aggressive and territorial. If damsels are the first fish in your tank, you will either have to take them back to the store, euthanize them, or risk them killing any fish you try to add later. One of my customers started with three damsels and they killed a lionfish and an eel before he got rid of them. You don't want your $5 fish killing your $50 fish if you can avoid this!

Answer 2

Mollies and guppies are really more of a brackish fish than true salt water, but they can be "trained" to tolerate higher salinity. It would be helpful if you could get them from a place that already has them swimming in salty water, else you'll probably have to set up a smaller tank and put them in there first with the water that they tolerate, then slowly add more salt over a few weeks, else they'll just drop dead.
Have you thought of adding "live" rocks to the tank? If you could find someone with a saltwater tank that's already going, you could just take some gravel/sand/whatever from their tank and put it into yours to jump start the bacteria.

Answer 3

It takes quite a while to acclimate a molly. If you want to use a molly to cycle your tank, you are going to have to put it in another tank with freshwater first, and slowly increase the salinity over a period of 3-5 weeks so it will survive in your tank, you can't just put it in. If you don't want to wait that long, go to the grocery store and buy some shrimp. Put them in a sock and stick them in your tank. As they rot, they will provide food for the bacteria. Add your coral and sand before you begin to cycle your tank, because bacteria will colonize on that. Also, you are going to need live rock. It is essential to maintaining a saltwater aquarium, and it will decrease the cycle time dramatically. The problem is that it is very expensive.

Answer 4

heyy there- saltwater tanks are awesome- but keep in mind your going to need a lot of patience. Before you add any fish, i'd add your substrate, and let it settle and your decor. Also Live Rock always does a saltwater tank WONDERS- not only does it have amazingly good bacterias for the water- it provides a natural habitat for your fish to live in. You should start off with hardy fish, what i always suggest and what i did, i got a trigger fish, their great fish to cycle a tank with, their big, hardy and they let out a lot of ammonia's thats good for cycling of a newly established tank. and after the 3 months you can always trade the fish back. Also Damsels are extreamlyyy hardy and very inexpensive- start off with a few of those.. as for mollys i mean yeah they can live in saltwater.. but their not going to help as much with cycling as an actual salt water fish would. this is going to sound gross- but when a fish dies- pop it into the filter- it will help add bacterias other fish in the future will need to live off of. hope i helped! good luck!

Answer 5

A molly is a freshwater fish. Almost all Damsels are great starter fish.

I would get the sand etc in the tank first then let the dust settle, then start the filters (impellers get sand in them and wear out quick!) add the fish, since

Answer 6

i agree with the first answer. damsels are your best bet. but once introduced, they think the tanks theirs, and can become little buggers."make shure you wash all your sand as it is very dusty at first".