Cycle w/ Mollies?

[cich-o]

I was at the LFS today and there was a guy buying Mollies to cycle a SW tank. Is this possible? I know that they are brackish, but full strenght salt water. He said that he liked to do it cuz it had no impact on reef populatios and it was cheaper. Anyone ever heard of this?

[Boogiechillin]

You can acclimate mollies to SW, but it's a hell of a lot more expensive (and less effective) than just doing a fishless cycle with a cocktail shrimp. Look in the marine archives for the thread called Fishwhisperer's fishless cycling method for more info.

[gbundersea]

A few months ago, I used household ammonia to cycle a brand-new 5-gallon aquarium.

The short version is that after 14 days, the bacterial colony was fully metabolizing 3ML of household ammonia each day in about 11 hours. I was very conservative, and carefuly monitored nitrite levels over the next 8 days, while adding daily 1ML maintenance doses of ammonia.

For the full story, with pictures, click here (http://members.cox.net/gbundersea/aquaria/5gallon/cycling.htm).

[cich-o]

Other than the first 2 I have have always cycled fishless too, I was just curious about the mollies living in full strenght SW for an extended time.

[OrionGirl]

Mollies have to be adapted to full marine conditions. Since it's generally easier to just keep them in more approriate conditions, and they don't make good feeders (too fatty), most people don't bother. Afterall, how cool is a SW tank with just some mollies in there? Guess I'd rather have some fish that live in SW all the time, and more colorful. And, like any fish exposed to the cycle process, they'll have burned gills and a shortened life.