Acclimating Freshwater Mollies to Saltwater Frag Tank - EPISODE 4
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Our small frag tank needed a great utilitarian fish to provide nutrients to our corals as well as work to keep the tank clean. There are saltwater fish options, but our goal is to keep costs down and keep things simple. Mollies checked all the boxes as they are cheap, hardy, can be kept in small tanks, and are great algae eaters. They will be the first members of our clean-up crew.
But how do you convert a freshwater fish to a saltwater fish? Most fish are not capable of doing this, but some brackish fish are, such as the mollie. Most mollies sold in pet stores are only a couple dollars but are living in freshwater.
In this video, we show the full acclimation process and take the freshwater fish and move them into our saltwater frag tank. We will use a slow drip acclimation over a period of hours to slowing change the salinity of the water. Along the way, we needed to make a change in plans and were able to show 2 ways of handling the process.
We were mostly successful in acclimating mollies to saltwater, but we did not have 100% success.
System Components
Aquaclear 50 - a.co/d/c81Mnkj
Seachem Ammonia Alert - a.co/d/6XZRT8c
Coralife Light - a.co/d/dKGmsig
Jager Heater - a.co/d/fY4JN68
Jaboe Wavemaker - a.co/d/2lJIxq9
Wyze Camera - a.co/d/5LLL1GB
Wyze Camera Mount - a.co/d/0vcpAcN
Dr Tim’s One and Only - a.co/d/fWNxMgW
Dr Tim’s Ammonia - a.co/d/5UFuUAA
API Test Kit - a.co/d/1OGF3Gm
So the best way to do this is generally to acclimate them to about half strength salinity, wait a week or so, and then finish all the way. There have been a few studies on mortality rate and drip acclimation has a fairly high attrition rate, versus almost 100% survival going half then full over a longer period.
How did they acclimate them each time? Drip?
some may find this inhumane but for me, this is great. this is science. we may sacrifice a life or two for the good of the many.
You're right, some may find it inhumane. However, they are brackish and can live in different environments. I think that two of the fish surviving using 2 different methods may just mean that the one fish was weak unfortunately. No matter what environment it was placed it, it may not have survived. We'll keep an eye on them and post updates in the near future. So far they are still doing great.
Great videos I love em. I’m starting a drag tank myself. My only constructive criticism would have to be sometimes you say the same thing 3-4 times and hang on the minor topics for a little long. But over all I’m following. 👊
Thanks for the tip
RiP Molly