Questions on Marine Mollies

[loyalrogue]

I've got a little dwarf lion that I've been feeding ghost shrimp to and have been wondering about the nutritional value of his diet.
Currently I'll let the shrimp gorge themselves on marine flake immediately before I handfeed them to the lion to try and pass on some proper nutrition.

Yesterday the kid at the LFS suggested I get some mollies, marine acclimate them, and let them breed in my fuge to create a "marine" food source.
I'll definitely be doing this if for nothing else but give my little lion some variety in his diet, but I was wondering if there's anyone here who has some experience or knowledge on the subject.

Will future generations of marine mollies possess the proper nutrition for a marine predator?
Will the mollies receive their own proper nutrition from being fed marine flake and mysis?
Any tips on breeding marine mollies in general?

 

[tecwzrd]

Live food runs the risk of infection via sickness/parasites and should be avoided IMO.

Have you tried frozen food like Marine Cuisine which most lfs carry? Soaking in Selcon & Garlic extreme will help both entice and enrich the food.

 

[melosu58]

I second this

 

[roka64]

Me too! Or you could make your own "mush" with stuff from your local grocery store. I also soak mine in garlic/zoe/selcon.

 

[loyalrogue]

Thanks for the suggestions.
For the first few days I tried to get him to eat non-live foods, mysis, krill, etc. to no avail.
He refused every attempt.
I started getting worried about him starving before I picked up some live food to try.
The first shrimp I dropped in the tank didn't last 3 seconds before he sucked it up so that's what I've been feeding him ever since.
I didn't try the trick of soaking any of the non-live foods in what you all suggested.
I'll certainly give that a try.
In the meantime I'd still like to hear any answers to my original post if anyone has them in case this doesn't work.
Thanks all.

 

[Innovator]

It is not uncommon for lionfish to go on a feeding strike for the first week or so of introduction. If it is willingly accepting ghost shrimp, that's good. I do not see a problem with using marine mollies until you can "train" your lion onto a prepared food source. If you QT your mollies and medicate them appropriately there should be no cause for disease transfer; however, enriched fw mollies and/or rosy reds would be optimal imo, and not given as a staple. If it IS eating ghost shrimp, stick with that and make sure they are enriched prior to feeding.
For a food source you can try cut up shrimp (injected w/selco), squid, capelin, etc. I am not sure the size of your dwarf lion, but many seem to like proportionate food items to its relative size to which mysis and krill (unless jumbo) do not suffice. What has worked best for me is using clear rigid airline tubing with a piece of food at the end and mimicking prey around the rockwork where the animal is located. It can take several tries, but don't get discouraged.

 

[loyalrogue]

Very informative.
Thanks for the detailed post.
Even tho he's only about 2 inches long, now that you mention it, it makes sense that the mysis were probably way too small to entice him.
I'll be trying the prepared foods again as you've all suggested.

 

[hc8719]

just a heads up, you can order marine feeder shrimp (like ones from live aquaria) and you dont have to be tossing in fw shrimp, especially if your worried about feeding it fw fish

 

[ntswift]

You could also try silversides soaked in Garlic extreme. They are a bit bigger than mollies depending on the size that you get and you dont have to worry about diseases.

 

[EJS4]

I have mollies in my tank. Mollies easily live in marine environment plus they love to eat algae. Do a nice slow drip (3-4 hours) to convert them. Mollies are an easy fish to sex so make sure you get both males and females. Mine produced offspring after the were converted but have not seen offspring since they went into sump. I read somewhere that they were a preferred live food for loins, will check for source and get back to you. Only problem I foresee is produce enough to keep a sustainable stock. May have to keep buying and converting. As far as disease issues I would think that they would be minimal because the mollies are coming from fresh water (super low saline dip, LOL) so would not have marine parasites and any fresh water parasites would be killed by marine environment.

 

[melosu58]

Parasites are only a part of marine problems and diseases. Bacterial and viral problems are a big part also.

 

[hc8719]

thats also considering the mollies are swimming around in one of those feeder tanks (poor goldies) or are kept in bad conditions to begin with.

my pet stores take care of mollies well, yours may not...

 

[Esra]

If you quarantine the parents and then feed the offspring to the lion where is the chance of infection?

 

[Innovator]

If you quarantine the parents and then feed the offspring to the lion where is the chance of infection?

As long as you QT properly/thoroughly then it should not be an issue; however, this food item should be used to sustain the lionfish until it is "trained" to prepared food items and not as the main diet.

 

[loyalrogue]

Since posting this question I've been doing a exhaustive amount of research on the subject and I've learned the following:

1) My dwarf lionfish's digestive system and natural diet is geared more toward crustaceans than fish.

2) All lionfish should be fed a variety of foods as opposed to a single food source or else they can develop deficiencies and health problems.

3) At least part of their diet should include whole foods (tail to head) instead of just a particular body part for the same reason as above.

4) FW feeders are fine as a supplement but if used as the main food source will eventually cause health problems in the long run due to lack of marine nutrients and containing undigestible fats.

5) While vitamin and nutritional additives are beneficial they are not a full substitute for a proper and varied diet.

6) If FW feeders are used they should be "gut-loaded" with a steady diet of marine foods beforehand.

7) Due to different biology, most FW fish parasites and diseases cannot survive or be transmitted to a SW environment. One of the exceptions to this is "Velvet" which can be transmitted from FW mollies to SW fish.
Using FW shrimp as feeders helps avoid the transmission of parasites or disease.

8 ) If marine feeders are used they should either be fully quarantined beforehand, or purchased from a certified disease-free, farmed source. (even then you may want to QT just to be on the safe side.)

I think that pretty much covers the bulk of what I've read, but if I come across anything else that's important I'll add it to the list.

 

[hc8719]

i diseases can still be transmitted to SW animals from FW animals, plus its also very inhumane to dump a fw animal into a sw enviroment

 

[loyalrogue]

i diseases can still be transmitted to SW animals from FW animals, plus its also very inhumane to dump a fw animal into a sw enviroment

Yes, there are a few certain diseases that can make the jump from a FW environment to a SW environment, "Velvet" being one of them as I mentioned above.
It might be useful to someday compile a list of diseases and parasites that can successfully survive the transition from FW to SW and vice versa.

As for the inhumane treatment, I was originally talking about drip acclimating mollies, which are a brackish fish, to a full SW environment for breeding.
One of my LFS has SW mollies for sale from time to time, but I would probably just acclimate my own over the course of a few days.
Since their body chemistry is already designed to handle the SW I don't think it would really be considered cruel or inhumane treatment.

 

[Guest]

It is not inhumane at all. Mollies can be fully acclimated to saltwater conditions in 3-5 hours and are very hardy once adjusted.

It is more inhumane to have a molly as a full freshwater fish.