In our quest for the perfect marine fish we tend to forget about the common animals that are right under our nose. I have kept in my marine aquarium an animal that most people consider to be a fresh water species. I'm talking about the so called fresh water beginners fish, the Sailfin Molly, scientifically known as Poecilia latipinna. This fish is found throughout Mexico and the southern US in fresh, brackish, and even pure salt water. The Florida Fish and Game Department classifies this fish as a brackish water species.

I have kept mollies for many years in my fresh water tanks. They managed to survive and to even produce a few young. But, even though they were reproducing they never really looked as healthy as they should.

A few years ago I decided to see if I could cycle a new marine aquarium using mollies. I'd heard that they were much tougher than marine fishes and would survive the nitrogen cycle easier than real marine fishes. I picked a large pair of Albino Sailfin Mollies. They were easily five inches long, total length. It took two weeks to acclimate them to my marine aquarium, slowly making their water more marine every day. 

Once they were acclimated they settled right in. Two weeks later I saw a change that astounded me. The animals colors started to glow, every bit of orange and red just seemed to jump off of the fish and grab you. The color was not the only improvement that I saw, they were more active and acted much happier than any mollies that I have ever kept before. They were truly beautiful!

This fish has a lot going for it, I feel that it would fit into a fish only or a reef aquarium. I here all of the grunts and groans now, "Why do we want a lowly molly in our reef tanks." Let me try to convince you.

Mollies are primarily vegetarians, they will happily spend all of their day munching on any algae that they find. Isn't this what we want in our reef tanks? I know I do.

Mollies are live bearers. They will actually give birth to living young every two months or so in your aquarium. What other marine fish can you think of that will give you that type of enjoyment? Besides, what better food to feed marine fishes than baby mollies. Can you picture some of the hard to feed fishes possibly excepting baby mollies as food, this could possibly keep them alive for a natural life span, instead of living just a few months or a year.

I believe that baby mollies would make a very nutritious because they and their parents foods would consists of natural marine algae and invertebrates.  This would help to supply them with vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and amino acids that are normally found in the diet of wild fishes. I'm no scientists, but this seems to make lots of sense to me.

These are not quarrelsome animals, except between the males. The dominant male may harass weaker males to death. But with all other fish species they will swim around minding their own pee's and Q's. One thing that I found odd was that mollies instinctively avoided the tentacles of anemones and corals. How could they know this? Could it be a leftover memory from when and if their ancestors were pure marine animals. I know, this is just a guess, and certainly not a fact.

Mollies make wonderful dither fish. A dither fish is a fish that is used to make nervous types relax and feel more at ease. Many fish species depend on other fishes to make them feel secure. Some fishes watch the behavior of other fishes to be warned of any potential danger. For instance, a Marine Betta may hide when it sees a school of nearby damsels suddenly dart of and hide. The sudden hiding of the damsels lets the Betta know that somewhere there maybe danger lurking. In you aquarium the mollies swimming out in the open let the other shy fishes know that all is safe. This may bring a shy fish out in the open more often.

When it comes to feeding time the molly will certainly come in handy, especially when we are trying to entice new fishes to eat. It's a pretty well known fact among fish keepers that fish will mimic other fish at feeding time. What I mean by this is that as a fish gets hungry it may take a chance on an unnatural food. The chances of this happening are greatly improved if there are fishes present that are eager eaters. Even though eager eaters are good teachers, they must not be aggressive, this behavior will only cause the shy fish to stay hidden. The molly is an eager eater and is not aggressive. Both qualities that we need to coax a new addition into eating.

In your marine aquarium mollies will be right out in the open, swimming around showing off all of their wonderful colors. They do come in a rainbow of different colors, so finding some that will fit your color scheme shouldn't be so hard.

There's one more thing that I should mention about mollies. You can raise the young and sell or trade them to the local pet shops. They will pay extra money for mollies that are already acclimated to salt water. You may be able to buy all of your fish foods this way.

If you chose to use mollies only to cycle your tanks, that's OK too. Just make sure that you just don't kill your fish when you are done with them. Pass them on to another hobbyist or trade them in at the local pet shop, just because they are cheap and easy to get hold of doesn't give us the right to intentionally kill them. They should be treated with as much respect as a thousand dollar Angelfish.

Give the wild caught marine fishes a break by using marine mollies to cycle your tank. They have many wonderful habits and I am sure that you will end up keeping these beautiful and interesting fish.