molly?

i'm thinking of putting a molly in my reef.i have a bit of hair algae starting to grow and i want to stop it before its a problem.my water is fine.i don't want hermits but i may get a cpl anyway.i was thinking of slowly switching a molly over to sw.i've seen how well they eat algae and they seem peaceful.is there any problems i may have with having a molly in a reef?i've been looking for other algae eating fish but alot are'nt suitable in a 55 gallon or have specialized diets like angels,and lawn mower blennies get big.i have a spair tank i can slowly convert then to sw in.oh and right now i just have a cleaner shrimp,marroon clown,and a green chromi,oh and a have a damsel in my sump to eat food that gets sucked up lol.

 

Why not get a yellow tang?

 

I am not a big fan of Mollies! They are live-bearers and because of this they get ICH quite easily and frequently based on past experiences! Try a Tang, or Blenny!

 

thanks.you made a good point about mollies and ick.i don't want a fish as big as a yellow tank in my reef.i opted to just get 3 hermits and some more corals.i'd have gotten more snails 2 but their expensive right now for some reason.

 

you are going to need at least a 20 member cleanup crew. being snails or hermits or a combination of the 2

 

I'd add about 200 snails of different types look around for a snail package.. Hermits are a waste of money I mean there is a need for them but I find that one or two per 5 gals of tank size work well and they will not kill your snails for their food and shelter. Most have algae prblems because they have not enough snails like 20 in a 55 is of little value.. I buy them in lots of 200 at a pop.. 2 per gallong is about the best I have ever found to keep the systemn green free

 

i haven't had any algae problems. i have about 18 hermit crabs and about 20 assorted snails half being nassarius. and my load is pretty full.

 

thanks,i have a clean up crew.i just needed a little more.i was hoping to add va algae eatting fish but all the ones i know of get bigger than i care to have in my 55 gallon tank.i don't want to have to change the water more often or have a fish knock over corals.so i added 3 hermits.i may add a cpl more plus a cpl turbos.i now have about 12 astrea,1 turbo and 4 hermits.i also have hundreds of stomatella snails breeding heavily,so i'm going to wait and see what happens now before doing anything else.thanks again for all your info.