Yesterday, when I went with Mazza_402 down to the Petco in Cleaveland, TN I was quite impressed with their store for starters. They had every other general petstore that I've been to beat, but you can read the store review we're writing to get that. Anyway, while I was contemplating on a snowflake eel, I noticed that all of their saltwater tanks had a single black mollie in them. I knew you COULD put mollies and guppies in salt water if you acclimated them slowly, but why would you want to? This seemed to have a purpose though, one in each tank was too specific, so I asked the associate ( who was very knowlegable and who we could both tell was an avid hobbyist himself :up: ) why there was one in each tank. He said it was because they kept the tank glass free of algae better than any invertabrates they had tried. Looking again, he was right. Their tanks were absolutely spotless! So I decided to try them myself, since my tank has more hair on the back glass than I have on my head. As the sales associate was fishing the pair out of the tank, I was explaining to zac how I would slowly acclimate them to saltwater. The associate heard me and said "let me show you something" and brought a hydrometer over. He tested the tank water that the mollies were already in, and it tested at 1.014. They were already keeping them in brackish water so that no matter which direction you were going, to freshwater or to saltwater, you whouldn't have to spend days acclimating them to the tank water salinity. What a wonderful idea, and what a wonderful store and sales associate too. When I did release the mollies in my tank, sure enough they went right for the algae on the glass and started picking at it. I have to say, they do a better job than the turbo snails did, and they are much more fun to watch. :blink:

Sounds awesome. I may have to pick up a mollie for my tank. How long did you acclimate them? I knew they we're good, but personal testimony means alot.

I spent only 4 hours acclimating them. Since I keep my tank SG at only about 1.021, I didn't need to spend as much time raising the salinity. For the first hour I let the temperature acclimate, then I added 1 8th tsp salt and let it sit for another hour, then I added 1 cup tank water per 1/2 hour for the next 2 hours before pulling them out of the bag and putting them in the tank.

Yeah one of the local fish stores that I visit has Mollies in their large saltwater display tank and they do a great job with algae. I know they do a nice job with consuming hair algae but have you noticed the Mollies consume other types?