Sailfin Mollies With Fig8

[fish are friends....]

I was wondering if it is safe to put sailfin mollies with Fig8's and knight gobies for two reasons...
- Add a bit of colour to the fish tanks, just get a pair of leopards.
- To provide an extra source of food and more natural behavour of hunting for the puffers in the form of fry ( if the mollies breed.)

Thanks for any information you have.

 

[Haych]

puffers, imo, are species only, no matter their size. they have teeth andlike to use them

 

[jennybugs]

I am wondering if the F8s would find the fins of the sailfins a bit too tempting taste-wise.
I have mine in with a big swarm of bumblebee gobies and have been lucky enough to keep my gobies fat and very well fed (feeding is their main issue).
I wouldn't like to say yes or no, but I have the feeling the sailfins might suffer as they are sizeable fish and the F8s might not take too kindly to them.

 

[fish are friends....]

At first i thought puffer should obly be in a species tank however, they are fine with my knight gobies.

Jennybug, As you said you are keeping yours with bumble bee gobies and i know this isn't always advised. My puffers seem pretty layed back and havn't gone for my male knight goby who has a very large dorsal. Also I put apple snails in the tanks whilst i was ont holiday as a food soure for a few weeks, but they didn't even attempt to eat them.

As they seem so layed back i think im going to risk it and add a pair. If i see any aggression I can easily take them back to the shop!

Thanks

 

[jennybugs]

When I first set my tank up I was told to get my bbgs settled and eating in first. Once they were settled and fattening up nicely and had sorted out who was going to live in what cave/area of the tank I introduced the F8s and everything has been super since, with the F8s not giving two hoots that the gobies were there. I lost one bbg to the filter and I still have all 9 of the original crew that have been in there for over 2 years now.

I was told that knight gobies would be ok too and feisty enough to stand up to the F8s but i didn't find any at the time and the bbgs are super. I would have added a few more but was advised that I could have issues now unless I did the whole tank refurb thing - take the F8s out, rearrange the tank fully, add the new gobies and then put the F8s back in. They wouldn't focus on the gobies going in because they would think they were in a new territory where the gobies were already established.

I would definately try and put new small fish in your tank after your F8s have been well fed so they don't see these little swimmy things as food so much. I'd be concerned about just dropping them in now the F8s are established in there with the knight gobies, so just be wary and don't be too shocked if the F8s go for the bbgs.

As we all know, there are so many thoughts and opinions and experiences on our hobby and all the aspects of it, but I still feel the majority of puffers I would keep as species only tanks

 

[myenigmaself]

For a few months I've been keeping two sailfin mollies (older juveniles, about an inch and a half long) with five medium-large figure 8's. My largest figure 8 is over two and a half inches long, maybe three, no problem. I haven't had a single nipped fin, and the breeding pair of mollies mostly keep to themselves. In the same tank I also have a dozen bumble bee gobies, ten red chromides, and an unidentified goby about three inches long. Everybody gets along great.

I do make sure everybody is well fed. I typically start with tropical flake that the mollies, chromides, and big goby finish off in about 45 seconds. Then I dump a mixture of frozen mysis shrimp and blood worms. The figure 8's primarily go after the blood worms which leaves opportunity for the bumble bee's to eat the mysis shrimp. Everybody is fat and happy.

Another thing I've done is I have tons of hiding places. I've got about 20 terracotta pots of varying sizes and plants (fake, the puffers ate all the live plants I tried to grow) to break up lines of sight.

All in all, I think it takes some thought and caution, but you can definitely keep the mollies with figure 8's, so long as you take into consideration feeding, aquarium size, and hiding places.

 

[fish are friends....]

Thanks for all of your opinions. I have got a few hiding spaces... Some bogwood with java fern growing on it, some pebbles built up and a large plastic plant which stretches up the side and across the surface. I will add a few more... I have some pots and rocks that I can add.

My largest puffer is also about 2 - 2.5", the smallest about 1.5 - 2". The mollies I have my eye on are about 3" maybe slightly larger so I'm hoping they will be able to stand up for themselves. I will be keeping my eye on them a lot though...

Thanks muchly

 

[jennybugs]

For a few months I've been keeping two sailfin mollies (older juveniles, about an inch and a half long) with five medium-large figure 8's. My largest figure 8 is over two and a half inches long, maybe three, no problem. I haven't had a single nipped fin, and the breeding pair of mollies mostly keep to themselves. In the same tank I also have a dozen bumble bee gobies, ten red chromides, and an unidentified goby about three inches long. Everybody gets along great.

I do make sure everybody is well fed. I typically start with tropical flake that the mollies, chromides, and big goby finish off in about 45 seconds. Then I dump a mixture of frozen mysis shrimp and blood worms. The figure 8's primarily go after the blood worms which leaves opportunity for the bumble bee's to eat the mysis shrimp. Everybody is fat and happy.

Another thing I've done is I have tons of hiding places. I've got about 20 terracotta pots of varying sizes and plants (fake, the puffers ate all the live plants I tried to grow) to break up lines of sight.

All in all, I think it takes some thought and caution, but you can definitely keep the mollies with figure 8's, so long as you take into consideration feeding, aquarium size, and hiding places.

I'm off to find pics...that sounds like an amazing tank

Good luck with the new fish 'fish are friends'

 

[myenigmaself]

You ask and you shall receive

Good luck FaF!

 

[fish are friends....]

Everything is going well so far. No aggression... not even at food time. The Puffers have taken to the flake which i was rather suprised about, the greedy beggers! hehe

 

[myenigmaself]

Puffers eating flake? I never thought I'd see the day!

 

[fish are friends....]

Puffers eating flake? I never thought I'd see the day!

That makes the two of us!!

 

[kniesh]

Sounds pretty similar to mine this. I have 5 fig8s with about 12 BBG's an I just added 2 large sailfins. All seems fine in mine for now but plenty of time. I already had a Molly in there though which they totally ignore, and about 6 Molly fry about 1" long that are also ignored. Sounds like a nice little tank yours.

 

[didz04]

That sounds like a really nice tank
hope you send some pics for us to see.
Would it be compatible to keep mono's with these fish?
I am wanting to stock:
- Bumblebee goby
- Green spotted puffer
- Knight goby
- Molly
- Mono (how many should be kept minimum, 3, or 4?)
..and what salinity on average should they all be kept at together?

Thanks

fish are friends not food Finding nemo

 

[fish are friends....]

That sounds like a really nice tank
hope you send some pics for us to see.
Would it be compatible to keep mono's with these fish?
I am wanting to stock:
- Bumblebee goby
- Green spotted puffer
- Knight goby
- Molly
- Mono (how many should be kept minimum, 3, or 4?)
..and what salinity on average should they all be kept at together?

Thanks

fish are friends not food Finding nemo

My tanks salinity is about 1.006. Tbh I don't know how safe itwould be to keep monos with bumble bee gobies and mollies because they like their food. Would be ok with the knogh gobies and puffers though. 3 is a good sized group but they can get large so make sure you have a nice size tanks, probably around 55g minimum for 3-4 monos. Scats are a nice alternastive to monos aswell ...

Good luck

FaF