Black Molly question....

G

GSM

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Dec 24, 2002
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Hi,

I am new to this "aquarium game", got hooked after seeing a new one at my sisters place, anyway....

Got a 15 gallon tank, with a juwel filter, three live plants, fern etc..

Cycled the water, and prepared it for inhabitants, by following all the available online help, such as this wonerfull forum! (slick :) )

Anyway, added my first fishes, a bala shark, two catfish, and three mollies, (not all at once, in that order over a few days..)

The Bala shark hid for a while, then came out to play, the catfish are as happy as larry, one just sticks to the leaves and the other scurries looking for food.

Now the problem....

The Black mollies, two are male, and one is female, looks bloated, pregnant??

They have been in two days now and still shy, stay together, and stay near the base of the aqaurium, they do swim, but only a little, the males sort of "sit" with their tales on the floor, while the female is a little active, I did add some salt to the aqaurium, to help them keep happy, but what i have also noticed is that their tales seem to bend to one side, but then this could be due to the bubbles in the water (airstone), is this normal behaviour or is it not?

Any help will be appreciated.....

Thanks

:)
 
You might want to trade the bala shark for something else. They grow to be quite large (8" or more) and really prefer to be in groups of 4 or more. Are the catfish cory catfish? Cories would be fine as they stay small (around 2"), but most other species of catfish grow quite large also. If you have cory catfish, I'd trade the bala shark for a couple more cories, they like to be in groups. Also, if you're wanting to try to breed the mollies, you might trade one of the males for another female :)

Be careful with the salt and catfish, most catfish don't care for salt too much. However, most resources I've found say that they can handle very small amounts of salt, so if you're not overdoing it they should be ok. I have mollies and cories together and haven't added any salt yet. The mollies seem to be fine without it so far and are breeding like crazy.

The mollies behavior you're describing seems not normal in my very limited experience with them. Mine have always stayed very active and near the top of the water mostly. The male does go to the bottom to scavenge up any food that may have landed there after they've eaten it all while the females I never see do this. But that's the only time I ever see mine near the bottom.

Hopefully someone else with comment on what may actually be the problem with your mollies. How long have they been in there?
 
Firstly thanks for your reply,

The bala shark is now more active since I have bought another, they seem to get on well, i see what you mean about size, but if they do get to big, i will transfer them to my sisters tank, an 8 footer!

The cats are doing fine, so i assume they have no problem with the little salt i added, only one tablespoon.

The mollies now have become a little active, and stay together, up near the top, i have only had the mollies a few days, i dont intend to breed them, but if it happens, then so be it...

The second bala shark i bought, looks ok, no fast breathing, but seems to always face downwards at an angle, not a large angle, it just seems to look down, but does swim ok when they swim together, mind you when it "looks" down, it seems to go for food bits... i hope this is normal, tested the water, everything seems to be ok, so i will see how it goes....

:)
 
My bala shark does that same pointing his head downward thing, so I'd assume that's normal behavior for them. They do grow rather quickly, so try not to get too attached to them. I have enjoyed mine very much and plan to get him some friends, tomorrow in fact. I'm already planning a larger tank to keep them in because I couldn't bear to get rid of him when I discovered how large he would grow. He's spoiled rotten already :D

Sounds like the mollies are coming around a bit more. They were likely just adjusting to their new home. Not sure if the tail curling is a sign of something more serious, but sounds like they were just scared and needed time to adjust.
 
Even if you don't plan on breeding the mollies, I would still trade one of the males for a female. The males will continuously hound your female until she is extremely stressed and it quite often leads to death. It is best to have AT LEAST 2 females for every male, but actually preferable to have 3 or 4 females for every male.
 
Thanks for the info people....

I have read that somewhere before already that its better to have more females than males, less harrassment!

And this is true, the female is bothered a lot by the males, so much that she ends up hiding and the males go looking....


I am thinking of getting some guppies, love the way they look, and i beleive they can go nicely with mollies, so will see today, if the shop is open!

:)
 
I have mollies and guppies together without any problems so far. I have had people tell me that the mollies can pick on the guppies at times, but so far I haven't noticed any real problems. I have one female molly that rules the tank, but she doesn't hardly ever bother the guppies. She spends most of her time chasing the other mollies away from *her* food.

I have 4 mollies (one male) and 3 guppies (one male) in a 10 gallon. I have it heavily planted along the back with silk plants. I want them to breed, but I don't really want to do all the work of seperating them and stuff. So far with zero intervention from me I have 7 healty fry that are now big enough that they can't be eaten! So far none of the guppy fry have lived. I may have to get a bigger tank for the adults and use the 10 gallon as a birthing tank so the babies stand more of a chance :D
 
Cant say i have had any probs with my mollies, but the future will tell me more....

With regard to fry, i believe you can get some sort of small tank that you can put in your tank, i think i will get one of them should my molly drop fry, they only cost a few pounds... as i am not ready to invest in another tank, not yet anyway...!
 
I got one of those little floaty tank things to put the females in, but they just seemed really stressed about being in there an unable to get to the other fish. They also pooped the little fry area below full in just one day hehe I decided that maybe that wasn't the best invention after all :)
 
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