View Full Version : How many mollies in a 10 gal?
If mollies were the only kind of fish in a 10 gal tank then how many mollies would I be able to keep? It will be converted into a planted tank soon, and after my horrible guppy experiance I am looking in to some mollies instead. All I need is the appropriate numbers. I am interested in teh high fin mollies and the lyre tail mollies if that makes a different. Have never kept mollies before adn don't know how big they get.
mt_marcy
02-08-2004, 2:54 PM
general rule of thumb is....1 inch of slim bodied fish per gallon. So how many mollies could you keep safetlt in a ten gallon? I'd say no more than 5, perferably 4.....Good luck,
mt_marcy!
belmont0182
02-08-2004, 7:03 PM
you may want to look into the guppy tailed molly. i have one and when he gets flared up is is quite impressive. i love my mollys they are great fish. beware that they can be a bit agressive, you may only want 1 male in there. also mollys may want to live in brackish conditions
PumaWard
02-08-2004, 7:24 PM
I would say 3-4 mollies of the same sex. Opposite sexes will have your tank overrun in no time.. unless that's your goal. You're talking about black (includes dalmation, goldduts, and marbled) mollies, right?
Aquarius0015
02-08-2004, 7:43 PM
I think some people on this board don't even suggest keeping mollies in anything less than a 20 or 30 gallon.
Ryoken
02-08-2004, 9:24 PM
It really depends on the molly type and salt content of the water IME. If you buy a half dozen little black mollies and keep them in freshwater they wont get very large. If you get some green sailfin mollies and keep them in brackish conditions they'll get huge - way too big for a 10 gallon tank.
Have you considered Endlers livebearers or platies? Endlers are kinda like guppies and Platies come in many of the same styles as mollies (different colors though) and stay smaller.
I actually have two spawning tanks set up and people that would want the offspring. (a breeder friend and one of the lfs) Overpopulation is not going to be a problem for me once the baby guppies are moved out to their new homes.
Are their different sizes of molly then? I liked the green high fins but if they are too big I will stay away from them. Also how do you create brackish water conditions? Would the salt damage my ACmini? And how much salt in a 10gal to make it brackish. Like I said, I'm totally new to mollies.
I have seen platies, never been totally attracted to them. And have never seen Endlers livebearers. Are those the really small ones?
Thanks.
Ryoken
02-09-2004, 10:15 PM
I think there are two or three seperate species sold as "mollies." One of them (the green sailfin) gets bigger than the other one (black, marbled, platinum ect.)
As for the salt, I'm not sure how much to add. To be honest the best looking mollies I've ever seen are kept in saltwater and sold as feeders for larger marine fish at a LFS in my area. The "feeders" look way better than most mollies I've seen for sale as pets. People do keep mollies okay in pure freshwater, but IMO it's not optimal for them.
Here's a link to a pic of Endlers:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1584
PumaWard
02-10-2004, 7:30 AM
I think it's tricksterpup who has a good link concerning mollies and salt, and why they don't need it.
In the wild, mollies are collected in fresh, brackish, and full salt water, therefore they are adaptable. Most mollies bought at the LFS were raised in freshwater, therefore freshwater is best for them.
I have never kept mollies in anything but freshwater and I haven't had any problems, IMO, they can thrive without it.
Are their different sizes of molly then?
There are two mainly seen in the aquarium hobby,
Black mollies (includes balloon mollies, marbled mollies, gold dust mollies, and dalmation mollies). These guys don't usually get over 3''.
Sailfin mollies are the other, they can get up to 5'' in the aquarium.
To do a brackish tank you need to get Marine Mix and not just regular salt. Mollies seem to be able to tolerate conditons ranging from fresh to full saltwater. I would say that keeping them in freshwater is best. If your friend and the fish store are just going to keep them in fresh water as well (either as feeders or pets) then moving them in and out of water conditons isn't a great idea. It takes a long while to acclimate them to new conditons. To move them to brackish you would need to change the specific gravity of the tank maybe 0.001 per day until you reach like 1.005-1.010 or so. And if you want to keep plants then you have to keep the salt content much lower.
rhsbomberae16
02-10-2004, 12:32 PM
hey i think mollies are a great tank fish but word of cation make sure u get all females or all malews unless u want to be over run i have had mine for a couple months now and from 4 mollies i now have over two hundred...keep in minfd though i have spawning tanks/fry tanks so i have planty of room but for a ten gallon aquarium i have kept up 6 black mollies and the water conditions were perfect-not quite sure but i think mine are the smaller black mollies never grow any bigger than 2 inches however none of mine have made it past one.best of luck
Ryoken
02-10-2004, 3:32 PM
Originally posted by PumaWard
I think it's tricksterpup who has a good link concerning mollies and salt, and why they don't need it.
In the wild, mollies are collected in fresh, brackish, and full salt water, therefore they are adaptable. Most mollies bought at the LFS were raised in freshwater, therefore freshwater is best for them.
I have never kept mollies in anything but freshwater and I haven't had any problems, IMO, they can thrive without it.
I didn't really think about it when I mentioned the saltwater feeder mollies before, but thinking about it now, there's a good chance that something other than the salt makes those mollies so nice. It could be the food, they eat the same frozen food that the other saltwater fish in the store are eating and they always have algae sheets ect. in the tank to nibble on. Most mollies probably don't get the same high quality foods these get... In any case those are some nice mollies lol.
PumaWard
02-10-2004, 4:03 PM
I think that the article says that it's the hard, alkaline water that benefits them more than the salt. I wish I knew the link off hand, I'll search for it:).
The food probably also plays a factor.
Edit: Here we go
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/molly_salt_debate.html
That site was very helpfull thank you.
Our tap water is very hard and alkaline, ain't that handy? I was in the store looking at the mollies today and yes I did notice the size difference and that they are already being kept in freshwater and the other store where I send my fry keep them in fresh, and my breeder friend keeps them in fresh, so it looks like I'm going with fresh.
What do you think about this? Two trios of the smaller type OR one trio of the larger?
sigmatauntaylor
02-10-2004, 6:36 PM
I have a trio of mollies in my ten gallon and they are very active, don't know about the small or large difference I didn't know there was one (Guess that explains why they havent grown since I got them!) . My water is also very hard and alkaline and i haven't added salt, just keep the water pretty pristine and I don't feed them much.
PumaWard
02-10-2004, 6:38 PM
By larger, do you mean the sailfins? Sailfins get to big for 10g, so I wouldn't go with them.
As for the other option, I would get 4 mollies total, 1m/3f. It has been my experience that male mollies are extremely aggressive towards one another, so 2 males in a 10g might be a bad idea. Then I would get 3 otos and 3 cories or 3 kuhli loaches for the bottom.
HTH
Would the bottom feeders eat the fry? And would the loaches unearth my plants?
PumaWard
02-11-2004, 8:13 PM
No, kuhli loaches, otos and cories are all plant and fry tank safe. I would be more woried about the parents eatin the fry. HTH
tricksterpup
02-12-2004, 2:35 PM
Ok, second try at posting this. :)
Thanks Puma for posting the link. :) now I dont have to.
From my knowledge on mollies is that they like to have their room to swim around. I am from the old school and like to keep them in larger tanks, 20 gallons or larger. The more swimming space the better. This also goes for swordtails. I
I have had some males of the Poecilia sphenops, what is known as the black molly even though their natural color is siilverPicture is below , grow to be about 3 inches in length. I believe they have been crossed bred with the Sailfin molly. This is why we do find them to be a bit larger than the wild form.
http://www.fishbase.org//images/Posph_u0.jpg
here is a picture of the florida sailfin molly, Poecilia latipinna. There is a mexican species Poecilia velifera , which is the largest of the species of mollies.
http://www.fishbase.org//images/Polat_u1.jpg
As for bottom dwellers, you should be fine with what you have. I have kept cories with many of my livebearers and never had a problem. Another great cleaner I love adding for diversity is the Amano shrimp. They do a great job at cleaning alage along with the mollies. They love to munch on alage. A great food for them is diced up zuccini.
Here is a list of Great live bearers for a 10 gallon.
Guppies
Endlers
Dwarf livebearer/least killie fish Heterandria formosa, view my avator for a picture.
Merry Widows
Platies
These guys make great fish for any 10 gallon tank and are great community fish too.
jim
bozco
02-14-2004, 10:21 PM
What I thought was the sailfin at the lfs was silver in colour and had a large rectangular dorsal fin. The other mollies in the tank were black lyre tails. Does anyone have experiance with the green highfins? If I had them they'd be in my 33 gal. Are mollies from central and south america? And do they get along with angels? They might be candidates for my 33 gal instead.
tricksterpup
02-16-2004, 12:18 PM
What I thought was the sailfin at the lfs was silver in colour and had a large rectangular dorsal fin. The other mollies in the tank were black lyre tails. Does anyone have experiance with the green highfins? If I had them they'd be in my 33 gal. Are mollies from central and south america? And do they get along with angels? They might be candidates for my 33 gal instead. [/QUOTE]
In the aquarium trade today, mollies come in a large varieties of colors. I have had Sailfin mollies that are orange and black. Mollies can be found from Florida all the way down to central america, I am not sure if they are any in SA though. I would have to look that up to find that answer, but there may be few species there. As for tank mates they will be fine with Angels, but to let you know, the Angels will out grow the 33 gallon tank you own.
jim
bozco
02-16-2004, 11:45 PM
Ok, I'll find some more reading on the mollies and think about them. They are neat fish.
The angel was living in a 10 gal and has been the same size for about 6 months. If he does get too big for the 33 I will for sure trade him to my friend who will put him in a 45 or his dad's 70 something tank. But I don't think he will grow much bigger. He's about the size of my hand, fins and all. I've never seen them much bigger than he is at the moment. There are others I have seen about the size of my head but their fins are different. I'll check that out as well though. He was my second fish, before I knew anything.