Molly despisers, unite!

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Debisbooked

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Oct 20, 2005
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Fremont Ohio
What are black and white, grow rapidly, reproduce nonstop, eat and eliminate constantly, and do not solve algae problems like advertised? Mollies of course.

I was given two adults last fall and they have not stopped reproducing since. I stupidly kept the juvvies long enough to impregnate their mothers. (I know female mollies can hold fertilized eggs for a long time but I also know fish sex when I see it too!) :(

I make regular monthly trips to the LFS to drop off more juvvies. After the last trip I came home to find 15 more fry jauntily swimming around! I feed my fish once a day and never feed the molly fry but that doesn't stop them from growing. As far as I can tell, every baby lives to maturity. Nothing stops these fish from growing up to be mommy and daddy mollies. (BTW, I have never added salt to my 75g like most books suggest. So much for mollies needing added salt for health).

My 75g planted tank has been doing beautifully for almost two years but since the mollies came on board algae has gotten out of hand. I admit it could be a coincidence but I am blaming the mollies. Sure they eat algae but they also eliminate constantly which produces more food for the algae. I once read 'do not feed mollies or they will not eat algae'. What a laugh. Mollies are the goats of the fish world. I feed my fish (tetras, bolivian rams, and clown loaches) sparingly while holding the mollies at bay using a net. They manage to escape the net every time and virtually suck up most of the food before I can contain them again. After eating everyone else's food they happily go back to chomping on algae and producing more babies

I'm not asking for advice. I will continue to make my monthly trips to the LFS with the offspring. The proprietor welcomes free fish she can turn around and sell for pure profit to other unsuspecting hobbyists.

I am curious to see if there are any other frustrated molly people out there though....
 

Que

I wish I was a fish I wish.
Feb 15, 2007
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Southern Berkshire county, MA
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2 have turned into exactly 32 and mommy is pregnant. I'm looking at my options. Does anyone have any BIG angel fish?

Q
 

grannylvsfish

have you been bad this year ??
Dec 6, 2006
3,124
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Montana
2 have turned into exactly 32 and mommy is pregnant. I'm looking at my options. Does anyone have any BIG angel fish?

Q
I do, and he is driving me nuts!! If you lived close he would go to you in a heart beat. and I would love to have baby mollies :)
 

Jules73

AC Members
Oct 8, 2006
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I've got a couple of mollies in my community tank and I've never had a batch of fry survive, all the other fish in the tank eat them
 

Pepe

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Jan 1, 2007
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I'm not a molly fan for aesthetic reasons (I just dont find them attractive fish)but, I have been having multiple spawning episodes from three White Clouds. The good news is that few of them survive each generation. I had a shrimp for while and I think it ate the eggs. I need to get another.
 

Lupin

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Sep 21, 2006
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Lupin Information Super Highway/Goldfish Informati
thegab.org
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I've got a couple of mollies in my community tank and I've never had a batch of fry survive, all the other fish in the tank eat them
Good thing too or you'll be having bioload problems. That's why lately I have been despising livebearers. There's not much profit to get from breeding them. The fact that livebearers can breed faster and easier than anybody else actually encourages lower demand for them thus prices are cheaper as well. Oftentimes, the lfs will not take them anymore especially when they could not show profits in livebearers.
 

stepan

AC Members
May 11, 2007
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Northern California
If you are feeding your fish well...then they wont need to eat algae. When you were a kid and had a choice between cake and ice cream or some nice creamed spinach, which would you eat??? If you starve the mollies some, they will "go green"...in fact i'm so hungry right now that even creamed spinach sounds good! ;-)
 
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