Some advice about mollies for you 
times darkred
Dear Onna,
First of all, I have several ideas why you're little guys are dying on you
One reason is because you should never buy any ank under 20 gallons as a natural balance is VERY hard to maintain in a tank that small. You'll never have proper heating because in tanks that small, the lighting is usually incandescent which can raise the water temp by 10 degrees in a small 10-15 gallon tank. It's just too hard to maintain and raise fish in a tank that size because you will find yourself either constantly maintaining it everyday such as water changes to maintain the clarity and purity of the water and proper ph levels. Also when a fish dies and remains in the tank, it causes a ph spike in the water and will cause the other fish to become irrate towards each other when they realize hey, what's going on here this water is too hot and I don't feel so hot now. One other reason they could be dying on you is because mollies are VERY sensitive to lighting and if you leave your lights on more than 10 hours a day, algae will be a constant problem not only having to remove it, but also having the problem of brown slime algae due to too much light during the day. The best thing to do is to leave the lights in your tank on in 10 hour cycles everyday, turning the lights on at around 6-7 pm and shutting them off when you wake up or at 4-5 am, allowing natural sunlight to fall on the tank during the day but making sure the tank is not in direct sunlight as this will cause you nothing but grief and serious SERIOUS algae problems. Another thing you HAVE to make sure of is when the molly fry are in a divider or a fry pod ( a little plastic device which sits in the top corner of your tank) that the water doesn't get too warm because yes fry pods can be useful to save the babies from predators, however they provide no ventilation whatsoever and the water becomes stale and stagnant in the pod and this will kill them without any doubt. However the best advice I can give you is to upgrade to a larger tank (20-40 gallons) that way, you'll have the benefit of flourescent lighting and being able to maintain proper heat levels ALOT easier than in your current tank. One other thing about mollies I've heard, they are a brackish water fish and they benefit from adding salt to the aquarium believe it or not. Talk to your local pet store about what kind of salt to use and how much to add into the tank as well they can help you out I'm sure
I have heard horror stories about mollies being canniballistic when other males go near the females fry, she becomes very sensitive and in the worst case scenarios she will eat most of her fry whih I know is hard to believe, but think of it this way. If you had a newborn child and a bunch of hells angels came into your home when your husband was minding his own business and started trying to have sex with you I'm more than sure desperate measures would have to be taken right ??
Onna, best of luck with your Mollies and honestly if I were you, talk to a reputable fish breeder or go onto the net and see if you can find a list of breeders and send them an e-mail and tell them the probs you've been having and make sure you give them all info about when they were born and how they looked and your tank specs ok ??? Take it easy and if you wanna let me know what happens, my e-mail is
high_flyer19@hotmail.com if you wanna let me know when you get some time
Take it easy and like I said before, talk to a dealer about it they can give some pretty good advice sometimes. Happy fishkeeping Onna and good luck in the future and one other thing I can tell you, NEVER feed your fish more than they eat in ten minutes and always ALWAYS remove any leftovers as uneaten food will also cause the ph levels to rise and always change 20% of the aquarium water in your tank twice a week because if you think about it, fish can't live in the same water day after day for years and years. Bye for now and good luck with your Mollies, I wish you the best and hope your problems do not go on this way
Bye for now ......
With Best Regards,
FISHGUY_CA
