Best Male:Female Molly Ratio?

Urnesha

Urnesha

AC Members
Feb 7, 2008
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My 20-gallon tank got ick last week and I lost a lot of fish. Looking back I definitely had too many fish in the tank but I had been spoilt by my 10-gallon tanks which have guppies and platies and were happy though a little crowded. In any case after getting the problem under control I now have 8 mollies and 2 small Glo-fish left in the tank. 7 of the mollies are female and I'm wondering if that's too many for the lone male to handle? :)
 
Seven males to one male is fine. generally you want at least 3-5 females or more for each male. He should be fine in fact he should be very happy.

Marinemom
 
Ah! Good to know! I didn't know whether he would be happy or stressed by having all these females to 'service'. :) I'm also thinking that I need another female Glo-fish. Right now I have two one male and one female and the male keeps harassing the female all day long.
 
Glo-fish are schooling fish. They will be happier in a proper school. I would add more of them and then that will give the one glo-fish a break from the chasing male.

Marinemom
 
I started with 4 Glo-fish (I had 10 mollies and several neon tetras so my tank was already over stocked) but 2 of the Glo-fish died the same night I bought them. Since then all the neon tetras died (the catfish ate most of them before he died during the ick phase) and the Mollies are down to 8 so maybe I have space for more Glo-Fish but I'm scared of over-stocking. Also, this tank has fairly new and I didn't yet know about cycling and all that so I don't think I have enough good bacteria in it yet.

All that to say: 'Scared to add more fish!!'. lol
 
Urnesha said:
Ah! Good to know! I didn't know whether he would be happy or stressed by having all these females to 'service'. :) I'm also thinking that I need another female Glo-fish. Right now I have two one male and one female and the male keeps harassing the female all day long.
Click to expand...
with mollies, the females willbe happy they dont get his attention all of the time...:D
 
Urnesha said:
7 of the mollies are female and I'm wondering if that's too many for the lone male to handle? :)
Click to expand...

That's a very happy male molly you have there. :naughty:

More seriously, mollies can hit 4" apiece, so they might be a bit overcrowded there, depending on the filtration you have and how you handle your water changes.
 
Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. My filter system right now is just a regular TopFin 30 but I plan on getting a better one soon. I doing small water changes every 5 days or so with my other tanks. This tank has been trouble from day 1 (which was 2 weeks ago :) ) so it's been getting about 20% change every 2 days or thereabouts. I have a lot to figure out with this tank though. I have some live plants in it and most are happy but one is dying so I have to read up on live plants, filters etc etc.
 
don't buy a better filter and switch them, just buy another one. having two on a tank not only provides more area for bacteria to colonize, but is a safety net in case one fails for some reason.
 
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