How many Molly's to have in 10g tank?

Flying_Diamond said:
I think, depending on the type of mollies you have, you could keep 4 in one ten gallon tank. Just get a small 5 gallon tank or another 10 and put the babies in it untill they get to be about 4 months old, then sell them to friends, family, LFS, or give them away... That's what I do.
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4 5-6 inch fish in a 10G? bad idea. 4 would need something in the 30G range. you could keep one and one alone in a 10G tank.
 
A lot of mollies now found at places like wal-mart and lfs, don't get to be anywhere even near 4 inches, let alone 6. Mine are all 1 1/2, maybe 2 inches and they're adults... That's why I said, depending on the type of mollies.
 
Most mollies will grow to the 3-5 inch range. If they are full grown at 1-1/12 inches then they are most likey stunted. This is bad for the fish and among other things will shorten the life of the fish by a considerate amount.

Marinemom
 
Well, if they're 'stunted' then about 100 other mollies i've seen are too, and that's not my fault, it's the stores.
 
I think it may depend on weither you keep them in BW, SW, or FW to some extent. all the big mollies i've seen have been in BW. it may also be due to poor genetics as a result of inbreeding, or like she said, from stunting which is usually caused by chronic ammonia exposure from a young age, not tank size. also, balloon mollies do not get as large as regular mollies, and sailfiun mollies generally are larger than regular mollies as well, and many mollies we see are probably also govenrned by their genetics, like if they have a recent balloon molly progenitor, then they will probably be smaller, while if the have a recent sailfin progentitor they may get bigger. IMO it's still not a good idea to put more than 2 mollies in a 10G due to the fact that they can potentially reach 4-6" and are pretty big poopers.
 
The fish sold in stores are almost always yuoung fish that have not reached thier adult size. If you brought home a molly at 1.5 inches and it has not grown in 6 months or so, then it is being stunted, and you should up you water changes. On the other hand, Platies do not get as big. Are you sure that is not what you have?
 
mooman said:
The fish sold in stores are almost always yuoung fish that have not reached thier adult size. If you brought home a molly at 1.5 inches and it has not grown in 6 months or so, then it is being stunted, and you should up you water changes. On the other hand, Platies do not get as big. Are you sure that is not what you have?
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Haha, assuming you were talking to me, I'm positive they're not platies. I know most species of more common fish, and I'm sure I have mollies. I guess it could be the type of molly I have, like someone said above... They could be balloon, but I'm not sure about that, and I really don't care cause I got them from a relative as adults and I know they didn't stunt them... sooo...
 
I have had mollies in FW for a while and I have not seen a normal, healthy molly adult under 4 inches full grown. Yours are either not full grown yet(in risk of being stunted), altered by genetics, or already stunted.

Reguardless of what type of molly it is, I wouldn't put more than 2 in a 10 gal.
 
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My mollies must have been altered by genetics then, because they're full grown and not stunted... my bad.
 
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