livebearer water question

[Dahlia]

I'd like to double check the info I've read and what my LFS has told me... which livebearers are good in "regular"water and which need brackish water? For example, mollies need brackish but platys don't? Do all livebearers need hard water or are some okay in soft? I know that websites/books frequently put the water conditions a fish experiences in the wild and that it may not necessarily need that in an aquarium. Also, I think I heard that some live fine in a certain water condition but their eggs won't hatch unless it mimicks the one they are used to in the wild? Since my daughter is likely to be interested in livebearers, I wanted to make sure we get all compatible fish (incidentally I do not want it to be a brackish tank).

 

[yhbae]

I have many platies and I don't use brackish setup. Mollies apparently benefit from salt but my understanding is that platies, guppies and swords don't need them, although most will probably be fine with some salt in water as well.

Most recomend slightly alkaline and hard water, but my water is soft (KH=2) and near neutral (pH=7.2). Again, I don't seem to have any water-related issues with platies.

 

[tricksterpup]

The reason why most llive bearers are kept with salt in their water because it will help them tolerate many bad conditions, few water changes and over stocking conditions. Most live bearers, this includes mollies, do NOT need salt to their water. Depending on the species, hard or soft will work for them.
here is a great artical to check out on the great molly debate that I post every once in awhile.
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/molly_salt_debate.html
This is a very helpful read for everyone with livebearers.



jim

 

[TKOS]

From what I understand platies and swordtails do not need brackish water at all, and mine don't have it. I think that Mollies in the wild live in conditions ranging from salt to fresh and can adapt to either extreme at certain points.

 

[aquariumfishguy]

With mollies, the thing that must be considered is what environment did they come from before your tank? If they kept salt in the water (and I would ask them) then I would recommend you do the same. Now, if you'd like to slowly ween them off of the salt, thats fine but to cut salt out of their water all together could cause problems being that they are somewhat of a brackish water fish.

...and as for the other livebearers out there, it has been suggested that salt can help during pregnancy but other than that, its not needed at all. And I have kept my fish in alkaline water and somewhat soft water in the past and they did fine so IME they can adjust quite well.