Mollies and salt

H

hadjici2

AC Members
Jun 24, 2005
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Do mollies really need some salt in their water?

I bought some from my local pet shop and they told me that its ok not to put salt, they said that they are used to not having salt I quess because they were born that way....Do you believe I should put some salt? If yes how much? I have plants as well in my tank, wouldn't the salt hurt them?
 
Mollies dont NEED salt. They prefer it. I wouldn't recommnend it for your situation though, because if the pet store didn't lie, then they wouldn't need salt. However, when there are medical problems, the salt treatment is very effective.

Isaac
 
I have a 120 littre planted tank with tw omale and two female mollies....one mollie is pregnant now....do I need to get her out of the tank or leaving her in the planted tank with just the other 3 mollies will be fine?
 
Well, the answer depends really on if you want to keep the fry or not. mollies will eat their own fry. Some may make it anyway since it is planted. If you want to save the maximum number of fry then yes, a seperate tank is a good idea, but only if it is already cycled. Otherwise, you're simply putting weak, young fish into a cycle and that's just asking for trouble.
 
Mollies don't need salt. The largest variety... its the one with the V name right? The ones with the really large sail fins supposedly prefer salt. The other more common varieties don't need it at all. One reason some people prefer to add salt is that black mollies seem to always get ich and fungus. So they use the salt to prevent it. A lot of mollies (they're going the way of guppies) are so inbred that they are no longer hardy. This isn't my experience. They just need a planted tank with other mollies. If you have just mollies, swords, and platties, you could add salt but if it is a community tank, I would not. Moving a pregnant molly can be problematic because they have a tendancy to wig out when moved and left by themselves in a change tank. They will sometimes abort the babies. I always keep the babies in with the adults and alway have lots of survivors. Outside I have a small pond full of baby mollies swimming very boldly amongst adult mollies and goldfish! Mollies are lazy and would prefer to pick at algae than hunt down the fry. Most will survive, especially if you put a sponge over the filter intake. Heavily planted tanks with floating plants greatly increase fry survival. ... btw my mollies are salt free.
 
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This is a very good article, http://tcoletti.tripod.com/molly_salt_debate.html If harlock didn't post i would have.. like now. :D
But Poecilia latipinna , the Sail fin Molly,have been found in all types of water. These guys are native to the South Eastern USA and readily breed in fresh water. I never had problems with these guys.
poecilia_latipinna.jpg
 
How many days does the female mollie remain pregnant before giving birth? Approximately from the day I observed she was pregnant when should I expect the fry?

I thought of keeping the pregrant mollie permanently in that special net for giving birth in the tank until the fry is born.....would that be ok if she stays all the time in that net?
 
Mollies don't really NEED salt to survive, however, they do much better with 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons! It keeps them happier too! And will help them to breed, if that's what you wanted them to do!

**Make sure you use AQUARIUM SALT! :)

Good Luck!
 
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