mollies

[shediddily]

I've got some mollies and I just put "freshwater salt" in the tank. It says 1 tablespoon to every 5 gallons. Before the salt I was having pretty bad luck with them dieing...now they appear to be breeding, fry are surviving and have been around for over a month with no deaths. there are 2 clown plecos in with them and I'm pretty clear that they are freshwater not brackish... now to the questions...

1. is this enough salt for the mollies?

2. is this to much salt for the plecos?

3. can I put my guppies in with my mollies?

4. do all guppies really prefer a brackish tank?

 

[OrionGirl]

Mollies are not brackish fish. They are fresh water fish that do best in hard water. Adding salt will replicate the hard water conditions, but so would any addition, such as baking soda. 'Aquarium salt' does not create brackish conditions, it creates salted water. Like you boil pasta in.

Long term, the other fish in the system will not appreciate the increased salt in the water. You should TEST your water to determine how hard it is, and make compensations that way. Fortunately, increasing the hardness of the water is simple--add some shells to the tank, or a bit of crushed coral in a baggie.

Guppies and mollies can be kept together, how well I don't know. Guppies can tolerate a wide range of water conditions, as can mollies, but do best in hard water as well.

 

[dan521]

Brackish Mollies

Mollies are not brackish fish. They are fresh water fish that do best in hard water. Adding salt will replicate the hard water conditions, but so would any addition, such as baking soda. 'Aquarium salt' does not create brackish conditions, it creates salted water. Like you boil pasta in.

Long term, the other fish in the system will not appreciate the increased salt in the water. You should TEST your water to determine how hard it is, and make compensations that way. Fortunately, increasing the hardness of the water is simple--add some shells to the tank, or a bit of crushed coral in a baggie.

Guppies and mollies can be kept together, how well I don't know. Guppies can tolerate a wide range of water conditions, as can mollies, but do best in hard water as well.

I have had good luck in a BWT with both mollies and platies, and limited success with velvet swords. That is, until my fish store sold me a mango jack they had labelled as a "red-fin datanoid" and the little psycho bit the head off every fish smaller than he was!

But until then, they were thriving in BW, salinity 1.010. I have even seen mollies doing well in full salt.
dd