mollies

[jadefoodog]

ok i wan the good the bad and the ugly about mollies

i was lookign at filters and stuff for the tank ima plant like mad and i saw some beutiful lyre tail mollies there was a pretty gold one and a silver one i loved. and i heard they can be agressive so theres no chance of them getting in my tank i got right now.

but when i get a 55 im going to move all my inhabitants i got to it and i was thinkin the thing said mollies only get like 3 inches long so i could put 2 in my 5 gallon. you think they would be ok.

i just dont want to go blindly into it when i do

 

[Holly9937]

Honestly, I wouldn't keep 2 in any less than a 10g. They get to be really fat fish as well, which should be taken into account, and are really active. IMO a 5g is just too small for them. But, I bet you could put them in your 55 provided you have the room. Mollys can be a bit aggressive when cramped, but a 55g should be more than enough room for them

 

[jadefoodog]

hmm thats exactly why i asked. i didnt know that.

nah im not gonna put them in my 55 gallon im putting only the most friendly fish in there bassically a slightly larger assortment of whats in my 5 g now

ima put in my cories and my shrimp and i think im going to add a bunch of zebra danios im gonna add a couple more kinds of corys too ill probably ut in some female only guppies too. then if i ever get bored ill add a male.

 

[Kissofthegorami]

Mollies get 4" in length and need to be in a group of at least two prefereably more. I would say a 29 gallon is minimum.

There are only three species of mollies sold and all are hybrids of those three. Poeciliidae Sphenops, Velifera and Latipinna. All of them have the same color morphs... black, white, silver, red, orange, yellow, brown, green, blue flecks, and anything in between. The different shapes can be found in all of them too... short finned, sail finned, lyritail, balloon.

Mollies are peaceful fish. Like any fish u can get the random male who can be a bully. But overall mollies get along with any fish that wont eat it. Ideally mollies do best with fish that alos like hard alkaline water but they are adaptable to water conditions. Mollies don't "school" but they are very gregarious fish who need the company of other mollies. You must have two females to every male. Great tank mates are guppies, platies, and swordtails.

Mollies DONT need salt. Its a myth that wont go away. Salt is pushed by the aquarium trade. Aquarium salt isn't even the kind of salt mollies would be found in, that would be marine salt. As I spoke of before, for a while the black mollies became a weaker species because of so much industry in breeding. So people found that the addition of salt would keep them alive longer and fight diseases and fungus. Really salt just covers up and delays the effects of poor water conditions. Mollies live very happily and for a long time with no salt. The salt myth stays because in the wild mollies are found in freshwater, brackish, and even open ocean. They have developed this adaption because they live in areas of frequent flooding and often get swept out into the ocean. You can adapt your mollies to full saltwater and keep them in a reef tank. Mollies main habitat though is freshwater. If anything abou adding salt, mollies benefit from the added hardness so marine salt or cichlid salt would be much more benefitial to add than aquarium salt. Adding aquarium salt is basically useless.