Molly Controversy
- Thread starter HanZsvo2
- Start date
freshwater! it must be killing you! ill tell you if i am wrong(which i am known to be everynow and then) i will mail you my ballon belly guppy fry!
I remember there being a conversation about this a while ago. Basically we came to the conclusion that mollies in the wild were brackish, but since being introduced to the hobby, have been "weaned" onto being in full freshwater. Mollies now can easily survive with no ill effects in fresh and brakish water. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but that's the conclusion we came to.
so then who is right?..i have heard that in aquariums it is actually somewhat stessfull for them to be in water with added salt ...besides for meds 
judgemax said:so then who is right?..i have heard that in aquariums it is actually somewhat stessfull for them to be in water with added salt ...besides for meds
It is stressful for other freshwater species that aren't naturally brakish to be in any type of salt water, but supposedly not for mollies since that was their native habitat.
*edit*
Wow, I've been spelling brackish wrong all this time. I knew it looked funny...
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so orrigannally they were considered brackish, but are now considered fresh? i have guppy fry ridding on this! lol
i spell stuff wrong all the time on here! half the time i dont use capitol letters, proper punctuation, and my sentances run! but hey ..its for fun for me and i know my intellegance levels are at least normal..and those who know me know that i am an idiot by choice so i hope everyone just overlooks it ...lol :OT: i know ..but it made me giggle to read that!
i spell stuff wrong all the time on here! half the time i dont use capitol letters, proper punctuation, and my sentances run! but hey ..its for fun for me and i know my intellegance levels are at least normal..and those who know me know that i am an idiot by choice so i hope everyone just overlooks it ...lol :OT: i know ..but it made me giggle to read that!
Haha, sorry about that. Your guppy fry I mean. If you have other fish in the tank, it is highly recommended that you don't add salt. It WILL stress them out.
Here is the delio, mollies do not need salt to survive. They will do perfectly fine in fresh water. However, they originally were brackish fish in the wild. They are now today able to survive in freshwater because they were introduced to the hobby so early in freshwater and have been "weaned" (I don't know how else to put this) onto it where now their ancestors ancestors ancestors were brackish, but the decendents have all been in freshwater and they have now adapted to it (the ones sold at pet stores, not the ones in the wild). So the myth is not that they aren't brackish, but that they need salt in the water. I hope that explains better.
Here is the delio, mollies do not need salt to survive. They will do perfectly fine in fresh water. However, they originally were brackish fish in the wild. They are now today able to survive in freshwater because they were introduced to the hobby so early in freshwater and have been "weaned" (I don't know how else to put this) onto it where now their ancestors ancestors ancestors were brackish, but the decendents have all been in freshwater and they have now adapted to it (the ones sold at pet stores, not the ones in the wild). So the myth is not that they aren't brackish, but that they need salt in the water. I hope that explains better.
Mollies can survive and thrive in various types of water. They are oneof the few that actually go from full fresh to full marine. The important thing is stable water choice and if the selection of water is to change then make it a slow change of no mare that 0.002 SG per every few days.