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| FAQs on the Molly
Systems/Maintenance Related Articles:
Mollies, & Poeciliids: Guppies, Platies, Swordtails, Mollies
by Neale Monks, Livebearing Fishes
by Bob Fenner,
Related FAQs: Mollies 1, Mollies 2,
Molly Identification FAQs,
Molly Behavior FAQs,
Molly Compatibility FAQs,
Molly Selection FAQs,
Molly Feeding FAQs,
Molly Disease FAQs,
Molly Reproduction FAQs,
Livebearers, Guppies,
Platies, Swordtails,
|
Need hard, alkaline water, many times with a modicum of
salts... and a dearth of metabolite concentration.
|
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Excerpted from:
Five Almost Perfect Fishes; Great
fish for the community aquarium, except for one little thing… by Neale Monks
Black mollies, Poecilia hybrids
The good:
Hardy, friendly fish full of charm, they even eat algae!
The bad:
Needs hard, alkaline water
Top
of my list of almost perfect fish has to be the black molly. It’s a
spectacular fish when kept in a planted tank, the velvety black making a
bold contrast with the green leaves. Even with more brightly coloured
fish, it holds its own, and makes a superb companion for things like
fancy platies and swordtails. Few other freshwater fish are as jet black
as these mollies, and most of them are nocturnal. Even cichlids keepers
— usually spoiled for choice when it comes to colours — don’t have
anything like the black molly; it’s a truly unique fish. Like people,
the physically most attractive fish aren’t always the ones with the
nicest personalities, but the black molly is every bit as friendly as it
is beautiful. They won’t even harm livebearer fry. Despite their
peaceable natures mollies are remarkably bold, and will settle into a
new aquarium almost at once, making them great dither fish for
encouraging more nervous fish like cichlids and gouramis to come out
from their hiding places. It gets even better — mollies are very
tolerant of nitrites, making them an excellent choice for maturing new
tanks. Provided you don’t overfeed them, they’ll handle the entire
filter maturation process without any problems; they are particularly
valued in this regard by marine aquarists who use them instead of
more delicate (and expensive) reef species. The icing on the cake is
that mollies are fond of algae, and will happily graze on any green and
thread algae in the aquarium. While certainly not in the same league as
plecs or Siamese algae eaters (Crossocheilus
siamensis), they do have an impact, and are especially good at
cleaning delicate leaves where the larger, clumsier species can’t
reach.
Really, the only shortcoming to the black molly is its need for hard,
alkaline water. Of course, this isn’t really a problem for aquarists in
the South East, and is in fact something of a plus. Unlike all those
neons and dwarf cichlids that demand soft and acidic water to do well,
here’s one fish that just loves standard issue London tap water.
However, if you are keeping a soft water aquarium or have a planted tank
with CO2 fertilisation, chances are the hardness and pH will
be too low for the black molly. Ideally, this molly wants a pH of at
least 7.5 and the water does need to be at least moderately hard. The
addition of salt isn’t strictly necessary, but many people have found
that it does help to keep mollies healthy and free of diseases like
fungus and fin-rot; in this case, raising the specific gravity to around
1.002-1.005 will do the trick nicely and allow you to mix in a few
brackish water fish as well. |
Caring for mollies 12/30/08
First, let me say that your site is wonderfully helpful. I am brand new to
caring for fish and have spent hours upon hours on the internet looking for
help, and this is the first truly helpful site I have found.
<Thanks for the
kind words.>
Two weeks ago, I inherited a 30 gallon aquarium with 23 or so
small fish. 3 are male black mollies, about 20 are Dalmatian mollies (more
females than males, although it's difficult to count them), and two small fish
that I can't seem to identify. I have searched the internet and asked at the
local pet store, but no one seems to know. They are orange, about an inch long,
and they have a few very thin white stripes running the length of their bodies,
and round bellies. Their fins are almost transparent. (Also--one of the
Dalmatians is a baby, not quite 3 weeks old).
<Quite possibly "balloon"
Mollies.>
The person who had the fish before me did not take proper care of
them. The filter had never been changed (at least 6 months), the water was
rarely changed, and the fish were being seriously overfed. They died regularly,
and they were regularly replaced with new fish. I was told that only two (the
orange ones) are "originals," and that there have been two successful
pregnancies. Most of the first fry survived (12 fish, I think), and only one
from the second. I don't know if that information makes a difference....
<Oh
dear. Do start here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Maintenance of Mollies is not difficult, but frequently "done wrong".>
I am
doing my best to keep up with the cleaning--thankfully, I have not
lost any
fish. I took some water to the local pet store and a "fish expert" there tested
the water and told me everything looked good, and that I should change 10% of
the water once a month
<Too little... 25% weekly more sensible. The "10% per
month" is how the hobby was done 25 years ago. We've moved on... and the fish
live longer for it.>
and add bacteria like StressZyme
<Redundant... he's
trying to sell you stuff... Once the bacteria in the filter are established,
they'll last the lifetime of the tank. No need to add more.>
and a handful of
salt with each water change.
<A "handful"? Pretty meaningless. Instead, go
for 5-6 grammes of marine salt mix per litre.>
She also showed me how to
change the filter (which was disgusting, as it had never been changed before).
<Every couple months, give the filter media a rinse in a bucket of water taken
from the tank.>
I have been keeping up with everything as instructed. The
male black mollies were very aggressive,
<Yes, male Mollies are...>
and
the pet store suggested that I get 3 female black mollies for them to mate with.
I was relieved when the aggression completely stopped, in less than a day. (So
now there are, I believe, 26 fish).
<OK.>
Also: the water temperature
fluctuates between 76 and 78 degrees.
<No big deal.>
The heater is on as
high as it goes. There are also some live plants, one fake plant, and two
decorative items, all of which the fish LOVE. I was told the rocks weigh about
40 pounds, but I am not sure if that is correct.
<Oh.>
The day before
yesterday, the fish started acting sluggish. They weren't really swimming much
(other than two of the males who are constantly trying to mate). Most of them
have not been interested in food, either. I am extremely careful not to overfeed
them. I had changed the water about a week and a half before, but I thought
something might be wrong with it. I tested it today, and the nitrate and nitrite
levels were both high ("unsafe" according to my test strip comparison chart). I
followed the directions for adding salt and bacteria, and I changed about 25% of
the water according to what I read on this site. In 5-10 minutes, the fish
completely perked up! As I had cleaned out the debris from all the food they
hadn't eaten, I fed them again and they ate with appetite. I was happy to see
this.
<Mollies are highly sensitive to Nitrate, and in freshwater tanks tend
to get sick at nitrate levels above 20 mg/l. Nitrite and ammonia are both toxic
to them, but in brackish and marine conditions they tend to be much hardier.
Changing water reduces concentrations of all three chemicals, hence the fish
"perk up". Marine salt mix contains sodium chloride, and to some degree this
detoxifies these chemicals as well. Plain aquarium salt (the kind not used in
marine tanks) does this too, but it doesn't have the second benefit of
regulating water chemistry by raising the carbonate hardness, hence my advice to
opt for marine salt mix, and not to waste your time with aquarium (tonic) salt.>
But now, several hours later, I tested the water again just to make sure it's
okay. The levels seem to have gotten worse. This is what the strip reads:
Nitrate: between 80 and 160
<Extremely bad.>
Nitrite: between 1.0 and 3.0
<Dangerous.>
Hardness: 150
Alkalinity: around 80
pH: between 7.8 and
8.4
<pH variation is too much; marine salt mix at the dose described above
will fix this.>
Another thing I have noticed, in the past week or so, they
have been spending a lot of time near the surface. They splash a lot, which is
something they did not do before. The past couple days, they would crowd
together up at the top of the aquarium, barely moving, until one would "jerk"
and the others would literally jump to get away. Since I changed the water
today, they haven't done this at all, but there is still a good deal of
splashing.
<The water quality is extremely poor. The tank may be overstocked,
but is certainly under-filtered and not receiving enough water changes. Unless
there is zero ammonia/nitrite, and sub-50 mg/l levels of nitrate, your water
isn't safe.>
What should I do? Forgive me if the answers are elsewhere on
your site.
<They are; but do start at the Mollies article listed above.>
I
have tried to read it thoroughly, but there is terminology I do not understand.
I am so completely new to this! For now, the fish seem okay--worlds better than
before. They are swimming around, and about half of them are pecking at the
gravel, looking for food. I am just concerned about the results of the water
test. Any help you can offer I really appreciate.
Thank you!
<Most
welcome.>
Amelia
<Cheers, Neale.>
Black mollies... Hlth., sys. 11/14/08
hi i have two black mollies and one has white
discoloration on him and i
understand it could be a fungus and i should do a 50% water change and use
Maroxy to help and add a tea spoon of salt to my tank but im worried for my
other fish i also have guppies and other mollies and platys will the Maroxy or
the salt harm them?
<Greetings. Guppies, Mollies and Platies will all do well
in brackish water. Maintain this aquarium at SG 1.003 (6 grammes, about one
teaspoon, or MARINE salt mix per litre of water). Understand this: aquarium or
cooking salt won't help. You need to be using marine salt mix, i.e., products
like Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals. These not only add salt, but also raise the
pH and hardness levels. Black Mollies, and indeed all Mollies, do best in
brackish water and almost always get sick in precisely the way you describe when
kept in freshwater tanks.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Questions (Mollies; community tanks; water
chemistry) 10/21/08
Hello, hope things are going well for you today. I have a couple of questions,
please. First, when purchasing swords and/or mollies I know it is best to have
several female to one male, but if you have say 2 species of mollies, is it OK
to get 1 male of each species or do you just get 1 male molly period?
<Males of all livebearer species fight with each other. It's your call whether
you keep a single male or a dozen males where no one fish can become dominant.
But twos or threes rarely work, with one male becoming dominant and the others
being terrorised. Personally, I like my fish to be happy, and would ALWAYS
recommend keeping livebearers in groups of one male to two or more females, and
multiples thereof. If that doesn't appeal because you want "one of everything in
the shop", then don't keep livebearers.>
Also, please tell me the ratio of male to female for rainbowfish and how to tell
the difference.
<With rainbowfish you can't normally sex juveniles of most species. There are
exceptions like Glossolepis incisus. In any event, you want equal numbers of
both to minimise bullying and ensure the males colour up once they mature. So
buy six, three of each sex if possible.>
Lastly, do you feel mollies are fairly hardy fish to keep for beginners?
<Absolutely not. Mollies are extremely difficult to keep in freshwater and would
never, EVER recommend them to beginners with a freshwater tank. At best, 50% of
them seem to get sick or die when kept in freshwater. Please review our Molly
FAQs for some of the horror stories. If you don't want to keep a brackish water
community, don't keep Mollies. There are plenty of other large livebearers.
Swordtails look great, though the males are even more aggressive. Limia
nigrofasciata is a lovely fish with a "sail fin" and the males get a humped back
that makes them look quite funky.>
I know they require a higher PH than some fish. Could I keep them with
rainbowfish and Corys and a couple of Kribs, and if so, what would you recommend
for the ph to be?
<Rainbowfish, Kribs and Mollies could all be kept in a slightly brackish water
aquarium at SG 1.003, pH 7.5 or so. The only problem is that when the Kribs
breed (which they will!) you will get mostly male fry because sex is determined
by pH. If you were going brackish, I'd actually recommend Etroplus maculatus as
a colourful, hardy cichlid for the community tank.>
I know they sell stuff to make it neutral.
<Unless you're an expert fishkeeper, don't even think about altering water
chemistry. The fact you've asked about pH and not hardness suggests to me you
don't understand the topic. Realise this: pH is not important, hardness is. We
measure pH because it's easy, not because it's important. Beginners often
mistake pH for something fish care about, but they don't. Most fish can tolerate
a wide range of pH values without complaint. But they are often much more
specific about hardness.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
Much better to find out whether you have hard or soft water, and then select
your fish accordingly.>
Thanks so much.
James
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Questions (Mollies; community
tanks; water chemistry) 10/21/08
Hi Neale,
<James,>
So as far
as livebearers go, if I have 2 different types, say swords and platies I can get
a male for each type as long as I have several females of the same type, i.e. 1
male sword-3females and 1 male platty-3 females?
<Correct.>
Not just 1
male period for the whole group?
<Like one male Swordtail and two female
Platies? That would work, too.>
Also if I have 3 different species of swords
<All the traded Swordtails are a single species, just different varieties. Like
Dobermans and Poodles are all dogs, however different they look.>
would I be
able to get 1 male of each species with several females of each or just 1 male
sword period?
<So long as you have one Xiphophorus helleri male and multiple
Xiphophorus helleri females, it doesn't matter if they're Red Swordtails, Green
Swordtails or whatever.>
Do I have to have brackish water for rainbowfish and
Kribs?
<Nope; both these fish prefer neutral, moderately hard water. They
just happen to tolerate slightly brackish water.>
If so I will disregard them
because I want to keep cories and I have read that since they are scaleless they
cannot tolerate salt.
<Corydoras will tolerate small amounts of salt (SG
1.001-1.002) just fine according to the likes of Dave Sands, noted catfish
expert. That said, for the brackish water aquarium I'd always recommend the
salt-tolerant catfishes such as Hoplosternum littorale. The "absence of scales"
is irrelevant, since lots of marine fish, like eels and sharks and puffers have
no scales.>
When picking out a pair of Kribs do I have to get 1 male and 1
female or will 2 of the same sex be OK?
<Both males and females can be
aggressive. Therefore it's best to get a boy and girl, and let them pair off.
Singletons are fine, by the way, and a group of females wouldn't be a bad idea.
Since the girls are prettier than the boys, there's no loss. I keep a female
Pelvicachromis taeniatus in one of my community tanks.>
And do you feel Kribs
are ok for beginners or should I get another kind of cichlid?
<They're one of
the best "beginner" cichlids. There are others though; do read around. Cheers,
Neale.>
Do you recommend putting
aquarium salt in a fw tank?
<Not unless you're keeping brackish water fish,
no. Cheers, Neale.>
So if I get 2 or
3 females of the Kribs that would be OK?
<Should be just fine. There might be
some scuffles over hiding places, but nothing too serious. Introduce them all at
the same time to minimise the chances of any one fish becoming a bully.
Obviously they won't breed, but that's no loss; breeding Kribs is just too easy,
and most pet stores will reach saturation point of baby Kribs before too long!
Cheers, Neale.>
Please tell me the
best way to dechlorinate my tap water before making water changes in fw tank. I
read an article on your site but was kind of confused.
<In what way were you
confused? Seems pretty obvious to me: add dechlorinator as instructed on the
bottle. If your water has chloramine in it (your water supply can tell you this)
be sure and use a dechlorinator that treats chloramine (most do these days, so
it's not really a big deal).>
Also, what type of resin or carbon is best for
chemical filtration?
<In freshwater tanks, chemical media are largely
redundant, except in a few exceptional circumstances. For most community tanks
it's best to concentrate on biological and mechanical filtration. Cheers,
Neale.>
Re: Questions (Mollies; community
tanks; water chemistry) 10/22/08
Hello Neale,
<James,>
Please excuse me
for all of the questions. I was not trying to be rude. I suffer form OCD and
when I get going on a particular thing it is hard to stop.
<Oh, okay.>
Not
making excuses. Just letting you know I really am one of the most polite people
around. Have a good day!!
James
<No harm done. Have a good day yourself!
Cheers, Neale.>
Balloon
Mollies - One of 'em not mixing (Behaviour; environment?)
10/17/08
Hi,
<Hello,>
We've recently bought three balloon mollies (One male, two
female). The male and one of the females are instantly pals, always shadowing
each other and playing.
<No, they're not playing. The male is trying to mate,
and more than likely the female is trying not to! It's always dangerous to
anthropomorphise when talking about animal behaviour. Most animals I know get
very offended when I assume they think like humans!>
They were quick to begin
exploring the tank after being introduced. The other female however, does not
join them. She seems to spend a lot of time against one side of the tank. She's
not up at the surface, nor hiding from sight. She just keeps going up and down
as if she's searching for a way out. They are the first 3 fish in a 30 gallon
tank. The water properties are good (7.5ph, 0.25ppm nitrate current, 81 degrees
F)
<Hmm... do you really mean "0.25 ppm nitrate"? That's very low, and not
many consumer-grade test kits register such tiny amounts. If that's 0.25 ppm
nitrite (note the "I" in there, as opposed to the "a" in nitrate) then we have a
whole different ball game. Mollies are incredibly sensitive to nitrite,
particularly if (unwisely) you have opted to keep them in freshwater conditions
(which, frankly, hardly ever works out well). If you have a nitrite level that
is detectable, then you have too much, and Mollies respond by getting sick, and
then dying. Consider them "miner's canaries" if you like. If this is a new
aquarium, I'd heartily recommend switching to slightly brackish conditions by
adding marine salt mix (Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, etc.) at a dose of, say,
4-6 grammes per litre. Sodium chloride has a useful property of undoing some of
the damage caused by ammonia and nitrite, and marine salt mix also contains
other minerals that buffer the pH and hardness. Net result, Mollies thrive
instead of survive. This low dose won't harm your filter. Since Balloon Mollies
shouldn't be mixed with any other type of fish, the fact you're adding salt
isn't an issue in terms of tankmates. Problem solved.>
Now, she is white and
the other two are black, can that be an issue? (the two black ones seem to
gently 'recruit' her away from the side of the tank from time to time)
<Nope;
all the same species, or likely hybrid.>
Also, she is significantly more
plump then the other two. If she's pregnant, will she be anti-social?
<Nope.>
Thank you in advance,
Nick
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Balloon Mollies - One of 'em not
mixing (Behaviour; environment?) 10/19/08
Hi
Thanks for the prompt reply.
<Most welcome.>
First off, I did mean 0.25ppm Nitr[I]te. I'll admit, we only
allowed the new tank about a week and a half of cycling before getting the
mollies. We figured three of them in a 30 gallon would help speed the cycling
process (with daily partial water changes until it settled).
<Then that's why
your Mollies aren't well. Case closed. Mollies just don't tolerate nitrite or
ammonia well, at least not in freshwater conditions.>
As far as the salt
goes, we have very slightly brackish water (about half the recommended treatment
- so a tablespoon per 10 gallons) as we did intend for this to be a community
tank.
<This isn't "slightly brackish" anything. Slightly brackish is around
SG 1.003-1.005, 6-9 grammes per litre. Six grammes of salt is about one level
teaspoon, and one US gallon is 3.75 litres. So if my math is correct, SG 1.003
is about 22.5 grammes of marine salt mix per US gallon, or just under four
teaspoons of marine salt mix per US gallon. Ten US gallons would therefore need
4 x 10 teaspoons = 40 teaspoons, and 40/3 = 13.3 tablespoons of marine salt mix.
Your dose of salt is quite obviously not nearly enough to make a difference. I
just can't stress strongly enough how important it is for Mollies to be kept --
long term -- in brackish water.>
(plans were for two angels, three mollies
and 5 or 6 medium tetras/Danios/somethin'rathers)
<Forget it. Mollies don't
work with these fish. Instead look for other brackish water (or at least salt
tolerant) tankmates. Very many options, including Guppies, Halfbeaks, Limia,
gobies, sleepers, certain cichlids, even certain catfish. Plenty on brackish
water species at WWM.>
However!... The white molly I wrote to you about gave
birth and now she is social with the other two. Shortly thereafter, the black
female went into hiding on the gravel, under a log and later that day, she
started birthing too. I'm sure a number of 'em got eaten but we have spotted and
netted 18 fry in all. We don't have a separate tank for 'em so I'm keeping them
in the breeder trap for now.
<Cool.>
I guess I'll add the bit more salt
and just look forward to watching some of these little ones grow up instead of
getting other fish. lol Will they be okay in the breeder trap until they are
large enough to swim free with the adults?
<The babies will be fine with
their parents once about 1.5 cm long, which should only take 6 weeks or so.>
Nick
<Cheers, Neale.>
I have a new white Molly in
my aquarium. 9/25/08
<Freshwater or brackish? Do
review the needs of this horribly misunderstood species.>
It has been in the tank for a
few days and seems to continually slide up and down one side of the
glass in the tank. The ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0 and under
4mg/l respectively nitrates at zero.
<Nitrites are FAR too high.
Mollies are extremely intolerant of nitrite. If this is a freshwater
tank, ammonia and nitrite should both be zero. In brackish to marine
conditions (SG 1.003 upwards) Mollies will tolerate a bit more nitrite
for a short while, but certainly you shouldn't be allowing this level to
go above 0.5 mg/l. Be under no illusions on this: Mollies cannot be used
to cycle freshwater tanks. Their mortality record under such conditions
is incredibly high.>
I was wondering if it had something to do with
the reflection in the glass. The tank is roughly 60l or 15 US gallons.
<Too small for Mollies. Please do review the needs of fish before
purchase; Mollies are difficult to keep at the best of times, and really
aren't sensible choices for tanks under 30 gallons.>
Any advice
regarding this behavior?
thanks Bruce
<Cheers, Neale.>
Molly question, sys. mostly 9/20/08
Hi -
I recently got 2 black mollies and 1 orange molly for my 8 gal. tank. The 2
blacks swim around together but the little orange one seems depressed - it comes
out to eat, swims around by itself for awhile, and then goes down and sits on
the bottom of the tank. It's fins move fine and there is no discoloration on its
body. Someone told me it could be lonesome. Could this be true? I'm new to fish
and would be happy to get it a friend.
Thanks
<Hello Sharon. Mollies don't get "lonesome" as such; they are gregarious to some
degree, but not compulsively so. Since you have three mollies already, they
should all be fine. Now, the thing with Mollies is this: they're delicate and
one of the first signs of ill-health is something called Shimmying, essentially
where they stay in one place, often resting on the bottom, sometimes rocking,
but almost always flapping their fins. It looks like they're treading water. So,
if you have a Molly that isn't swimming about all the time, ideally grazing
algae from rocks and plants, you may well (most probably) have a problem.
Mollies need a big tank for a start: 8 gallons is simply not viable. You will
need at tank AT LEAST three times that size to even begin to provide them with
the space and water quality they need. Next up, they don't do well in plain
freshwater, at least not in aquaria. You need to monitor in particular hardness
and pH. Because most folks like to keep things simple, the easiest way to
provide the right water chemistry is to add marine salt mix (not "tonic salt" or
"aquarium salt"). Go ask your retailer for a box of salt of the sort used in
marine aquaria. That's what you NEED. Add 6 grammes per litre of water each time
you do a water change. That will make the aquarium slightly brackish, and your
Mollies will be MUCH easier to keep. Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Measuring salinity for mollies
7/29/08
Dear WetWebMedia crew,
I'm preparing to set up an aquaria hub in my living room for breeding mollies. I
want to try and keep the salinity around 20-25%, but I want to know how I can be
sure of this during a water change.
<25% seawater corresponds to about SG 1.005, or 7.5 grammes of salt per litre of
water. If you download my Brack Calc program (Mac/Win) you can see how these
three measurements are related to one another and to temperature.
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Programs/brackcalc.html
Estimating the salinity this way is not very accurate though, because an opened
box of salt absorbs moisture, and that in turn makes each gramme of salt mix
actually rather less in terms of salt because some of that weight is water. So
in practise you need a hydrometer or refractometer. A basic floating glass
hydrometer costs about $5 and is accurate enough for this type of work *if used
correctly*.>
If I measure the water I am removing, and replace it with the same amount
pre-treated with the appropriate amount of salt; the salinity will be roughly
the same, right?
<Correct. The important thing is to remember to REPLACE water taken out with
brackish water, but TOP UP EVAPORATION with freshwater, because the water that
evaporates doesn't take salt with it.>
Thanks,
Nick
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Measuring salinity for mollies
7/29/08
Thanks for the tip! But one last thing-
>>Correct. The important thing is to remember
>>to REPLACE water taken out with brackish water,
>>but TOP UP EVAPORATION with freshwater, because
>>the water that evaporates doesn't take salt with
>>it.
Right so if I understand right, when I'm doing a water change, I want to replace
with prepared brackish water, but if I'm just replacing evaporated water, I
should use dechlorinated tap water.
<Correct. This is exactly the same for marine fishkeeping, by the way.>
Also, what's the safest way to take fish from the home to the LFS for trading
purposes?
<I use 3 to 5 gallon buckets with lids. But you can also re-use any plastic bags
left over from when you bought some fish. Big (multi-litre) food containers can
be used too. It doesn't really matter what you use, so long as the fish has
enough oxygen and isn't exposed to huge temperature changes.>
Cheers,
Nick
<Cheers, Neale>
Re: Measuring salinity for mollies
7/29/08
I noticed you all get this Q allot, but I noticed some inconsistency. For
mollies, if I want to keep them in brackish water, will using API Aquarium salt
raise the salinity or should I be using a marine salt mix, like Instant Ocean
(the only one that I've seen at various LFS) instead?
Cheers,
Nick
<For brackish water fish generally, you want to use standard marine salt mix
(Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, etc.) rather than tonic salt in the aquarium.
Why? Marine salt mix contains not just sodium chloride but also a lot of
carbonate/bicarbonate salts that raise the alkalinity and stabilise the pH, two
things that Mollies and other brackish water fish really appreciate. Tonic salt
(e.g., API Aquarium salt) is almost entirely sodium chloride, and while useful
as a therapy (e.g., for treating Whitespot or doing "saltwater dips") it isn't a
worthwhile long-term additive to the aquarium. To be fair, if you already have
hard to very hard water with a high alkalinity (or carbonate hardness), then
livebearers including Mollies won't be all that fussed, and you can probably get
away with tonic salt. But I wouldn't recommended it, and I doubt it would be
cost effective in the long term either. Marine salt mix, when bought in bulk, is
inexpensive. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Measuring salinity for
mollies 7/29/08
Thanks for the advice (yet again), I'm glad to finally get a
concise answer on the problem! :D
<We aim to please! Cheers, Neale.>
|
Mollies and Gourami's: headed for
disaster? 6/19/08
Hey crew,
<Hello>
You're site is beautiful and as a fellow website/ forum administrator, I can
appreciate and enjoy lengthy pre-email checklist.
<Sad that it is necessary.>
I'm hoping this isn't a repeat. I am a college student who recently moved
into my own (very tiny) apartment. I have always been fascinated with
aquariums and planned to get one as soon as I got my own place, but have
nearly zero previous experience, besides the handful of goldfish I won and
promptly killed as a child at the fair. So about 3 months ago I waltzed into
Petco and on the recommendation of the 'fish expert' I purchased a 5 gallon
Marineland hexagon tank with a cartridge and bio-wheel filter and light
attached to the hood, gravel, 2 flat river rocks, 2 good sized plastic
plants, a small castle that has two caves.
<Tiny>
I set up the tank with bottled spring water and waited a week for the water
to cycle. It passed the water test and I purchased (as suggested) a paradise
fish, an Opaline Gourami and two Black Mollies.
<Oh no>
It was at this point (big mistake) that I decided to do my research and read
through Freshwater Fish for Dummies. I now know the tank is way too small
and our tiny Black Mollies need a tank with some salinity and are being
bullied by the now much larger Gourami's.
<Really it is too small for all of these fish, the paradise fish reaches
about 4 inches, the Gourami about 6. The hex tank is probably not much more
that about 8 inches wide I think.>
One molly died a day or two after we brought it home and just wasn't eating
from day 1. Now, 3 months later the remaining Molly has large white patches
and white flakes coming out of her gills, which my research tells me is
Columnaris (a common petstore Molly disease). I have been treating it for
about 3 days with Maracyn 2 (as recommended on a few websites) and the
patches have disappeared for the most part and the Molly seems fine.
<Good, although the Maracyn most likely nuked your biofilter, so lots of
water changes here.>
The two Gourami's seem to be thriving.
<For the moment, as they mature aggression will most likely follow.>
They have grown inches and have gone from nearly white to very dark and rich
in color. They seem to get along great and are very active and fun to watch,
but they continue to bully the Molly who retreats to the castle cave or
plants.
<Expected.>
I do a 25 percent water change on Sundays and change out a cup of water
twice during the week. The tank is kept super clean and I use only spring
water. I feed them color promoting flakes, veggie tablets and freeze dried
blood worms in small increments throughout the day and I fast them one day a
week.
<Good>
I literally do not have space in this apartment for another, or a bigger
aquarium, but I plan on moving and getting one next year. Am I just wasting
time buying medicine and special veggie food for this very stressed out
Molly.
<Probably, they are very sensitive in freshwater, best to find him a new
home.>
Will it just continue to get sick in these conditions?
<Most likely.>
Is it suffering or can I make this work for another 8 months?
<Does not sound like he will last that long, can he be returned to the
store?>
I just want to know if I am torturing this fish by keeping it in this tank
or can I keep it this way as a temporary situation?
<It will most likely not survive much longer in this environment, and once
it is gone the other 2 fish may turn on each other.>
Am I a horrible person for doing this to these fish?
<Not as long as you take steps to rectify the situations.>
Give it to me straight please.
<No holding back.>
Cheers - Jacqueline
<Chris>
Update on My Molly Tank & Marine
Salt Use 05/25/08
Hi Neale,
<Kathy,>
The mouth/eye/body fungus problems seemed to be under control now. I have done
seawater dip three times this week along with medication. It works very well.
So, I want to thank you for your advice (although a few mollies acted miserably
in seawater).
<Yes, they may well look unhappy. But they won't be harmed.>
Today I bought a bucket of marine salt (Brand: RED SEA). I am planning to switch
Livebearer Salt to marine salt, but I have a question and hope you can help me.
<Yes?>
Our tap water PH is 8.2 (very hard water) because I live near Lime house and the
water runs through lime. I am wondering if using marine salt will increase PH.
<Seawater is self-buffering both against pH drops and pH rises. Adding marine
salt mix to hard water should cause no problems with pH or hardness levels.
Quite the reverse in fact, as you'll see many marine fishkeepers actively adding
sources of carbonate hardness to artificial salt water so that they can raise
the hardness and stabilize the pH even further.>
I know mollies like hard water and high PH, but I am afraid higher than 8.2 can
be a problem.
<They won't be at any risk at all.>
Thanks again!
Kathy
<Cheers, Neale.>
Aggressive Gourami & Molly
Tank Salinity 4/5/08
Hi Neale,
<Kathy,>
A few questions about Gourami and molly... Hope to get some advices from you.
<OK.>
1) I have 2 male Gouramis and 2 Cory catfish in a 15G tank... Though I have been
thinking about adding a couple of fish, I almost have to give up this idea
because one Gourami is very aggressive to all the other 3 fish. I am especially
surprised he is aggressive to catfish. Is this normal?
<Can be. Gouramis, particularly male Trichogaster trichopterus (the Three-spot
Gourami) can be territorial. I personally don't recommend male Trichogaster
trichopterus as a community fish. Other Gouramis are less commonly causes of
trouble, though it does sometimes happen.>
Knowing Gourami is sensitive to high nitrate, more regular water changes are
applied to the tank. I try to do it quickly and make sure water temperature is
the same; however, not matter how careful I am, one or both Gouramis would
scratch against glass a few times during/after water change. I do not medicate
them because this happens almost every time I do water change. So, I assume it's
not really a parasite problem, just them being stressed a little bit. Is this
very common? Is there anything I should try to do so they can be "HAPPIER"?
<Don't worry about it. It is normal for fish to scratch themselves once in a
while just as it is for your dog or cat to scratch themselves. Doesn't necessary
mean there's anything wrong. You might check you're using enough/the right
dechlorinator, because traces of chlorine or chloramine might irritate the fish
without actually causing serious harm.>
2) A year ago I started this new hobby with 3 mollies. Now I end up with 200
fish!!! Fish keeping was totally new to me at the time and I did not read or do
any research before I entered this new hobby. Fish store suggested me to get
mollies to start the tank and I just took their suggestions. I guess half of
beginners must have experienced the same problem as I do now. I keep all mollies
in 3 tanks (38G/40G/65G males and females are separated now).... could be
overstocked, but fish stores do not want to take them until they grow to certain
sizes so they can sell them.
With many fish in one tank, it's not easy to keep all of them healthy. My
question is, if I see one scratch or seem to have mouth fungus, should I
medicate the whole tank if QT is not available? I do not wish to use medicine if
it's not absolutely necessary. These mollies are kept in brackish water
(salinity: 1.003). Should I increase the salinity to 1.006? Will this help to
get these problems under control?
<SG 1.003 should be fine in terms of ensuring good health. Raising the salinity
won't dramatically alter things. Mouth Fungus for example is bacterial and not
affected by salinity at all. So yes, treat the tank with medication. You might
want to get a bit more "cruel" in terms of how many fry you allow to survive.
Most people who seriously breed livebearers end up with too many fry. Often they
keep some sort of predatory fish to "dispose" of some of the fry. Angelfish for
example are brilliant at this! But since you're keeping brackish water fish, you
might enjoy something like Knight Gobies or Waspfish (Neovespicula
depressifrons). These latter fish are utterly adorable puppy-like fish, and when
you don't have fry, they happily eat earthworms and, with a bit of coaxing,
frozen foods.>
I cannot wait to see them grow bigger so I can give some away to the local fish
store.
<I know the feeling! But it's great when you get a bunch of money or credit to
buy more aquarium stuff!>
Thanks!
Kathy
<Cheers, Neale.>
Water quality.... 03/26/2008
I have mollies - 2 female and one male in a 10 gallon tank - just found 3
fry 2 days ago and they are in a crib
<Congrats on the babies. But 10 gallons is well below what I'd recommend as even
adequate for Mollies, let alone idea. Mollies are big, high metabolism fish and
they like to have space to swim. A 10 gallon tank just isn't going to cut it in
the long term.>
Frequent water changes have kept these guys happy for quite some time (all play
and eat, and argue from time to time) but my question is water quality has been
perfect until about 2 weeks ago- dip stick now shows nitrate and nitrite - daily
water changes and testing- with conditioners and salt cannot seem to fix this??
<Neither salt nor water conditions would impact water quality. Why should they?
Rather, the fact your fish are [a] growing and [b] multiplying is meaning that
the bioload on the aquarium is going up. In other words, you have more fish in
the tank now than you did X months ago. So it may well be that the filter system
that worked back then is overloaded now. Too many fish, too little filtration,
and too much food are the key issues.>
If all fish are bright happy and making fry - should I stress?
<Yes; these are warning signs that conditions are deteriorating. Long term,
without correction, things will only get worse.>
My oldest black female has always been anti- social, she pretty much lives
behind plants and the filter but always comes out to eat or to say hello if I
walk up to the tank.
<"Saying hello" and being "antisocial" are things humans do, not fish. This fish
is likely bullied by the other fish, and the only place she can hide is behind
the plants. She's unhappy. Likely because the tank is too small. It's very
important to think about animal welfare in terms of how animals work, not
people. Much cruelty gets done by people who treat their animals as if they were
human beings.>
(I used to watch her like crazy for signs of illness - but she never has gotten
sick- and she loves people - just hates other fish)
<Female Mollies don't "hate" other Mollies, they're a non-territorial,
gregarious species. But male Mollies certainly are aggressive, and should only
be kept one to a tank unless you have a lot of males in a very big aquarium.
Your tank is too small for Mollies, hence social problems. The fault is with
your fishkeeping, not the fish.>
Babies are also happy, eating and chasing each other Is it futile to expect that
I can ever get this stupid strip to stop turning pink???
<Not rocket science. Read the WWM articles on freshwater filtration, water
changes.>
Thanks so much... Melissa
<Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Water quality....
-03/28/08
Neale,
<Melissa,>
I appreciate your taking time to reply to my email; i had no idea was being
cruel by keeping 3 / 2 inch fish a 10 gallon tank, this tank was inherited and i
have always been given a inch per gallon rule of thumb.
<The "inch per gallon" rule is a hopeless source of confusion. It is completely
contextual and depends on various factors. For example: twelve Neons and one
adult Oscar are about the same size, 18 inches, but quite obviously the Oscar
needs a much larger aquarium. Another example: Bristlenose Plecs and Giant
Danios are about the same size in length, around 4-5", but one of them is
sluggish and doesn't move much, while the other is hyperactive and needs lots
more swimming room. Yet another example: two tanks containing 20 gallons of
water, one deep and narrow, the other shallow and broad. Which can hold more
fish? The second tank will hold many more fish than the first because the
surface area of the aquarium is essential for oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange
with the atmosphere. In other words, make your decisions on whether a fish will
fit into a given tank by thinking about the needs on the fish rather than simply
locking yourself into believing in the rather useless "inch per gallon" rule.>
While i realized that this isn't "rocket science" i am fairly new to this hobby
and trying to be proactive and to learn to properly care for my fish.
<Very good.>
There are many who don't bother to research or ask for help, but rather replace
dead fish for 3 bucks at PetSmart.
<Indeed. But I can't do much to help those people. What I *can* do is give solid
advice to those who ask for it. That advice might not be welcome, but it comes
from 25 years of fishkeeping and a background as a zoologist.>
Sorry to have wasted your time with my problem fishkeeping -
<Not wasted my time at all. Happy to help.>
Also, i am quite aware of the consequences of animal welfare as i am a licensed
veterinary professional -( however i have not had training or experience working
with fish ).
<Very good. There are some differences between fishkeeping and, say, keeping a
dog. One of the key things is that fish don't really adapt their behaviour to
the home. A dog builds its social life around its owners. Fish don't; their
social lives pretty much get determined around how we arrange the aquarium in
terms of space, tankmates, hiding places, etc. If you're keeping Mollies then,
what you have is a species that lives in relatively open habitats where the
males fight with one another to monopolise access to the more gregarious
females. Expecting them to "play nice" in a small aquarium is unrealistic. Its a
bit like someone who gets a Border Collie but doesn't want to take it on long
walks to use up its energy: the results will be bad!>
I spend quite a bit of my time educating owners on the proper care of their pets
- i often have to remind myself that not everyone has discussed this very same
topic over and over, day after day. I sought your advice because i was
concerned; and because you offer your advice as a service -
<Service, yes. But remember we don't get paid for this. I answer a dozen
messages a day, and that takes a good hour of my time. I do this because I want
to and because I can help people look after their animals better. I suspect you
are merely reading my direct British English as harshness. Sometimes Americans
find British directness and irony difficult to handle. If that's the case here,
I apologise. No ill-will was intended. Merely clarity.>
And yes; i also realize that fish are not people - i personify their behavior
out of affection and in an attempt to explain it to someone who cannot see it-
weather or not my molly actually saying hello is not actually related to the
quality of care i provide. It just pleases me to see her get excited.
<Ah, but you misunderstand me. I talk to my fish all the time, and get excited
when they respond to me in some nice sort of way, like becoming tame enough to
hand feed. I have nothing against people appreciating fish as pets. Quite the
reverse. But it *is* important not to let that slip into fuzzy thinking about
their behaviour that hides latent problems. So when someone says that their fish
is "shy", does that mean it really is a shy animal, or is so bullied it won't
leave its hiding place?>
The same way it pleases you to be so knowledgeable.
<Ouch.>
Next time i will be sure to seek the advice of someone who enjoys giving it with
tact.
<There are certainly plenty of other places to get advice. The quality of that
advice is variable though. Here at WWM you get people who are at the top of
their game, and many of us do this for a living, as I do, writing books and
magazines. For what it's worth, I think you're overreacting here. Looking over
my response nothing there seems particularly rude or tactless. Direct, yes.
Remember: my first priority is the fish. Making you feel better is secondary. If
I somehow made you feel unhappy, then I apologise. But rather than dwelling on
that, look over the advice I gave. The tank is too small for this sort of fish.
Water quality is poor, and long term that will make the fish sick. At least one
fish is apparently being bullied. Put the animals, not your feelings, first.
Their lives are in your hands, and the most I can do is tell you what needs
fixing in my (yes) expert opinion.>
I will also be sure to let others know just where they can go to find helpful,
objective advice.
<Please feel free to do so. We already receive literally hundreds of queries
every week, and all those people get top-notch advice from experienced and
professional fishkeepers. Very few of those people seem to be unhappy, and I get
more than enough "thank you" notes and follow-ups to tell me I'm doing a good
job.>
Cheers,
Melissa
<Cheers, Neale>
- I have to wonder if this is the first time someone has taken issue with one of
your responses??
<Nope.>
|
Mollies, sys. period
I have neon tetra, black widow tetra, swordtails, guppies, mollies, clown
loach, Corydoras and danios the female Sailfin molly has just recently started
looking ill as if she has shimmy but she also has white on her fins
they look like they are sticky, I have had mollies years ago with no problems in
ordinary tropical freshwater setup I do not know what to do. I have given her 2
salt baths up to now she seemed better only for a while.
Any help appreciated, apologies for being so long worried as I also have guppy
fry I have purchased another tank for my pregnant fish.
Elizabeth
<Please see here for more on Mollies:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
The bottom line is that Mollies aren't compatible with standard community fish.
At the very least they need very hard, high pH conditions with near-zero
nitrate. Nine times out of ten they need slightly saline water as well. So fine
with salt-tolerant fish (e.g., Guppies, rainbowfish, glassfish) but otherwise
not reliable community fish. Cheers, Neale.>
|
Keeping/Breeding Saltwater
Mollies 3/19/08
Hello,
<Hi>
I have learnt many things on this site and it has all been helpful. I read the
article on mollies and saltwater and how to acclimate them although I was just
wondering if it is much more difficult in the marine tank.
<Not really, standard SW maintenance and they should be fine.>
I used to have mollies years ago but got away from the tropical fish and bought
cichlids. I have now got a 55 gallon cichlid tank, a 90 gallon saltwater tank,
and a 25 gallon saltwater tank. Once I noticed (on this site) that mollies can
do quite well in saltwater I was shocked at first since I had always seen them
as freshwater only fish.
<Actually in my experience mollies do worst in straight freshwater, I have had
much better luck keeping them in brackish and marine conditions.>
Sorry for the rambling but here's my question. Will they breed just the same in
the marine tank or will the brood numbers be less/more?
<Pretty much the same, amazing little creatures.>
Thank you in advance.
Mike
<Welcome>
<Chris>
Re: Keeping/Breeding
saltwater mollies 3/19/08
Hi, thanks for the very quick response and good to know they are easier in
marine tanks.
<Welcome>
I think I am going to go with the 25gallon tank I have setup which currently but
only for today has a damsel in it. I had to remove him/her from my 40gallon tank
since he killed my yellow tang and a couple others and yes bad move anyways on
having a tang in a 40gallon).
<Yes>
I have been told my setup is not the best. I have upgraded from the 40gallon to
a 90gallon and have 1, going to be 2 fire clowns, 1 sally light foot crab, only
one black turbo snail, going to get more sometime, 1 jewel puffer,
<Not familiar with this common name but assume it will eventually eat any snails
or crabs you have in the tank.>
1 neon blue velvet damsel and a couple green star polyps. The biggest fish in
the tank is the puffer which is about 2.5 inches long.
The last time I did try mollies in saltwater they only lived for about a day
then died, did I most likely acclimate them too quickly?
<Most likely, although they are generally pretty tough.>
And what type of molly thrives best in marine water; reg. black molly or will
any type work?
<Any type of true molly should be ok, but be aware that you may see platies or
even swordtails labeled as mollies, and these are strictly freshwater fish.>
Thanks again,
Mike
<Welcome>
<Chris>
|
Molly tank 3/7/08
Hello,
First off I just wanted to say I just received Neale's book "Brackish Water
Fishes" and what a great wealth of information it has! I found most if not all
my questions answered or at the very least a fine place to start to research
more.
<Thanks! Glad you enjoy!>
I wrote earlier about my slightly brackish molly tank and since then it has been
cycled thoroughly and properly, had a few births and overall no issues. I had
been interested in growing more plants so I did gradually lower the SG from
1.005 to about 1.003-1.002 and I have had great success with Val.s, Anubias, sags
and even wisteria and Anacharis all in about a months time.
<Very good.>
I have 8 of the 2 inch variety of Mollies in a 20 long, 2 males and 6 females
and they seem to have adjusted fine and have had no issues.
<Likely yes. Even a *little* salt seems to make a huge difference with Mollies,
which is why I consider adding salt to Molly tanks a no-brainer.>
My question is on Filtration. I had been running a BioWheel 150 AND a BioWheel
100 together, but it seemed to create way too many micro bubbles (and current)
because of the proximity I had to place them and even though I still have good
circulation and no gasping fish I was wondering if this was enough filtration
based on my stocking levels, my SG and length of my tank (30" long, 12" tall,
12" wide).
<Likely fine. The acid test is to use your nitrite test kit; if you get a zero
result, then you have at least adequate filtration. In any case, add together
the filtration you have, and make sure the turnover is not less than 4 times the
volume of the aquarium in turnover per hour.>
I do run an air-stone at night when the lights are off since the tank is
moderately planted. My fish actually seem to like this better and use more of
the tank now to swim and congregate but I want to avoid problems in the future.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
<If it works, and the fish are healthy -- then that's all you need to know. Keep
an eye on water quality as your fish multiply of course, and clean/replace
filter media as required to keep things working properly.>
Oh sorry, one other question. In using sand as a substrate ( I have Aragonite
sand mixed with a bit of gravel, maybe 2lbs to the 15 lbs of sand) what is the
proper way to vacuum? Is there any need to go into the sand or just hover the
siphon over it and stir it up a bit with my finger or a piece of tubing?
<Either; plants oxygenated the sand with their roots, so you don't get anaerobic
decay in planted tanks. I'd recommend simply scooting over the sand with the
siphon and not doing too much stirring, since that would damage the roots. Feel
free to add some Malayan livebearing snails if you want; they do a great job of
cleaning sand. Shrimps would work in this tank nicely too, certainly Amano
shrimps, and likely Cherry shrimps too (the latter seem to do well in my very
low end planted brackish water tank with Limia and gobies). Cheers, Neale.>
Molly issues. Hlth., env.
3/3/08
Hello, and I hope you can help.
I've searched through the archives and I have a problem that seems to be a
combination of things. I had two mollies in my ~7 gallon tank.
<Too small... Mollies are hypersensitive to fluctuating/poor water quality, and
simply don't do well in small tanks. 20-gallons is the minimum. To be honest, a
7-gallon tank isn't much good for anything; even an expert fishkeeper will have
trouble keeping stuff alive in there.>
The first molly has unfortunately passed, probably due to my ignorance (the pet
store
did not inform me of the semi-intense care that mollies require upon my
purchase).
<Not sure "intense" is the word; but yes, Mollies have very specific needs.
Ignore them, and they die. End of story. Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Unless you are an expert fishkeeper (and forgive me if you are) then I would
recommend, nay, insist, you keep Mollies in brackish water. They are altogether
hardier under such conditions.>
I am attempting to save the remaining molly, but she is showing some of the same
symptoms as the one that perished. They are both Dalmatian mollies. I did not
have a heater in my tank, so I think the first molly may have gone into shock
which may have depressed his immune system.
<Why no heater? Mollies are tropical fish, and in fact like water a bit on the
warm side; 26-28 C seems to be the optimum, and certainly never less than 25 C.>
The second molly is now hanging out at the bottom of the tank. She seems hungry,
but when she attempts to eat the flakes that I give her it looks like she is
spitting them back out, then hungrily goes to the next flake only to spit it out
again.
<Fish will spit out food if they are not hungry or don't like it. Try something
else. Frozen bloodworms (not freeze dried) and algae-based flake foods are the
staples for these and indeed most other Poecilia. Generic flake foods aren't
really what they want/need.>
I noticed my first molly doing the same thing, but she never did until now. When
she has evacuations (she must be eating something), they are generally long and
occasionally have a long trail of transparent mucous-like substance trailing
them.
<Evacuations? Is that a euphemism for defecation? If what we're talking about is
the faeces are long, stringy and pale, then that doesn't necessarily mean
disaster but it can indicate lack of overall health, constipation, etc. Lots of
people forget Mollies are herbivores and feed them standard tropical flake food.
This is not good for them. They need algae, algae and more algae!>
I tried giving her spinach yesterday because I read on your site that the issue
may be constipation, but she didn't touch it. I don't notice any growth on her
gills, but she is much more lethargic than she used to be. I've only had her for
about two weeks.
<Sounds doomed to me... Unless you're prepared to raise your game here the fish
isn't going to live long.>
I put a pH-balancing tablet and an ammonia-eliminating tablet into the water.
<What on Earth are these items? OK, let's make this crystal clear: there is no
such thing as an ammonia-removing tablet. If they sold you this in the store,
they obviously see you as the perfect customer, i.e., you'll buy anything. What
makes ammonia go away is the biological filter, which you (I hope) have in place
by cycling the aquarium for 4-6 weeks before adding any fish. Or else you took
live media from another tank. But please tell me what you didn't do is stick two
Mollies into a brand new aquarium. If you did, you may as well have stuck your
fish on the barbecue for all the chance they'll have of surviving. Now, the "pH
tablet" is something you should stop playing with. At this stage in your
fishkeeping career you should not even be thinking about changing the pH or
hardness of the water. You first test the pH and hardness of your tap water, and
then you buy fish that will thrive in it. If you have soft water, but want to
keep livebearers, then buy some MARINE salt mix, and add a certain amount (I'd
recommend 6-9 grammes per litre) into each bucket of water added to the tank.
Mollies MUST have hard water, and if you water is soft, adding marine salt mix
will raise that hardness as well as the salinity in a safe, convenient, and
inexpensive way.>
I now have a heater and ensure that the temperature stays around 80 degrees
Fahrenheit.
<Thank the Gods!>
I am trying to grow live plants in the tank. She hovers over the bottom of the
tank and her gills are opening fairly rapidly.
<Dying. This is called "the Shimmies" and indicates when Mollies are being kept
chronically badly.>
Also, I noticed that after a while the rocks in the water start to emit a blue
dye.
<No idea what this is. But GET THOSE DAMN ROCKS OUT NOW! Nothing you put in a
fish tank should do this. ONLY buy aquarium-safe rocks.>
I have cleaned out the rocks thinking that was the problem, but she is still
showing the same symptoms.
<Doubt the rocks are the key thing here, to be honest.>
Could the problem be an internal parasite?
<Nope; bad fishkeeping.>
I was also wondering if she might be pregnant, but I don't know the signs of
pregnancy.
<May well be, but this isn't what's causing the problems.>
Any advice you could give would be helpful!
<Read a book. Please. The only way you could be keeping this fish worse is by
forgetting to put water in the tank. You are doing everything wrong. I really,
REALLY want you to enjoy this hobby, and even more want that poor little fish to
survive. But you MUST raise your game. Short term: stop feeding the fish until
you buy a NITRITE test kit and learn how to use it. Do 50% water changes daily
for as long as you detect nitrite in the water. Add marine salt, not less than 3
g/l. Don't use "tonic salt" or "aquarium salt" or anything like that. You want
the stuff marine fishkeepers use because ONLY that will raise the carbonate
hardness along with the salinity. These perform together to make Mollies happy.
Once you've done that, start saving your pennies for a bigger tank; not less
than 20 gallons.>
Thanks,
Cara
<Good luck, Neale.>
Mollienesia: health, environment
2/19/08
Hi there,
I just found your website and it's amazing. Have bookmarked it for future
reference :)
Just have a small question. I got a new Dalmatian molly today as a present for
my newly cycled tank. I first found you whilst looking up his odd behaviour.
He's been swimming rather strangely -tilted to one side when swimming straight,
when stationary his head will drift slowly upwards and he'll stay like that for
a while before swimming backwards (still with head vertical) and rubbing himself
against other fish. At first I thought it might just be a quirk, but I checked
out nitrite etc just to be sure. They're all fine. I wanted to be sure it wasn't
a swim bladder infection or anything, so I started watching him a bit more
closely. I noticed he's got a small injury just above his mouth on one side, and
it's this side that he rubs against other fish. I'm quite worried he might have
an infection but am not sure how to tell, and if he does whether I should
quarantine him or not. The injury also looks very clean, so there is a chance
that it's slightly older and healing and it's this that's caused his behavioural
change.
Please help!
A very worried Su xx
<The first thing to ask is whether this Molly is being kept in freshwater or
brackish. While these fish *can* be kept in hard, alkaline freshwater
conditions, under aquarium conditions they are much easier to maintain in
brackish water conditions. Around 10% to 25% seawater salinity (around SG
1.002-1.005) is ample. You need to be using marine salt mix, not tonic salt,
when keeping Mollies because it is the extra carbonate hardness as well as the
salinity that helps. De see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Mollies aren't community fish and shouldn't be sold/bought as such. They need
very specific conditions to work well. I have no idea what is precisely wrong
with your Molly, but these "mystery diseases" are all too common when Mollies
are kept in freshwater tanks and in environments with nitrate above 20 mg/l. At
least one problem, known as the "Shimmies", manifests itself as water-treading
behaviour, when the fish seems to rock from side to side. This could very easily
be mistaken for a swim bladder infection. The Shimmies is almost entirely
observed when Mollies are kept too cold, in water without sufficient carbonate
hardness, and/or there's a high concentration of nitrate. The addition of sea
salt to the aquarium is one treatment that helps, provided the fish isn't too
far gone. Cheers, Neale.>
Black molly/general help for
new fish keeper! – 02/07/08
Hi.
<Hail.>
I got my first tank for Christmas from my girlfriend as I have wanted to keep
tropical fish for some time. On the advice of the store my girlfriend bought a
small tank as the man in shop said it would be easier to start with a small
tank, it is a Aqua One UFO 350 I think it is between 30/35 Litres.
<Garbage advice... a tank this small is very difficult to look after. As a broad
bit of advice, beginners should be looking at tanks around 75-90 litres (20-25
gallons). It's just so much easier to keep good water quality and choose a nice
variety of fish.>
Again after taking advice from aquatic centre we were told Molly's would be a
good fish as My first fish so I now have two black mollies and one orange Molly.
<A bad, bad choice I'm afraid. Mollies are terrible fish for beginners, and too
big for this aquarium anyway. Please do understand: your first purchase should
always be a book, not a fish. Store advice is sometimes good, but sometimes
terrible.>
However eager to be responsible and make sure my fish are happy I have done as
much reading on keeping fish as possible...however this has posed more questions
than answers as everybody has different advice. I am still feeding my fish every
other day as advised when I bought them about four weeks ago...yet other
resources recommend feeding more than once a day.
<It's contextual. With most small fish, several small meals per day is the
ideal, and closest to what they'd do in the wild. Fish have (usually) short
intestines, and can't slowly digest a big meal in the way we can. On the other
hand, in a new aquarium, you don't have the filter bacteria to cope with the
ammonia the fish produce as a waste product of metabolism. To deal with this,
you scale back feeding so that the fish are producing the minimum of waste and
moreover you aren't overfeeding them, any excess food simply rotting and making
ammonia that way. Hence good advice is feed sparingly when the tank is "new"
(which can be anything up to 6 weeks in the case of a tropical tank). Once the
tank is mature, you alter the feeding to best suit whatever fish you have.>
I am also starting to think that recommending such a small tank will prove more
difficult rather than easier as I am worried my fish do not have sufficient
space and worried about over stocking.
<Correct.>
My water quality is fine and I am changing 25% of water every 2 weeks...yet some
resources recommend weekly water changes others say once a month!
<Back in the pre-history of the hobby (i.e., prior to the 1980s) aquarists
avoided doing water changes as much as possible. The idea was that "old" water
was in some way biologically active and better for the fish. "New" water undid
this good, so you tried your best to avoid adding any. Hence, 25% water changes
per month were considered a good thing. To stop the water going yellow and
smelly, you'd put carbon in the filter to remove dissolved organic materials
that accumulated in it over time. Nowadays the value of new water is
appreciated, especially now we have reliable dechlorinators and other treatments
that make new water perfect for aquarium fish. As a result, aquarists are now
advised to change at least 25% per week, and ideally more than that. You really
can't do too many water changes, *providing* the water chemistry and temperature
are kept consistent. Since you're changing lots of water, carbon is now
redundant (in freshwater systems, anyway).>
I have also read that Molly's prefer brackish water and that I should add salt
to my freshwater aquarium is this correct?
<This is a hot topic among aquarists, but the basics are these: in aquaria with
excellent water quality and a hard, alkaline water chemistry, Mollies can
sometimes do well without salt. But they always do better with salt, and in
brackish water you have much less change of Mollies getting sick than otherwise.
For inexperienced fishkeepers at least, the addition of salt is definitely a
good idea.>
...Anyway to my biggest concern one of my black Molly's has recently taken to
spending most of its time right at the bottom of the tank hiding amongst plants.
It does not appear to have anything physically wrong with it and every now and
again it will swim and does come up to feed but this is very rarely. I have
noticed the other black molly acting aggressive towards it and "nipping" at it
and chasing it around the tank. The other two Molly's appear fine and happy.
<Try adding salt and see what happens. Mollies sometimes develop a problem
called "the Shimmies" which is named after the dance of that name, and refers to
the fact the fish seem to be treading water, sometimes rocking from side to
side. It's a neurological disorder of some sort. In any case, common salt acts
by detoxifying nitrite and nitrate, two chemicals that make Mollies sick. You
need about 6 grammes per litre for best results (I believe one teaspoon is 6
grammes, but you can check that easily enough with some kitchen scales). Stir
the salt into the new water before adding it to the aquarium; don't add the salt
directly to the tank! Raise the salinity in stages, e.g., do a series of 25%
water changes across a few days, taking out old water and replacing it with
water that has salt added. This will keep the filter bacteria happy.>
I really want to get things right so any help on any/all of the above issues
would be greatly appreciated.
<Do have a read of this article:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Hope it helps!
Neale.>
Molly Tank 1/27/08
Hi all,
<Ave,>
I do have a question or two about my brackish molly Tank. I was having a lot of
problems trying to keep my mollies in FW so I decided to go low salinity (SG
1.005-1.008) brackish tank and keep mollies that I had (3) and eventually a few
Bumblebee Gobies.
<Very good.>
The tank is 14 gallons with aragonite sand, ph 8.0- 8.1, Temp 82F. The tank is
not cycled. It started with 3 mollies. I did acclimate them, but I think I might
have taken some bad advice and did it a bit faster than would be desired, like
over several hours instead of days. Both females had fry in the new brackish
water, about 18 total.
<Mollies can be acclimated between marine and fresh in less than an hour, so
unlikely a problem here.>
The problem is this: first off, there was flashing, even the new-borns,
occasionally shimmies, which I had in the freshwater environment which is what
eventually led me to going brackish. Later in the week twitchy behavior for my
male (like a nervous twitch and then get all tense) and sometimes 1 or 2 of them
would skip across the top flapping tails.
<Do check water quality. Essentially, the problem with Mollies seems to be a
hypersensitivity to dissolved metabolites. Not just ammonia and nitrite, but
also nitrate. If you suddenly raise the salinity in a freshwater aquarium, you
are placing a stress on the filter bacteria. As a rule, you can go up to about
SG 1.005 without any problems, but once you go above that, the filter bacteria
seem to die back or at least stop working properly. So the usual process when
creating a brackish water tank from a freshwater one is to raise the salinity in
stages. I'd recommend adding SG 1.005 water to the aquarium each week, replacing
about 20-25% of the water in the tank. After about a month the specific gravity
will be 1.005 or thereabouts. Leave things be for a couple of months. For
Mollies and Bumblebee Gobies, this salinity is more than adequate for long term
health. But if you did need to raise the salinity further, do it in small
increments over the succeeding months, checking the ammonia and/or nitrite all
the time. It's much better to choose a lower salinity without ammonia than to go
the whole hog to a high salinity but have ammonia in the water because the
bacteria are unhappy.>
And then one fish in particular would stay at the top and gulp for a very long
time. I originally had a BIO-wheel 100, which I swapped out for a BIO-wheel 150
and a Whisper 10 air-pump and air-stone. Ammonia was reading at about .25 so I
did a 10% water change, lowered the temp a tad to about 80F and the water line
to get more surface agitation.
<Ah, almost certainly this was the issue. The filter is stressed from you taking
the salinity too high, too quickly. Give it four to six weeks to re-mature,
putting the minimum food into the tank and performing regular water changes.
Lower the salinity to SG 1.005 to economise on salt usage, but step up the water
changes in the short term at least to keep the ammonia/nitrite levels low.>
This morning I decided to go out and get the babies their own tank thinking
perhaps the bioload was not too good and maybe the oxygen not so good either,
especially with the temp and SG. I am very new to brackish so a lot of this is
new to me.
<Please do read the articles on the topic here at WWM. Or my book!>
Anyway, Ammonia is 0 again or at least at the lowest color on the test, but my
Male molly still has the twitches and tenses up and occasionally flashes off the
filter inlet tube...this is like once today though, not like once every 5
minutes like before.
<Getting better, I guess...>
One of the females still is piping occasionally, but not for prolonged visits,
like just up, gulp gulp, down.
<Mollies are distinct among the livebearers in being able to use atmospheric
oxygen when the situation is bad. They gulp water from the air/water interface
across the gills, extracting the dissolved oxygen. In the wild this allows them
to survive in swampy environments better than other livebearers. It's a "normal"
behaviour, albeit one that implies less than perfect water quality.>
Shimmies at least visibly gone. SO I guess what I am asking is do you think this
is a gill infestation/infection or do you think the water quality just got
really bad really quick?
<The latter.>
Also will the fish recover if water quality, maintenance and stocking are done
properly in the future?
<Yes; in brackish water Mollies tend to be rather robust and durable.>
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Keith
<Good luck, Neale.> Re:
Molly Tank 1/26/08
Thank you for the quick reply.
<Happy to help.>
I have started daily water changes and am monitoring the ammonia and salinity to
keep them under control.
<OK.>
One more question for maintenance, what test kits and water conditioners can I
use...meaning, what freshwater stuff is ok to use and what must be marine?
<Water conditioner is fine for freshwater/brackish/marine uses. Water chemistry
test kits are normally fine in FW/BW/M though some are not; check the package.
Water quality test kits are usually fine too. Medications are often fine in
both, though some are not; again, check the package you have.>
Currently I have freshwater Nitrite and Ph tests and an ammonia test kit that is
for both SW and FW. What about FW phosphate removers, dechlor, etc or is that
not an issue because the water is treated before going into the aquarium?
<The nitrite test kit should be fine in brackish, and likely so too will the pH
test. The issue with pH test kits is that marine aquarists want ones that are
accurate across the high range (between 8 and 9) whereas freshwater aquarists
want ones to use between 6 and 8. So the two types of test kits are tweaked to
work best depending on what sort of tank you have. So long as your test kit
measures 7.5-8.5, you're OK using it in brackish.>
I am guessing low salinity like .005 is probably closer to FW than Marine, but
how much of a variance does the salt add in accuracy of FW tests and possible
conditioners being toxic in a Brackish tank?
<As you say, not a huge impact. For the time being stick with what you have. As
and when they run out or expire, switch to ones suitable for both FW and Marine,
and these'll have you covered. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Molly Tank 1/29/08
Neale,
<Keith,>
Thank you! Everything is settling in and the fish seem very happy/normal and
less irritated.
<Very good.>
One last thing please: At what level does ammonia "start" to initiate the cycle
and at what level should a water change be done?
<Difficult to say, but in practise you never need to allow the ammonia
concentration in the aquarium to reach measurable levels if there are fish in
the tank. When people are cycling tanks *without* fish they can let the ammonia
level go as high has 0.5-1 mg/l safely enough, but there's no real advantage
given that the growth rate of the filter bacteria is limited by oxygen as much
as ammonia concentration. Hence in practise when you are cycling tanks with
fishes in them, you do your level best to keep the ammonia (and nitrite) as low
as possible. The bacteria will get enough of both even so. Water changes during
the cycling phase should be as often as possible, but as a baseline I'd suggest
25% daily for the first week or two, and after than about the same amount every
2-3 days. After week 3 or 4 you should find ammonia stays close to (or at) zero,
and nitrite under 0.5 mg/l, and you can get away with two 25% water changes per
week. After week 4 and certainly by week 6, the cycle should be finished and you
can switch to 25-50% water changes weekly. But these are estimates: your own
"mileage may vary" and you need to follow your nitrite test kit results rather
than the theory.>
I just saw that your book ( Brackish-Water Fishes: An Aquarist's Guide to
Identification, Care & Husbandry) is available on Amazon, ordering on payday.
Again, Thank you for the invaluable help.
<Hope you enjoy the book!>
Keith
<Cheers, Neale.>
Possible over crowding of
mollies 1/19/08
Hi crew!
I have a couple of issues that I need help with. First off, I have to mollies
and I am not sure what species of molly they are. The female one is a light
golden color with a white underside and white fins and tail. The male is orange
with little white spots on his top side and dorsal fin. He also has a white
underside, fins, and tail. Can you tell me what breed they are?
<Mmm, not from this description, no. There are meristics differences twixt
species of Mollienesia... see Fishbase.org re>
Laila, the female, has been showing signs of pregnancy for over a month. As soon
as I noticed she was pregnant, I put her in a pregnancy net.
<Mmm... best not to move mollies much...>
Weeks have past and she is still plump with fry. I took her out of the net today
after cleaning my 10 gallon tank. I decided to take her out because it had algal
growth all over it. Also, I noticed the male fish was losing his appetite and
hanging out around her net, which I thought was due to loneliness.
<Interesting observation/conclusion>
Last time she was pregnant, I didn't put her in a net or quarantine her in any
way. I was caught off guard when I saw the fry swimming around on the bottom of
the tank. The thought of them reproducing never crossed my mind. After a couple
of days in the tank, I noticed that the fry had disappeared. I am new to raising
fish and can use all the help I can get. Should I put Laila back in the
pregnancy net?
<Possibly>
I was reading a few FAQs on your site about mollies needing a 1 to 4 ratio 1
male: 4 females. Like I said above, I have a ten gallon tank. I'm not sure it
will be able to support 5 mollies with their reproduction rate.
<I agree... This is not much room>
Should I get a better tank and add 3 other females?
<A bigger tank is a very good idea... and another female or two as well>
If so, where should I get the tank and fish? What type of tank should I get? Do
I have to get the same breed of fish?
--Alia Abul-Haj
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Mollies... sys.
12/30/07
Hello I have a couple questions for you. How big of a tank should I get to
store 7 mollies?
All of the mollies had the same mother and father, can they produce fry? I have
done a lot of research on Dalmatian mollies and when they say something about
the anal fin and how you tell if it's a male or female. Well could you send me a
picture of a male, female and a pregnant female so I know how they look so I can
look out for things like that? I would appreciate any advice you can give me.
<Greetings. Some Mollies are bigger than others. The smallest varieties, like
Black Mollies, typically reach no more than 7 cm/3" in size. At the other
extreme, Mexican Giant Sailfins get to over 15 cm/6" in length. Dalmatian
Mollies are somewhere between the two, around 10 cm/4". As well as their size,
Mollies have two other issues to consider: they are [a] very active and [b] the
males are very aggressive towards one another and sometimes towards the females
as well. So you want to be generous when allotting space, so they can swim about
happily. Finally, Mollies are highly sensitive to poor water quality, especially
nitrate. A bigger tank makes it easier to maintain good water quality. Without a
doubt, the bigger the better for Mollies! I'd highly recommend a tank not less
than 90 cm/3' in length. Sexing Mollies is easy: the males have long, narrow
anal fins that look a bit like bent sticks. Females have regular,
triangle-shaped anal fins. You cannot tell if a female is pregnant by looking at
it. Some people do breed from brother and sister fish, but it isn't a good idea
for all the obvious reasons. Inbreeding will cause problems such as deformed fry
and low fertility. So bring in new genes if you want to breed healthy Mollies by
buying males and females from different batches of fish. For more, be sure and
read this:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Molly - need your expert
opinion, sys., hlth. 12/5/07
Hi, I love your site. I am new to all this -
I have read and read and read on google and all kinds of sites about my specific
questions but I am getting mixed information and partial answers, so I thought I
would get your opinion on it.
<Hmm... Google is efficient at finding stuff, but remember that the Internet is
a mix of 50% gold and 50% garbage. If you're new to fishkeeping, you will be
MUCH better off buying or borrowing a decent aquarium book, of which there are
many. These will be edited and written to a higher standard than most of the
stuff on the Internet.>
I have a 40 gallon hex tank with a side filter / carbon filter that goes inside
etc/ I have 6 small red eye tetra, 4 mollies and a female (very sweet beta)
<OK, start by chucking out the carbon. Waste of money and space. Replace with
some filter wool or ceramic noodles. Carbon serves no useful purpose in most
freshwater aquaria. Biological filter media is always useful. Tetras and Mollies
are not good tankmates; Mollies almost always do better in salty water than
freshwater, whereas Tetras (for the most part) don't tolerate salt at all.>
First of all I know I have totally stressed out my black molly because of moving
her too much.
<Oh?>
Two of my females have wound up pregnant, I don't want the other fish to eat the
fry. I bought one of those breeders where the mothers are up top and the babies
end up going thru a slot on the bottom so they are protected.
<Never, ever put a Molly in a breeding trap. She will hate you with the heat of
nova. Breeding traps are really something that sounds a better idea than it
actually is. Mollies are too big for them, and really so are most other
livebearers. Instead, stock the tank with floating plants. Hornwort is idea.
Check the plants once or twice a day, and then remove fry to a breeding trap or
better still another tank for growing on.>
First of all, one of them has been huge for about 4 weeks and for 4 weeks I have
been saying, any day now! No fry yet and I have no clue when she is going to
have them. Any signs I can watch for so I can get them out quickly with a net ?
Do you have any pictures so I can see how big they are supposed to get. Maybe
there are not really any signs?
<One problem with Mollies is that in freshwater they often get sick, and oedema
(dropsy) can look for all the world like pregnancy. Another issue is some
varieties have been deliberately bred to be rounded, so it isn't obvious if they
are pregnant or not. Finally, many fish will eat the fry at once. Sometimes even
the mothers! So the babies can literally have a lifespan of minutes, too short a
time for you to observe them.>
I put her in the breeder for a about a day and noticed she seemed stressed and I
felt bad because it was so small. I know mollies require lots of space to be
happy. I have found very different opinions on this subject matter.
<I can't think who in their right mind would be opining that Mollies are happy
in breeding traps or don't need space. As I said, 50% of the Internet is
garbage.>
I took her out of the breeder and put her back in the tank with the others for
about a week. Much better!. Then I decided to put her in my daughters tank which
is bigger than the breeder but still small (it's like 2 gallon). (I don't have
the extra $100 or so to set-up a new tank right now being so close to Christmas)
<Floating plants... floating plants... cheap, effective...>
After her being in the 2 gallon for a couple of weeks, and still no fry, I moved
her back into main tank again since she seemed stressed in there.
I put some plastic floating plants at the top and there are lots of holes in the
ornament that all the fish can get into.
<A two-gallon tank is really not going to work. For one thing the Molly will be
incredibly stressed. Miscarriages under such conditions are common. Even if any
babies were born, she might eat them because there's really no space for the
baby fish to swim away.>
Those tetras seem kind of aggressive and chase the other fish and I am worried
that they will eat the fry - will they ?
<As sure as God made little green apples...>
Should I get rid of those ? I can find someone on craigslist to take them
probably.
<Yep. If you want to keep Mollies -- seriously -- and get babies, then your life
will be 100 times easier if the Mollies have a spacious tank with some salt
(~3-6 grammes per litre) added to the water and lots of floating plants. The
Tetras are merely adding a complication.>
Thanks for the information.
Wendy
<We do have a nice detailed article on Mollies, here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
Have a read, follow the links to related articles, and good luck! Neale.>
Re: Molly - need your expert opinion
12/5/07
Thank you, thank you. I appreciate your time and your very valued opinions.
I let the Molly out of the breeding trap and I am going to find another home for
the tetras ASAP. The word "trap" should be an indicator huh ? :-)
Your awesome.
Wendy
<Cool. Glad we can help. Mollies are among my favourite fish, and when cared for
properly EASILY fill a tank with colour and entertainment-value all by
themselves. That's why I recommend people keep them alone so they don't have to
make compromises to allow for their tankmates. Give the Mollies 100% of what
they want, and they'll repay you handsomely! Colour, activity, sex, and babies.
What more could you ask for! Cheers, Neale.>
|
Aquarium Questions, FW lvstk.
comp., salt use – 10/28/07
hello, i might start a 55 gallon tank soon and i was wondering if my
conditions were right for the fish i want to include below. Also, if they can
all get along and if its a good amount for the tank. Please also recommend some
tetras for me that get along well with angels and if Cory cats or upside down
cats are better.
<Mmm, Hyphessobrycons in a group are some faves... And I would go with Corydoras
over the Synodontis here>
The tank will have 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons, can they deal with
it?
<I would not add the salt... Please read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/saltusefaqs.htm>
Thank You!
Tank Conditions:
Size: 55 gallons
Temp: 74-82 F
PH.5.8-6.5
Current Inhabitants in my 10 gallon: 3 platys (might soon be 5 if babies live),
2 balloon belly mollies
Salinity Level: 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt for every 5 gallons
<Okay here, but not for Tetras, Angels...>
Fish I want to add:
Tetras-8
Platy-3 or 1 if the 2 babies live
Balloon mollies-3
<Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm>
Angelfish- 5
Upside-down catfish-6 “or” Cory cats-6
Blue/gold gourami-2
Fish in total:
8 tetras
6 platys
5 balloon mollies
5 angelfish
6 upside down cats or Cory cats
2 blue/gold gouramis
<Bob Fenner>
Re: Aquarium Questions...
salt 10/29/07
thank you for all your help!
<Welcome>
I was going to add salt because I thought that it would prevent ich.
I guess its only good for treating it.
<And only with certain livestock/species and settings. BobF>
Re: re: Aquarium Questions...
reading, comprehension 10/29/07
So basically mollies wont do good and get diseases in the 55 gallon because
I wont add salt?
Thanks.
<Something like this. Welcome. RMF>
Re: Aquarium Questions...
still not reading re Mollies... salt... fixing English... 10/29/07
im sorry if I am bothering you guys a lot but im still pretty much a
beginner so I need to know different things so there might be more questions
later. Well, I still want to put my mollies in the tank. Do you think 1
tablespoon of salt per 10 gallons is okay for the fish and help prevent disease?
I don't want my mollies getting sick so easily since they thrive with a little
salt in the water. this is the number of the fish I plan on having in the tank:
8 tetras
6 platys
5 balloon mollies
5 angelfish
6 Cory cats
2 blue/gold Gouramis
can u recommend some tetras for me that wont get eaten by the angels and wont
nip fins? Thank you again!
<Please understand this: Mollies are not good community fish. At the very least,
they require hard (18+ degrees dH) water with high carbonate hardness (10+
degrees KH). Such water will have a very high pH (at least 7.5, and likely 8.0
upwards). Mollies also want water that has zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and as
close to zero nitrate as is practical. The addition of salt isn't 100%
essential, but it is something (in my experience/opinion, based on MANY years of
keeping fish and discussing with other hobbyists) that makes keeping Mollies
substantially easier. What the marine salt mix (not tonic salt) does is raise
the hardness and pH and also reduces the toxicity of the nitrate. This latter
effect is probably the critical one. By all means keep Mollies with
salt-tolerant fish: Guppies, Swordtails, Hoplosternum littorale, Hypostomus
plecostomus, horseface loaches, Kribensis, Bumblebee gobies, Knight gobies,
glassfish etc. Add marine salt mix at around 3-6 grammes per litre to the tank
and your Mollies and your salt-tolerant fish will all thrive. Mollies under such
conditions are robust and more colourful than otherwise. But don't both trying
to keep Mollies in a generic community tank. Read over the Molly FAQs here at
WWM, or really any other fish keeping forum -- you will see dozens and dozens of
messages from people with Mollies plagued with Finrot, fungus, Mouth Fungus and
"the Shimmies". Adding salt for the benefit of your Mollies will only stress all
the other fish, so you're taking from Peter to give to Paul -- there's no net
benefit! Choosing tetras to keep with Angels generally isn't difficult. Good
choices including Bleeding Heart tetras, Lemon tetras, Emperor tetras, X-ray
tetras, Head-and-tail light Tetras and Diamond Tetras. African tetras can be
good, too; things like Congo Tetras. Avoid the small, reddish ones (Serpae
tetras, Flame tetras, etc.) and the bite-size ones like Neons, Cardinals and
Glowlights. Black Widow tetras (also known as Petticoat Tetras) are fin-nippers
too. Avoid. Cheers, Neale>
|
Mollies & Salt 10/16/07
Hello!
I have a 29g established freshwater tank with a variety of Mollies - Balloon
Belly, Sailfin, etc. I currently keep 1 tablespoon of salt per 5g in the tank. I
would like to add a Bristlenose pleco to the tank but from what I've read they
don't really like the salt. Would removing the salt - by not replacing during
water changes - adversely affect the Mollies?
-Chip
<Hello Chip. This is a tricky question to answer. In theory, you don't need
salty water to keep Mollies. So long as the carbonate hardness is high (10
degrees KH upwards); the general hardness is very high (20 degrees dH upwards);
the pH is around 8.0; zero ammonia and nitrite; and nitrate less than 10 mg/l,
you should have the water chemistry Mollies enjoy. An Ancistrus sp. catfish
would also do well under such conditions. However, if you take you eye off the
ball and any of those environmental parameters slips, for example the nitrates
rise above 10 mg/l, then your Mollies will become significantly more likely to
become sick. What salt does is reduce the toxicity of nitrite and nitrate, and
this is one of the reasons it helps in Molly tanks. Marine salt mix also raises
the carbonate hardness and general hardness providing much more stable water
chemistry, which Mollies also need. Finally, marine salt mix or regular aquarium
salt mix both increase salinity, and since Mollies are, at least in part,
brackish water fish, this helps their overall healthfulness. The bottom line is
this: Mollies are very hardy in brackish/marine aquaria, but rather delicate in
freshwater aquaria. So what would I recommend? Keep the salt in the Molly
aquarium. I'd actually skip the idea of Ancistrus anyway. Ancistrus eat algae,
as do Mollies. Much better let the Mollies eat the algae, since it's an
important part of a balanced diet. If you want a catfish, opt for one of the
salt-tolerant species, such as Hoplosternum littorale. There are also some
brackish water loaches, and for your tank, the Horseface Loach (Acantopsis
choirorhynchos) would be an excellent choice. It's a good scavenger and
basically peaceful. Both these suggestions would be very happy at SG 1.003 if
acclimated carefully. Hope this helps, Neale>
Some Molly Issues...
10/12/07
Hi folks - very nice forum, full of good information and eats up a lot of
time digesting all the advice!
I have some issues with my mollies - firstly I'll run through my setup:
1 Marble Mollie (Female)
1 Traditional Mollie (Female)
1 Traditional Mollie (Male)
1 Silver Sailfin Mollie (Male)
2 Pleco (Suckermouth 2-3" maximum)
60L Tank, 25'C Bogwood x 2, Java moss and some other traditional plants with
fine sand ground and Tetra carbon filter.
<60 litres is too small for mollies. You'll have problems maintaining the zero
nitrate conditions they need, and the sailfin mollies won't grow to full size.>
Now onto the issues...
The tank completed it's cycle about 3 weeks ago, during which these fish were in
a smaller tank. However on re-integration back into this tank, all the Mollies
all flick themselves off objects, be it airstone tubing, sand, bogwood or the
filter.
<Sounds like incipient whitespot (ick). Look for small white spots.>
They also speedily swim to the surface and splash their tailfin on the surface,
making loud splashes. I've checked closely for Ich, and they all seem clear.
<Ah, but whitespot can be on the gills, and in this case you won't see it.>
The water has just had a 40% change yesterday (it was going cloudy, so I
replaced the filter cartridge and did a thorough syphon of the detritus and food
remnants).
<Hmm... I don't recommend changing biological filter media unless absolutely
essential. What sort of filter media are we talking about here? Obviously,
replacing biological filter media re-sets the cycling process to the start.
Carbon is redundant, and Zeolite shouldn't be required in a regular, properly
maintained aquarium.>
Is this anything to worry about?
<Odd behaviour should always be observed closely.>
Secondly, the Sailfin male is very aggressive towards the other fish, and at
least once a week will push the other male (who is actually bigger than the
sailfin) in the corner, and generally stress him out.
<Completely normal. Male mollies are aggressive. In a 60 litre tank, the
dominant male will eventually batter the others, if not to death, then into
severe stress.>
However, the Sailfin sometimes when hanging in the water will slowly tilt
upwards, until it is facing directly upwards. None of the other fish exhibit
this behaviour at all. Is this something to be concerned about?
<Sailfin mollies have a distinct adaptation to living in low-oxygen waters (such
as brackish water ditches in the wild). They orient themselves head-upwards, and
suck the surface layer of water in the mouth and across their gills. Most other
livebearers don't do this. If your sailfin is doing this repeatedly, check water
quality.>
I am gradually adding small amounts of marine salt into the water (not too much
as I'm aware that the Pleco's won't appreciate it) as I have been doing for 2
days now, in an effort to rectify this issue and the flicking issue, is that
futile?
<Treat for whitespot/ick using a standard medication of some sort. Quicker and
easier. Common Plecos (Pterygoplichthys spp.) are fairly salt tolerant, and with
care will do well at SG 1.003. This should be a high enough salinity for your
mollies. But long term, I'd swap out the Plecos for a true low-end brackish
water catfish, such as Hoplosternum littorale or (the true) Hypostomus
plecostomus. These are fine up to SG 1.005. You can of course keep large mollies
with brackish/marine cats such as 'Arius' seemanni and Mystus gulio.>
Thirdly, I have these 'Hikari Tropical' Algae Wafers, made up of everything (it
would be a super food if it was for humans I reckon). I usually drop one in and
leave it for the Plecos, however I've noticed that the Mollies eat it too.
Further to this, could these wafers be responsible for the water going cloudy?
<No, these won't make the water cloudy by themselves. They are of course
excellent food for plecs as well as mollies. Both species eat a lot of algae and
plant material. Water cloudiness comes from three different things: silt from
unwashed gravel, bacterial blooms during the early phase of cycling, and
overstocking (and it's associated hazard, overfeeding).>
On a separate note, I have a smaller 30L Tank downstairs which has 5 Female
Guppies, 2 Male, 3 Neon Tetras and 1 baby Mollie - the Guppies are giving birth
this week, but the fry seem quite large - are the fry at any risk of being eaten
despite seeming too big for the Guppies?
<Some will get eaten, yes. Depends a lot on floating plants. If you have lots of
floating plants, most fry should be fine.>
I don't know how I would catch them either - they are well hidden in the Java
Moss, and they would probably pass through my smallest net's gauze.
<I catch fry with small plastic cups, rather than nets. Turkey basters can be
used, too.>
Thanks for any assistance!
MPH
P.S. if you could email me the link if you update the FAQs with my Q+A that
would be most helpful - if not too busy, a reply would be super too, cheers!
<Cheers, Neale>
Re: Some Molly Issues...
10/12/07
Thanks for the fast reply - the filter cartridge I replaced was merely the
carbon cartridge in my 'Tetra Aqua Art 60L' tank - the bacteria grow in the
other elements of the filter itself, so the Cartridge is alright to replace (or
so Tetra proclaim).
<Indeed. Carbon can be changed as often as you can afford. Certainly, carbon
stops doing its thing after a couple of weeks. But personally I consider carbon
useless in the average community tank. Water changes are more effective at
removing pollutants, and you can replace the carbon's space with more biological
media. Carbon is cheap, sounds technical, and thus gets used by manufacturers to
sell (at a high price) what is basically just charcoal.>
I note that you said that 60L was too small for Mollies - what is a good size
tank for them in this case?
<Depends on the mollies. I'd keep Shortfin varieties in something around 90
litres, and Sailfins in something above 150 litres. Sailfin mollies should
exceed 10 cm in length, and potentially up to 15 cm depending on the species.
They're big fish.>
Thanks for any assistance,
Matt
<Cheers, Neale>
Balloon Molly Question... sys.
9/9/07
Hi, my name is Nick and I was searching for answers about my
new fish.
<<Hello, Nick. My name’s Tom.>>
I just got a 10g tank and let it run for 2 days. I checked the
water and it was perfect. I even took a sample in to PetSmart
and they checked it and said it was perfect.
<<Not too much to go wrong, or right (in this context), with
two-day-old water, Nick. Conventionally cycling an aquarium
takes several weeks, not a couple of days.>>
So, I bought a balloon molly, a red swordtail, and a upside-down
catfish. I put them in and everything seemed was good for about
three days.
<<First off, Nick, you have three totally incompatible fish
living in a smallish 10-gallon tank. Your Molly is a brackish
water fish. The Swordtail is a freshwater fish preferring
harder, alkaline conditions and the Catfish prefers softer,
acidic conditions. Second, as I’ve suggested above, you placed
these fish in an uncycled aquarium which means that after the
three days the ammonia built up to very toxic/deadly levels.
(You definitely need to research about cycling an aquarium
before doing much else!)>>
I noticed that when I was feeding them the molly will eat as
much as she could every time and it seemed that the other fish
weren't getting any food.
<<Not an uncommon problem, Nick. I might have expected a little
less of a problem along these lines with the Swordtail but the
Catfish is likely to be more shy/retiring so it doesn’t surprise
me here.>>
Now today, which is day 4, she is acting weird. She keeps
sniping at the swordtail and is pooping constantly. I watched
the molly for about an hour and she pooped 4 times. Each one was
about two inches long and she is only an inch long.
<<In itself, this isn’t a problem. She’s the one getting all the
food, after all. (What goes in must come out.) “Sniping” at the
Swordtail could be from her new-found habit of getting all the
food and defending her “territory” but is more likely a sign of
stress. Mollies are very peaceful fish that aren’t aggressive
given proper conditions. When stressed, however, you should/can
expect just about anything to happen.>>
She seems like she is sick or something. Should I be worried?
<<”Worried” isn’t what’s called for here, Nick. You can’t
acclimate these three fish to conditions each wants in the same
tank so you’ve a decision to make. Your best bet is to take the
Molly back to the LFS if possible. The Swordtail and Catfish can
be acclimated to neutral water conditions – pH around 7.0-7.2 –
without too much trouble (assuming your water source from the
tap has the same readings). Keeping the Molly in favor of the
other two would require that you convert your tank to brackish
conditions. Hardly an insurmountable problem but not the option
I would recommend for someone new to the hobby.>>
I am new to this. This is the first time I have ever owned a
fish so I don't know. Thanks for your time if you have any ideas
please let me know.
<<Along with what I’ve already suggested, Nick, I’ll repeat
myself on the topic of learning about cycling your tank. Be
prepared to make water changes, and plenty of them, until the
nitrogen cycle has completed itself. Detectable levels of
ammonia/nitrite are extremely toxic, and potentially deadly, to
fish. Finally, for future purposes, research the type of fish
that you might be interested in prior to making the purchase.
Barely a week (day?) goes by that we don’t have someone tell us
about buying fish that he/she “just couldn’t pass up” only to
find that it was a big mistake. (Sidenote: I’d never recommend
purchasing your fish from Petsmart but, should you decide to do
this, please educate yourself (for your own “protection”) before
walking through the front door. Knowledgeable people could have
made you aware of what I’ve shared with you before this ever
turned into the issue it’s become. Make it YOUR responsibility
to know the facts.)>>
Thanks again.
-Nick
<<Good luck, Nick. If you have any questions, you know where you
can find me. Tom>>
Update on My Molly Tank
8/2/07
Hi Neale,
<Hello Kathy,>
First of all, thank you for all your advice! I have managed to lower PH and
hardness a little bit by using tap water mixed with RO/DI water. (The ratio I
used is 2:1) Tap water is at least twice as much as RO water.
<Sounds fine; but remember, the ratio doesn't matter, it's the final set of
water chemistry conditions you end up with that are important. But this is the
sort of mix I do with tap water and rainwater, so I'm sure it'll be fine.>
* PH was reduced from 8.5 to 8.2. (I am not planning to lower PH any further and
will try to keep it stable.)
<Cool.>
* GH was reduced from 447.5 ppm to 411.7 ppm. (The test kit I bought is API.
The instruction sheet says DH x 17.9 = ppm. This is how I got the figure.
However, I found some other resources seemed to indicate DH times 10 equals ppm.
Why is there such a big difference?
<One degree of German hardness (dH, the standard measurement these days) is 10
ppm calcium oxide, but for historical reasons Americans tend to use ppm calcium
carbonate, in which case one degree of German hardness is 17.9 ppm calcium
carbonate. But you don't need to worry about the exact numbers. For all
practical purposes, all you need to concentrate on is the "adjective" that goes
with whatever test kit you're using. For mollies and other hard water fish, you
want "hard" to "very hard"; for average community fish, anything between "fairly
soft" and "moderately hard" is fine; for soft water fish like Apistogramma and
rasboras, you want "soft". Concentrate on these terms, and forget about
converting one set of numbers to another.>
* KH was reduced from 268.5 ppm to 214.8 ppm. (Test kit is API as well.)
<Fine.>
I have a few questions though... hope you can give me again your precious
opinions.
<Will try.>
1) Is GH the same as TDS? Some places say yes and some says no. Kind of
confused! The mixed water (tap+RO) measured TDS 269 ppm. After I added salt in
the water, it changed to 600 ppm. But GH seemed to be about only 400 ppm or
above.
<TDS (total dissolved solids) and GH (general hardness) are certainly related.
But they are not the same thing. Not all the dissolved minerals in water raise
hardness. Sodium chloride, for example, as you've discovered. But these minerals
conduct electricity, and TDS measures electrical conductivity. All this couldn't
matter less in a freshwater aquarium where approximations of GH and KH are more
than adequate for most species. TDS is more of a big deal in marine tanks
because coral reef-dwelling animals tend to be much more fussy about changes in
water chemistry. It should be mentioned this isn't an issue for all marine
organisms: those that live in tide pools and estuaries are among the most
tolerant fishes on Earth when it comes to dramatic changes in water chemistry.>
2) The nitrite level of the tank swifts between 0, 0.05 and 0.1 ppm. Any
idea what may cause this and what I should do to improve?
<The Holy Trinity of water quality: inadequate filtration, overstocking, and
overfeeding. Check these, and make adjustments.>
3) High nitrate starts to be a problem. The nitrate level is still high at
40 ppm even after I made a 20% water change. I try to make a water change every
3 days to reduce the nitrate level but it does not seem to help. I am looking at
several methods I gathered:
<40 ppm nitrate is fine for most fish. Mollies aren't wild about nitrate, but
since you're adding salt to the water, you should be fine. Please, make sure
you're using marine salt mix, not tonic salt. Not all salts are equal!>
- Mangrove plants (Hard to find a local store carrying this plant.... I am based
in Canada)
<Forget it. Growth rate far too slow to make much difference.>
- Seachem de-nitrate (This is the only brand |
