Are Mollies Really That Greedy?

[moosli]

Hi all,

Hoping you can help. I've had fish tanks on and off for the last 8 years or so, and while I was choosing some fish for my son's tank I was told by the guy in the fish shop that I shouldn't get any Neon-, Cardinal- or Phantom Tetra as they'd get eaten by the Mollies. Same goes for the Guppies, by the way. Now I have to say, I've never heard this before.
Since the Mollies were the first fish we put in this tank (knowing that they're pretty hardy) this had made choosing subsequent fish a bit of a nightmare..
Now, we do have guppies, and I stubbornly chose some Black Phantom Tetra, just to disprove this young man, and so far everyone's still alive.

But anyway, is this really true? Will Mollies eat the small Tetras? Or is this young man just talking total rubbish?

Looking forward to some knowlegeable replies.

Thanks

Seb's Mum = Moosli

 

[Maxta]

Sounds bull crap to me.

Weve got Mollies in with our tetras. Fair enough 2 of the original 6 survived and are bigger, but the other 5 we bought last month to accompany them were alot smaller than the other tetras, and my Mollys are fine with them, never bothered them once.

Only bully in our tank is our Gourami, but thats in their nature.

 

[Jozlyn]

Hi all,

Hoping you can help. I've had fish tanks on and off for the last 8 years or so, and while I was choosing some fish for my son's tank I was told by the guy in the fish shop that I shouldn't get any Neon-, Cardinal- or Phantom Tetra as they'd get eaten by the Mollies. Same goes for the Guppies, by the way. Now I have to say, I've never heard this before.
Since the Mollies were the first fish we put in this tank (knowing that they're pretty hardy) this had made choosing subsequent fish a bit of a nightmare..
Now, we do have guppies, and I stubbornly chose some Black Phantom Tetra, just to disprove this young man, and so far everyone's still alive.

But anyway, is this really true? Will Mollies eat the small Tetras? Or is this young man just talking total rubbish?

Looking forward to some knowlegeable replies.

Thanks

Seb's Mum = Moosli

Mollies will eat fish that are smaller than themselves i.e. their own fry. Unless the tetra's and guppies are extremely small (fry size), they should be safe.

However, having said that, I have mollies, guppies and neon's together in the same tank and the mollies definately are NOT eating the guppies or neon's, however they may nip at the guppies tails, as will the neon's.

This guy sounds like he has a little knowledge but it's incomplete! Treat anything that anyone in a LFS tells you with caution, they very often know next to nothing about the fish they sell as they're running a business and are out to make money!