Compatible Fresh Water Fish

[Oreo (:]

I have four Molly fish and i was wanting to know what other types of freshwater fish are not agressive, and will be happy with a pocassimus and an algea eater. I put some aquarium salt with every water change. so, I was wanting to find out, from someone with experience, what other types of fish, prefferably fish that have a lot of babies, would swim well with Mollys. If you could help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Oreo and wecome to TFF!

Platies, Swordtails and Guppies are the other most common livebearers often kept with Mollies. All of these fish tend to have lots of babies very fast, often getting beginners in to big trouble right away, with their filters not being able to handle the increased bioload.

Its a common myth that all mollies need salt. Its true that some molly types are true brackish water fish but the most common need of mollies is water with very high mineral content, commonly called hard water. Since most other tropicals do not tolerate salt, its a very helpful thing to know about hardness versus salt. Our member oldman47, is quite experienced both with livebearers and hard water and I'm sure he'll spot this thead and give a hand if needed.

Whenever newcomers drop in we like to ask if they've ever heard of "cycling" a tank. When tanks are new, they are not really ready to handle fish for usually the first couple of months but instead need some work done on them to prepare what we call the "biofilter." Let us know where you stand with this topic and maybe we can help out.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[flyhawk]

i know swordtails like salt and are closely related
did you think about them?

wow waterdrop i posted like a millisecond behind you!!
(seems you gave a much better ansewr though!!)

 

[NinjaSmurf]

That salt might not be good for the algae eater. What kind do you have?

 

[OldMan47]

Salt is never a good idea on any livebearer unless you know where the water is starting. There are many people who will tell you that you need salt for mollies, we even have a pinned post that says that in the common livebearers section. The problem with that simplistic approach is that it really doesn't work out. Mollies do best in water that is high in mineral content and do better with water that has a pH over 7.5. Reality is this picture in a tank with absolutely no added salt for my mollies.

With this 3 months later

If you know that your tap water is very low in minerals and has a low pH, salt like the stuff you would use for an African rift tank or even the salt meant to be used for a saltwater tank, can raise the mineral content and pH quite nicely. If you are not starting with low mineral content water, there is no reason to add salt to any molly tank. There are over 20 different species that have a common name that includes the word molly. They range in needs from fish that need water similar to an Amazon river fish to fish that can tolerate full saltwater. The common mollies in our tanks are the second variety, some saltwater keepers actually have been known to use mollies to cycle their tanks at full salt concentrations. It is not especially good for the mollies but common aquarium mollies, like the ones in my pictures above, are very adaptable to any water with lots of mineral content. The same cannot be said of any other common livebearers. Some of them can tolerate some salt, as Flyhawk implied, but it is not good for them, contrary to what he may have read. Leave the salt on the kitchen table unless you know for a fact that your water is low in mineral content. Doing anything else means that you are very limited in what you can put into the tank as tank mates.

 

[hebman]

I've just got a Juwel 450 for my birthday, haven't had a tank in about 20 years. Waterdrop, verinterested to hear more on the 'cycling'

Lots to re-learn - and a whole bunch to learn (when did under gravel filters go out of fashion??)

Looking forward to advice from you lot.

Filled and conditioned the tank on Wednesday, going out to buy plants at the weekend. Adjusted the PH to about 7.1

 

[Truck]

If you're doing a fishless cycle then buy plants at the end, when ammonia and light are present algae is triggered which is why it is advisable to do a fishless cycle in the dark.

UG filters went out of fashion years ago, they're not very reliable compared to external canister and internal canister filters.

 

[Assaye]

I've just got a Juwel 450 for my birthday, haven't had a tank in about 20 years. Waterdrop, verinterested to hear more on the 'cycling'

Lots to re-learn - and a whole bunch to learn (when did under gravel filters go out of fashion??)

Looking forward to advice from you lot.

Filled and conditioned the tank on Wednesday, going out to buy plants at the weekend. Adjusted the PH to about 7.1

Beginners' Resource Centre

I know you're not a beginner, but it's always good to have a read and compare what you know to what we'd recommend.

There's a great section on cycling there.

As for pH - as long as pH is stable and between 6 and 8, most fish will be fine with it. Even if it is a little outside of those, as long as fish are properly acclimatised, they should be OK. Adjusting pH can lead to unstable pH which is worse for fish than high/low pH.

As for cycling:

Fish produce waste. That's the whole reason we have a filter - to get rid of the ammonia the fish produce and make the water safe for fish. Cycling is the process of growing the essential bacteria in the filter to do that job.

Many people cycle without realising - they add a few fish, wait a couple of weeks, add a few more and maybe some die, maybe some don't and they end up with a stable, happy tank. However, we can cycle a tank in a way that doesn't put any fish at risk from these waste chemicals. We do that by replicating the fish waste without putting fish in the tank to get hurt. It's called a fishless cycle.

That link should explain everything in good detail!

Sorry if I have been patronising