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rachcake

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I'd really like some opinions/answers on a few things i've got to ask.... I have a 60L tank with 4 mollies at the moment.
 
Female or male mollies? how can i tell?
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Real plants - are they necessary? what are the pro's and con's of having real instead of fake?
 
Also my partner would really like a male fighting fish (i can obviously see the attraction) but i've read a little bit about them online and i'm not sure, could someone clear it up for us?
rolleyes.gif
  i'm not too sure what to stock with after the 4 mollies i have, i'd just like anything colorful and friendly that can live with other fish in peace!
 
thanks for any help!
 
Rach
 
 
 
 
 
First of all, how old is the tank?  Do you know if its fully cycled?
 
Male mollies ( and all male livebearers ) have what appears to be a folded anal fin as you can see here:
13049d1224717398-do-fish-get-fat-1male-20molly.jpg

 
While female mollies and other livebearers, have a regular fin:
molly10Large.jpg

 
Real plants look better in most cases, and they help keep your aquarium healthy because they take in fish waste as nutrients to help grow, but alot of them need special equipment which gets expensive.  I've been in the hobby since the summer and have  afew live plants, but just starting to research a small live planted tank.  A tank with enough plants and few fish wont even need a filter ( but we'll keep it in this case )
 
As for adding a betta, it can be hit and miss.  There are stories of it going well, and stories of it going bad because sometimes mollies can be fin nippers.  I have a beta and some mollies but they are in separate tanks, I'd wait to see someone with experience mixing them chiming in
 
Sexing mollies is easy thanks to them being livebearers.
 
The anal fin on females will be more square or triangle shaped and squat while the male will have a modifed anal fin called a gonopodium which is elongated.
I don't think I have any pictures handy to better show you the differance but a simple search for gonopodium will bring up pictures.
 
A male fighter is often fine with other fish (depends on the fighters personal temperment), but they can get picked on more than him picking on other fish.
 
Also mollies generally like hard water with salts added, they can go almost competely brackish, but fighters are soft water fish, so on that alone a fighter is not a great tank mate for mollies. Either the mollies may suffer from being in too soft water or the fighter will from being in hard water. I have seen pure soft water mollies, but they got there from generations of mollies living in a rainwater tank, most mollies bred and sold in shops will be conditioned to having salts in the water.
 
Baccus said:
Sexing mollies is easy thanks to them being livebearers.
 
The anal fin on females will be more square or triangle shaped and squat while the male will have a modifed anal fin called a gonopodium which is elongated.
I don't think I have any pictures handy to better show you the differance but a simple search for gonopodium will bring up pictures.
 
A male fighter is often fine with other fish (depends on the fighters personal temperment), but they can get picked on more than him picking on other fish.
 
Also mollies generally like hard water with salts added, they can go almost competely brackish, but fighters are soft water fish, so on that alone a fighter is not a great tank mate for mollies. Either the mollies may suffer from being in too soft water or the fighter will from being in hard water. I have seen pure soft water mollies, but they got there from generations of mollies living in a rainwater tank, most mollies bred and sold in shops will be conditioned to having salts in the water.
 
 
thank you! will definitely give the fighter a miss :) as for the sexing, i think i have 3 males and a female.... bad ratio?
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Yes that is a bad ratio, generally its best to have one male with a minimum of 2 females. The males with your one female can harrass her to death. If you want to breed the mollies then I would get rid of the two males you least like and replace them with females that you like. Or if you dont want that many females producing young you could get some guppies, either colourful fancy females (although they are often already pregnant from the shops) or some male guppies that you like. Guppies can handle the same condtions as mollies, but the male guppies may turn their attentions to your female molly as well.
If breeding them is not the ambition then I would rehome the female and get another male.
Because like it or not mixed sexed livebearers are going to breed, and breed well. What started out as a few cute babies quickly turns into a case of "what on earth am I going to do with them all?
crazy.gif
 ".
 
Baccus said:
Yes that is a bad ratio, generally its best to have one male with a minimum of 2 females. The males with your one female can harrass her to death. If you want to breed the mollies then I would get rid of the two males you least like and replace them with females that you like. Or if you dont want that many females producing young you could get some guppies, either colourful fancy females (although they are often already pregnant from the shops) or some male guppies that you like. Guppies can handle the same condtions as mollies, but the male guppies may turn their attentions to your female molly as well.
If breeding them is not the ambition then I would rehome the female and get another male.
Because like it or not mixed sexed livebearers are going to breed, and breed well. What started out as a few cute babies quickly turns into a case of "what on earth am I going to do with them all?
crazy.gif
 ".
 
 
okay on closer inspection - i definitely have 2 males and 2 females....one of the males does keep chasing one of the females but it looks more aggressive and territorial! i don't particuarly want to breed, but i did read that most the fry get eaten...
confused.gif
 
it could be mixed, its still best for 2:1 or 3:1 you could watch them alot and see if they are harassed or if the males beat each other up
 
Often times the fry will be eaten by either the parents or other tank mates, but that is not a sure fire result. Even if you only have one or two fry survive from each drop, you will eventually end up with too many fish for the tank.
I find once fry are a few days old they have found the best and safest hiding places and by then they have grown enough to not be eaten by the parents any way.
 
Also plant wise I always go live plants, they help with nutrient take up, add oxygen to the water and don't fade or need cleaning like fake plants can.
And mollies are real plant lovers they love their greens and need them.
 
Its just the snail issue that puts me off from getting real plants.... is there anything you can do to stop them??
 
Provided you dont want to keep shrimp or even a species of snail that isn't a pest snail, you can treat plants with snail kill chemicals. They are usually high in cooper which is toxic in high levels to most inverts.
Other options include when you first buy the plants have a good look in the sellers tanks for snails and if you still want the plant and get it, then when you get home rinse the plant thourghly under running water this should be done any way to remove any other chemicals the plants may have been treated with.
And watch your tank vigilantly and if/ when you see your first small snail dont have a heart melt about it looking cute, be ruthless and get rid of it.
 

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