atmmachine816
Fish Gatherer
like i said and i dont want them to produce hybrids so i was thinkin on a trio of plattys or swordtails are there anymore i know no mollies as they like salt and my lfs's dont sell enderls??? anybody
I Was Just Curious What Livebearers Will Go With My Fish
- Thread starter atmmachine816
- Start date
blitztidus
Spirited Away
That is a common misconception on mollies as they can strive in BRACKISH or FRESHWATER, I have mollies in my 100% no-salt tank. All livebearers include guppies, endlers, mollies, swordtails, and platies. There are a few oddballs, but not many. any would work. 
atmmachine816
Fish Gatherer
yes but some will mate with each other and i dont want that i believe it is endlers and guppies and swords and platys
blitztidus
Spirited Away
Mollies and guppies have mated before, but rarely. I would go with Swordtails and maybe fancy guppies. I they can go together well and if you feel like it, add mollies that are to big for the mollies to mate with.
atmmachine816
Fish Gatherer
well i am thinking of getting another trio of livebearers in my 30 gallon tank but i dont want the guppies matingwith thme
blitztidus
Spirited Away
Then go with a trio of swordtails. I like the pineapple swordtails, but whatever is available works since most are quite beautiful fish
atmmachine816
Fish Gatherer
or a tio of platys
blitztidus
Spirited Away
whatever you prefer. I was just letting you know i prefer swordtails over platies.
atmmachine816
Fish Gatherer
ya though i think they get a little bigger than platys right and i dont have taht much room in my tank
clareriley
Fish Addict
platys are nice, they are only small aswell. make sure you get 2 female and 1 male though. they comein all sorts of colours.
That's the common misconception, actually. Mollies don't do so well in freshwater. Sure, they can live in it, just like you could probably live in a closet your whole life, but it wouldn't be the best for you, or make you the healthiest. If you are going to keep Mollies in freshwater, it needs to be hard and alkaline. That's the kind they prefer. If it's soft and acidic, that's when you really need to add salt. Wild type Sailfins and Black Mollies are the ones that just need it, however, almost all Mollies are hybridised so it's virtually impossible to look at them and say "You need salt!". It's best to keep all of them in a bit of salt, to make them the healthiest and happiest they can be. In pure freshwater, they are much more susceptible to disease, especially shimmies, and they don't tend to live as long. Salt is the way to go with these guys.
Anyway, that doesn't have much to do with the stocking of your tank, atmachine, but I just had to say that. I don't think that many people realize it, and I'm glad you're considering their needs before you stock your tank.
Platies seem to be the way to go for you. Even Variatus Platies might be a nice choice, as they come in some great colors and tend to be slightly bigger and fancier.my combinations have always been Swordtails and Guppies. IMO, they are more beautiful than platies and Mollys. And since guppies can't cross with swords, you don't need to worry about hybrid babies! My male guppies always attemp to breed with my female swords though
dwarfgourami
Fish Connoisseur
I'll give my vote to platies and guppies. IME they get on extremely well together, as they have a very similar social pattern, and move at about the same speed. In fact, you could almost say that they school together- or at least socialize.
And platies do take up a lot less space than swordtails.
Mollies might just cope without salt if you have very hard alkaline water, but I have very sad memories of trying to keep them in soft, acid water- just one round of ich after another. Platies seem a lot more adaptable.
And platies do take up a lot less space than swordtails.
Mollies might just cope without salt if you have very hard alkaline water, but I have very sad memories of trying to keep them in soft, acid water- just one round of ich after another. Platies seem a lot more adaptable.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
It's even more complex than this.
There are a number of species of molly (as opposed to varieties), some of which are exclusively freshwater, while others usually brackish, and a few species inhabit either. Poecilia salvatoris, known as the liberty molly in the hobby, is purely a freshwater species. Poecilia orri, the mangrove molly, on the other hand, is much more a brackish water species. Poecilia formosa, the Amazon molly, is found in both brackish and fresh water.
The complication comes from the fact that none of the mollies traded commercially are pure species. While we (hobbyists) use names like Poecilia sphenops and Poecilia velifera all the time, the sad fact is these species have all been hybridised for decades by breeders to produce all the artificial forms. So for any one variety, like a black molly or orange sailfin molly, you have absolutely no idea what the genetic heritage of the fish is, and it wil include genes from many different molly species, some familiar, others not so.
The result is that fish you buy might have mostly brackish fish genes, or freshwater genes, or a mixture of both. Some people are lucky with them in freshwater, and I use the word 'lucky' deliberately, because they get fish that mostly have freshwater genes and so work out in freshwater aquaria.
The majority of specimens seem to have at least some brackish genes, so on balance, as Annastasia says, keeping mollies in brackish water makes sense. The freshwater species aren't harmed by salt at all, and the brackish water species need it, so if you keep artifical varieties of molly with some freshwater genes and some brackish water ones, adding salt works out as a safe choice.
Regardless of the salinity, what hasn't been mentioned is pH and hardness. All mollies need hard, alkaline water, which is exactly what common aquarium fish like neons and dwarf gouramis don't want (or tolerate). Adding marine salt mix to the water raises both pH and hardness very effectively, and hence does double duty, creating both the right salinity and the right water chemistry.
It should be added that most livebearers, if not quite all, will thrive in slightly brackish water. While platies and swords don't need salt, they will do fine at specific gravities below 1.005, and guppies can be adapted to anything up to marine conditions (though you need to do this carefully). In the wild most livebearers inhabit brackish water in some part of their range, and this is one reason that they quickly become pest species when introduced into other parts of the world: unlike most other freshwater fish, they tolerate brackish and marine water, and so can distribute themselves along coastlines very effectively.
Cheers,
Neale
There are a number of species of molly (as opposed to varieties), some of which are exclusively freshwater, while others usually brackish, and a few species inhabit either. Poecilia salvatoris, known as the liberty molly in the hobby, is purely a freshwater species. Poecilia orri, the mangrove molly, on the other hand, is much more a brackish water species. Poecilia formosa, the Amazon molly, is found in both brackish and fresh water.
The complication comes from the fact that none of the mollies traded commercially are pure species. While we (hobbyists) use names like Poecilia sphenops and Poecilia velifera all the time, the sad fact is these species have all been hybridised for decades by breeders to produce all the artificial forms. So for any one variety, like a black molly or orange sailfin molly, you have absolutely no idea what the genetic heritage of the fish is, and it wil include genes from many different molly species, some familiar, others not so.
The result is that fish you buy might have mostly brackish fish genes, or freshwater genes, or a mixture of both. Some people are lucky with them in freshwater, and I use the word 'lucky' deliberately, because they get fish that mostly have freshwater genes and so work out in freshwater aquaria.
The majority of specimens seem to have at least some brackish genes, so on balance, as Annastasia says, keeping mollies in brackish water makes sense. The freshwater species aren't harmed by salt at all, and the brackish water species need it, so if you keep artifical varieties of molly with some freshwater genes and some brackish water ones, adding salt works out as a safe choice.
Regardless of the salinity, what hasn't been mentioned is pH and hardness. All mollies need hard, alkaline water, which is exactly what common aquarium fish like neons and dwarf gouramis don't want (or tolerate). Adding marine salt mix to the water raises both pH and hardness very effectively, and hence does double duty, creating both the right salinity and the right water chemistry.
It should be added that most livebearers, if not quite all, will thrive in slightly brackish water. While platies and swords don't need salt, they will do fine at specific gravities below 1.005, and guppies can be adapted to anything up to marine conditions (though you need to do this carefully). In the wild most livebearers inhabit brackish water in some part of their range, and this is one reason that they quickly become pest species when introduced into other parts of the world: unlike most other freshwater fish, they tolerate brackish and marine water, and so can distribute themselves along coastlines very effectively.
Cheers,
Neale
blitztidus
Spirited Away
That's the common misconception, actually. Mollies don't do so well in freshwater. Sure, they can live in it, just like you could probably live in a closet your whole life, but it wouldn't be the best for you, or make you the healthiest. If you are going to keep Mollies in freshwater, it needs to be hard and alkaline. That's the kind they prefer. If it's soft and acidic, that's when you really need to add salt. Wild type Sailfins and Black Mollies are the ones that just need it, however, almost all Mollies are hybridised so it's virtually impossible to look at them and say "You need salt!". It's best to keep all of them in a bit of salt, to make them the healthiest and happiest they can be. In pure freshwater, they are much more susceptible to disease, especially shimmies, and they don't tend to live as long. Salt is the way to go with these guys.
Anyway, that doesn't have much to do with the stocking of your tank, atmachine, but I just had to say that. I don't think that many people realize it, and I'm glad you're considering their needs before you stock your tank.
I have had mollies since I was little and they have done extremely well. There was a topic on this a few days ago and it was just about this. It something like... If they come straight from the wild, then they are best in brackish water, if they come from you petstore, they are probably sooooo used to freshwater that they will strive in it just fine!!!... yeah a conversation on something like that. I only had problems when I tried to make the water brackish so I just left it and it has been fine since!!!
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