Is My Molly Overstocked In A Ten?

[dburns865]

I am a bit new at this, is my balloon molly too big for my ten gallon brackish tank? I just read they need a 20 gallon tank but that seems large for a 3" fish.

I also read they need company of other mollies. Would it be better to add another molly or to just adopt him out? Keep in mind I have no pet stores around here other than petco and petsmart so it's a gamble if he'll go to a good home.

The tank also has a couple guppies and some ghost shrimp.

 

[nmonks]

Mollies do need more than 10 gallons.

For a start, they are very active fish, much more so than many imagine. They are also very aggressive, again, far more so than many believe. Males will chase one another whenever they're not harassing the females, so you need space for them to find some peace and quiet. They usually chase similar-looking fish as well (such as guppies and platies) and it is far from unusual to see them chasing completely different fish. I've watched a male molly harass rainbowfish!

Of course a single female would be easier to keep than a male, but you'd have to be sure it was a virgin female otherwise you'd soon end up with a dozen or more offspring.

Besides their behaviour, they're also very sensitive to poor water quality (particularly in freshwater). A 10-gallon tank is difficult to maintain properly unless very carefully stocked with small fish.

Bottom line: I don't recommend people even keep guppies in 10 gallons, let alone mollies. Since mollies can get so much bigger -- some varieties up to 15 cm/6 inches -- they are much more demanding than guppies, and I recommend not less than 30 gallons for mollies. Lots of people have tried them in smaller tanks, but if my e-mail inbox is anything to go by, lots of those people end up with aggressive or sick mollies.

Why not look out for Micropoecilia spp? These are fairly regularly sold in England now, so shouldn't be difficult to get. Micropoecilia picta is a charming little brackish water fish. Micropoecilia parae is another cracking species, particularly the "red melanzona" morph.

Cheers, Neale

I am a bit new at this, is my balloon molly too big for my ten gallon brackish tank? I just read they need a 20 gallon tank but that seems large for a 3" fish.

I also read they need company of other mollies. Would it be better to add another molly or to just adopt him out? Keep in mind I have no pet stores around here other than petco and petsmart so it's a gamble if he'll go to a good home.

The tank also has a couple guppies and some ghost shrimp.

 

[dburns865]

Thank you very much for the info. This is my first tank, so I didn't know as much going in of course. I already have the molly in the tank so what do you suggest I do? I don't think bringing him back to petco would be ideal. He lives with two guppies and actually get chased by them sometimes so I know he's not aggressive.

 

[dburns865]

Just wanted to add the tank is cycled, and the salinity is around 1.002. There is also already a couple lyretail guppies in there, would those work as well?

 

[nmonks]

Mollies and guppies can coexist, but often don't. Males are aggressive, so a big male molly can bully a smaller male guppy. Furthermore, since males of one species will harass females of the other species, you can have problems caused by that sort of behaviour too.

If you have the fish now, you'll have to decide what you want to do with them. I can't really offer any advice or assurance beyond the fact that it isn't likely this collection of fish will work out well in the long term. There is variation between specimens for sure, and you may be lucky enough to have a molly that doesn't get very big and doesn't become aggressive. But I wouldn't bank on that fact!

SG 1.002 is fine for mollies and guppies.

Cheers, Neale

 

[dburns865]

Alright, well, from what I have read mollies are unhappy without another one or two around to associate with. Would my molly be better off alone or could I get away with a pair? I just want to find a way to keep my fish as happy as possible after my mistake

If I do decide to find a new home for the molly would a few of the suggested guppies and a bubmblebee goby work?

Thanks again for all the help, I did a ton of research on starting the actual tank but didn't look up fish tank requirements much past the 1" per gallon rule which I thought I was way under

 

[nmonks]

The inch-per-gallon rule can be very misleading. Think about it: a Great White Shark gets to about 15 feet in length, which is 180 inches. Neon Tetras measure about 1.5 inches. So, 120 Neons are the same number of "inches" as a Great White Shark. Those Neons could be kept in a 180-gallon tank using the inch-per-gallon rule -- but could the Great White Shark?

In a nutshell, the inch-per-gallon rule only holds for small fish like Neons and Guppies, and also assumes the fish don't place any particular demands on territories or swimming space.

Your molly will be perfectly happy alone. They are NOT schooling fish, and don't form pairs. Sure, they naturally occur in large groups, but if you have very limited space, the benefits (a more interesting life for your molly) will be outweighed by the risks (aggression).

Bumblebee Gobies are difficult to keep because they only take live or frozen foods. If this is your first aquarium, stick with easy species that consume flake or plant foods.

Cheers, Neale

Alright, well, from what I have read mollies are unhappy without another one or two around to associate with. Would my molly be better off alone or could I get away with a pair? I just want to find a way to keep my fish as happy as possible after my mistake

If I do decide to find a new home for the molly would a few of the suggested guppies and a bubmblebee goby work?

Thanks again for all the help, I did a ton of research on starting the actual tank but didn't look up fish tank requirements much past the 1" per gallon rule which I thought I was way under