Mollies And Salt.

[Cú Mhara]

I was raised by a family of Cichlid enthusiasts. As such, I am fairly inexperienced when it comes to keeping livebearers. I have a 200 litre, 36 x 18 x 19 tank, running a Aquamanta EX 300. At the moment, the only inhabitants of the tank are 6 Giant Danios and 4 Swordtails. I was wondering if I'd be able to add some Sailfin Mollies to this set-up. My main problem is I'm unsure as to whether or not Sailfin Mollies can thrive without brackish water. I've done some reading on the matter but I've been getting conflicting information.

 

[KrystaK]

I've had mollies for a long time.
Mollies are pretty hardy fish, but they will come down with the shimmies if not kept in a brackish tank.
Truthfully I wouldn't keep them in an unsalted tank. Or rather I would but only for a a few months at a time, after that their health starts to deteriorate and (from experience) their scales begin to look not quite right (Not dropsy or anything, just not right) and then they simply die.

 

[Cú Mhara]

Ah well. Thanks for the reply.

 

[phurn]

Ive never put salt on with mollies, and I've never had a problem, all healthy and breeding and living long lives...

 

[Cú Mhara]

What's a 'long life' for a Molly?

 

[phurn]

Well my tanks been set up 3 years and they're still going strong.

 

[fluttermoth]

Three to five year is average for a molly.

They really don't need brackish water, but they do like their water hard and slightly alkaline, so many people do keep them with a bit of salt to replicate that. Rift valley 'salts' would be better for them than marine salt, IMO

 

[Cú Mhara]

I see. That's pretty good news! Lovely London water, pulling through for me again.

 

[phurn]

Though balloon mollies do seem to have shorter lives than regular.