Mollies For My Office

[augustaranger]

I set up a 20g in my office several weeks ago using an A/C 30 filter from another tank. I have 3 whites clouds just to keep the bacteria alive. The top of the tank is 80% covered with guppy grass and water sprite.

I thought about having males only to avoid dealing with too many babies, but is that a good idea? While some think salt is mandatory for mollies, several things that I have read say otherwise. I don't want to use salt because of the plants: also, I want to use either cories or a bristlenose for the bottom and I don't think they like salt.

I'm thinking I'll remove the white clouds and eventually have a about 7 or 8 mollies. What is the best way to stock the mollies? Can I add maybe 2 or 3 at a time, or perhaps 1 per week? Also, don't they need some special flakes?

 

[Battersea]

hey! Are you thinking of breeding them, or just keeping them for show? The ratio for breeding is 1 male per 2-3 females!
my LFS store told me to add at most 3 fish a week to the tank. (I cheated once... but my platies didn't seem to mind the new company :]) I just feed my fish regular tropical fish flakes, and there doing fine.

 

[OldMan47]

If you have high pH hard water, common fish store mollies will be fine with no salt. They do better on a high vegetable content diet, I use spirulina flake, but otherwise take very little special care. I have some cories in all of my molly tanks and they seem to be OK with the hard water although they have a reputation for liking soft water. BTW 7 or 8 mollies would be a heavy stocking if you add it to a half dozen cories. It can be done but I would use all males to avoid problems with population control. Mollies can be very gentle compared to most livebearers and you will get surviving fry.

 

[LauraFrog]

Don't go with sailfin mollies though, because they will fight if not all added at once and they really need salt.

I'd be worried about the bacteria TBH, 3 white clouds aren't going to keep a full colony of bacteria in the filter. Stock the tank slowly and you should be fine.

 

[augustaranger]

Should I stock the tank one molly at a time just to be safe? Maybe two at a time? Will I be OK with a male only tank?

 

[OldMan47]

A male only tank should work fine. Laurafrog is a molly specialist more so than I am, her advice on sailfins carries some weight with me. You do have a very small tank for fish the size of real sailfin mollies that grow to 4 or 5 inches anyway. Instead go find the mollies at the LFS that appeal to you. Most of those will only grow to 2 or 3 inches like my big girl anyway. The concern about the small bacterial colony you have grown is very valid. I would only be tempted to add 2 fish if the WCMMs were removed at the same time. Otherwise I would stick to one a week at the most. After the initial stocking, one at a time until you reach your intended stock level would still probably be the limit.

My big girl

 

[augustaranger]

Best advice yet. Thanks!
PS- See you at the endler site...

 

[augustaranger]

The white clouds have been removed. I replaced them with a cremecicle and a dalmation, both lyretail. Do mollies eat from the top, or should I drop the flakes into the filter output?

Also, say for example you had a mix of different mollies (gold dust, silver, black, cremecicle, etc.), what would the offspring look like?

 

[OldMan47]

I have no idea on the color genetics of mollies. I am not trying to develop new colors by combining things. I try to keep a single color together so that I can predict the color of the fry.
Mollies are very comfortable eating at any level in the tank but when I feed flake I let it float. That way it doesn't get lost in the substrate before they find it and eat it. When I feed frozen foods, I just dump the thawed food in and let them chase it to the bottom, as they will.

 

[augustaranger]

The two mollies have been in the tank for just over 24 hours. One seems happy and is quite active, but the other is hiding in the watersprite at the top of the tank and is not moving much. Any ideas?

 

[saltynay]

They are still acclimatising and getting use to their surroundings. Do an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test to make sure those are fine.

 

[augustaranger]

I was out of town yesterday. I arrived at the office this morning to find the active molly dead and the less active molly mostly just resting near the bottom. I don't have a test kit here at work. I did a 5% water change; that was all of the d/c water I had here. Any ideas?