Mollies

[Doby_the_Dojo]

personally i've been a livebearer lover since like age 5, now i want some mollies, what i've read says that they need salt added to their water, but i've also read that they don't need any salt as long as the water conditions are favorable SO i wuz wondering if ne of u ppl have successfully kept and bred mollies without salt, any replies, experiences, or tips would be helpful thanx

 

[aquarius]

i keep my molly without salt and she seems fine. the most important thing i think, is to ask the lfs if they keep their mollies in salt water. if yes, then you should too, but if not, then you don't need it since it would probably be stressful for the fish to adjust to the new environment. most lfs actually keep mollies in freshwater

 

[Juggernaut22988]

I bit of salt never hurts...

 

[pondfreak4365]

Mine are in freshwater since I have catfish in the same tank. I did once have to treat my 75 gallon for fin rot, added salt, and it really brought out colors in my black molly.


It's optional!

 

[Auratus]

Like in the above post, it's optional! Woo hoo! something is actually your choice!

You don't have to but you will have many more succesful breedings with salt than without. It should be about 1 tablespoon of salt for every five gallons. You don't have to use marine salt with mollies. Aquarium salt works well too. It's basically the same as the directions for goldfish on the box of salt.

If the lfs has them in freshwater, slowly aclimate them to the salt. Add a tablespoon a day until the tank is where it should be. For example, a ten gallon tank would take two days to aclimate.

 

[MAM]

its really not your choice. mollies were originally kept as brackish fish. in the wild, they basically are. but most mollies you find in lfs today have been raised by people, not in a natural environment, and were raised as freshwater, not brackish. therefore, find out how the lfs you buy them at is keeping them, if fw, then keep them that way, if bw, keep them with a little salt. salt most likely won't hurt them, they are fairly hardy, but as most are raised as fw nowadays, they can have difficulties adjusting to the salt and you could find yourself losing fish in the next few months. also, salt limits your tank mates as many fish, like cory cats and plecs and others can't take salt. i keep mine as fw and they are happy, healthy and making babies like crazy. just do the weekly tank maintanence you'd normally do, keep the temp around 76-78 degrees F, and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[elgecko]

The only time I had any luck with mollies, Sailfins to be exact, was when I set up a brackish tank for them.