Molly, Essentially Brackish?

[JArnold]

hi have been looking at molly's and thinking of buying one but was just wondering if a dalmation or balloon molly has to be kept in brackish water or if one can be kept happily in fresh water
any help would be good thanks

 

[backtotropical]

Mollies are essentially brackish water fish, although they can be kept successfully in fresh water. If keeping them in fresh water, hard alkaline water is preferred. The main downside is that mollies kept in freshwater are generally quite susceptible to disease, fungus in particular, but this is rarely fatal if treated correctly.

I have mollies in my fresh water planted community which have been there for the best part of 2 years, and have had no real problems.

That said however, if you can provide them with brackish conditions, then all the better.

Good luck!

BTT

 

[JArnold]

Mollies are essentially brackish water fish, although they can be kept successfully in fresh water. If keeping them in fresh water, hard alkaline water is preferred. The main downside is that mollies kept in freshwater are generally quite susceptible to disease, fungus in particular, but this is rarely fatal if treated correctly.

I have mollies in my fresh water planted community which have been there for the best part of 2 years, and have had no real problems.

That said however, if you can provide them with brackish conditions, then all the better.

Good luck!

BTT

ok, thanks very much for the help, if your mollies have been okay then i might give it a go just thought i should ask before jumping into it becos other fish i have probably wouldn't tolerate the brackish conditions

Thanks agen

 

[LauraFrog]

It's a bit complicated because the domestic molly is a hybrid. There are a lot of different species of molly, some of them are brackish water fish that will not survive in freshwater (like most of the true sailfin species) and some of them are perfectly comfortable in hard alkaline water (some actually dislike salt.)

The hybrid domestic molly can be kept in freshwater provided the water is hard, and kept warm. However, most tropical fish (dwarf cichlids, tetras, rasboras, gouramis, barbs, most catfishes...) are softwater fish. So we try to discourage people from keeping mollies in communities with such fish because they are basically incompatible in terms of water chemistry. Mollies in hard, warm freshwater is certainly possible (they thrive in it!) but in soft freshwater you probably won't have much success, as backtotropical said you end up with a very disease prone fish that seems to get everything it's ever exposed to (a long succession of ich, finrot, columnaris, fungus and whatever else pops up.)

So if your tank is medium to hard water, try it! You'll probably have some happy, healthy mollies. If it's a softwater tank, better not.

 

[waterdrop]

Wow Laura! That's one of the most clear summaries of the whole molly thing I've ever read! (I think I need to save that nice piece in my homework notebook! ) (actually, I think it should get pinned somewhere!)

I often find myself shaking my head when I see mollies on the list of a beginner with a general community tank. If the beginner were to go through the thought process of your paragraph then things might be fine, but so often that's just not the case!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JArnold]

It's a bit complicated because the domestic molly is a hybrid. There are a lot of different species of molly, some of them are brackish water fish that will not survive in freshwater (like most of the true sailfin species) and some of them are perfectly comfortable in hard alkaline water (some actually dislike salt.)

The hybrid domestic molly can be kept in freshwater provided the water is hard, and kept warm. However, most tropical fish (dwarf cichlids, tetras, rasboras, gouramis, barbs, most catfishes...) are softwater fish. So we try to discourage people from keeping mollies in communities with such fish because they are basically incompatible in terms of water chemistry. Mollies in hard, warm freshwater is certainly possible (they thrive in it!) but in soft freshwater you probably won't have much success, as backtotropical said you end up with a very disease prone fish that seems to get everything it's ever exposed to (a long succession of ich, finrot, columnaris, fungus and whatever else pops up.)

So if your tank is medium to hard water, try it! You'll probably have some happy, healthy mollies. If it's a softwater tank, better not.

yeah that was a reli hepful answer thanks very much, i think i'm gonna decide against having mollies in my community tank, the reason i asked was because i was wrongly advised at my local aquarium that mollies were good starter fish but having read infomation on the internet i had to question this.

Thanks again for the great help its greaty appreciated.

 

[OldMan47]

I couldn't agree more with Laura on mollies and salt. I don't use any salt because of the other fish that I keep and I have very healthy hard water mollies. A molly like the ones in your LFS can live and thrive in almost any water from pure freshwater to pure ocean water as long as they are properly acclimated to it. It could take days to move from pure fresh to pure salt. With soft fresh water with typical low soft water pH, your pet shop molly will have troubles like BTT was describing where they are always sick and get the shimmies and swim around with their fins clamped like they are in pain. Soft fresh water is no way to keep a pet shop molly.