My First Mollies

[fish_tank0311]

Hi all, i got my first livebearers ever today, mollies i bought a male and a female,, they are currently in my 30 gallon tank, with angels and gouramis, and i was wondering what you guys have to say. The water isnt at all salty, does it need to be? Secondly, i want to breed them, so tips on breeding these guys is appreciated. Also any other things i should know, or comments or questions please say. THANKS!

 

[Duck and Dive]

If you let them give birth in the current tank the angels and gouramis will mop up the fry in minutes! I would suggest getting another tank for the fry, and to let the molly give birth in. In this breeding tank you would want a couple of bunches of plants to give the fry some shelter. Instead of a pump powered internal/external tank you would want a air powered sponge filter so it does not suck up the babies! Once the molly has given birth put her back in the main tank and rear the babies in the tank she gave birth in until they reach a size where the angels and gouramis will not be able to eat them.

 

[OldMan47]

A few quick tips for mollies. I find that mine all thrive while I read that people have trouble keeping them healthy. What am I doing differently?

I keep mine in my tap water, the liquid rock with a pH of 7.8 and a GH and KH both well over 10 degrees. I do not heat them to the recommended temperatures in many books but instead keep them around 25C, 77F.

I never add salt to my water, the salt "requirement" is a myth that is continued forward by people who have soft water and find that their mollies do better with sea salt. Did I just contradict myself? No I did not. Sea salt does two things that can benefit mollies. It raises pH toward a number around 8 and it raises the mineral content of the water. The same effect can be had in a soft water area by using calcium carbonate to improve the mineral content of water. The advantage of shells for raising mineral content and pH is that it does not contain the salts that harm so many plants and make soft water fish want to roll over and die.

I feed my mollies on a diet that is heavy in vegetable matter, the get a staple diet of spirulina flakes and only get anything meatier if I happen to think of feeding it on a weekend. That can mean they go 2 or 3 weeks with nothing but spirulina flake to eat.

As D&D said, the fry in a tank with those inhabitants will not last very long. I find that a simple 10 gallon tank is big enough that if I move a female to it a week ahead of a fry drop, she can drop her fry in peace and then be returned to the main tank. Mollies do not care for their young as you may have seen with cichlids, so the parent being present is never needed after a drop. If you don't need tons of fry, she can be left with the fry as I did with this girl. She averaged about 30 survivors from each drop when I left her with them, which I found to be more than I really wanted. I still have about 50 of them nearing adult size that are tying up the space in a 55 gallon "grow out" tank. The picture was taken the day the fry were dropped.

This is the same fry and adult about 5 weeks later

 

[fish_tank0311]

Wow thanks alot guys, well firstly i knew that the angels and gouramis would gobble them up, but the only other tank i have is a small hospital tank, probably only 5 gallons or so, is that big enough for the fry? I do have a spare light for the hospital, and i have just bought 2 real cheap filters off the internet, but they are far too big for a tiny tank and create too much flow, but i couldnt use em anyway i have to use a sponge filter right? Well iv never used one of them so i will look into getting one for them. So is a smallish tank like that possible? I also have the option of putting them with the neons because they surely arent big enough to eat other fish!?!?!? But the problem is its heavily planted, im not sure if thats bad but i cant find dead fish so easy, and they are currently under treatment, as my neons are sick, and im getting really annoyed because neons ARE ALWAYS SICK!!!!!!!!!!!! So what i really want to hear is if they can go in the small tank, i will post some exact measurements later, but its only a couple gallons, 3-5 i guess.

Oh and also, i saw somewhere on the net that you need a breeding trap, well im not a pro breeder and i cant tell exactly when my fish is going to drop, nor can i sit and watch it 24/7, so i heard you can just get java moss, and other hiding places and they will mostly survive? Are the fish free swimming the second they come out or are they still half an egg?

PS: Im not sure if i mentioned it before and i cant be bothered searching the post if i said it, but my mollies are pure black mollies ( THE BEST KIND OF MOLLIE o )

 

[Duck and Dive]

Wow thanks alot guys, well firstly i knew that the angels and gouramis would gobble them up, but the only other tank i have is a small hospital tank, probably only 5 gallons or so, is that big enough for the fry? I do have a spare light for the hospital, and i have just bought 2 real cheap filters off the internet, but they are far too big for a tiny tank and create too much flow, but i couldnt use em anyway i have to use a sponge filter right?

Yes, 5 gallons should be fine for the fry. Also sponge filters are ideal, I just make my own out of old water bottles, but you can pick them up for peanuts.

Oh and also, i saw somewhere on the net that you need a breeding trap, well im not a pro breeder and i cant tell exactly when my fish is going to drop, nor can i sit and watch it 24/7, so i heard you can just get java moss, and other hiding places and they will mostly survive? Are the fish free swimming the second they come out or are they still half an egg?

Yes, if your tank has a lot of plant cover you will be fine, mollies are not very canibalistic at all, just once she has given birth pop her back in the main tank.

 

[fish_tank0311]

Ok thats awesome. Now secondly, my male is always swimming up to the females bottom, like at the bottom of her belly and he like sniffs it and then she swims away and then he follows, and then they keep swimming together for a couple minutes, and then the cycle starts again, is this a good sign? Whats happening?

 

[Duck and Dive]

Ok thats awesome. Now secondly, my male is always swimming up to the females bottom, like at the bottom of her belly and he like sniffs it and then she swims away and then he follows, and then they keep swimming together for a couple minutes, and then the cycle starts again, is this a good sign? Whats happening?

This is the male trying to mate with the female, if he does it too much and really starts harrasing the female get another female molly so that he doesn't bother this female molly as much.

 

[OldMan47]

The sniffing is an attempt to verify that the female is a molly. Freshwater fish more or less need to urinate non-stop to avoid a build up of water in their tissues causing them to bloat. Since each species has specific chemicals in their waste, the fish are able to distinguish their own species from other species by "smell". I have seen reports of experiments, in a lecture at the ALA convention last year, regarding how a female molly can actually be attracted or not to a particular male and uses the sense of odor to figure out which male to accept. It was one of several factors explored and one which was found to be indicated as a factor in mate preference.
I would avoid trying to raise mollies very far in that little 5 gallon container but it should serve well for the first few weeks if the female is removed shortly after the drop. The female need not be confined to a breeding trap if you have that tank set up with a nice clump of java moss and the female is not left hungry all the time as so many people seem to advocate with their x days of fasting.

 

[fish_tank0311]

Great, thanks so much you guys for helping. Yea well once the fry get to a big enough size i will move them over to another tank, and either keep them for a bit longer or sell them. And yea, hopefully she wont eat her own babies after she drops, ill put some java moss in, and maybe some other plants. I just hope they like each other, because they were very expensive and me only being 13 im not quite rich yet, but hopefully one day!