New fish mom. Help!

[Essjay]

Just so that you know, things have changed a lot since your dad kept fish if he has not had any since he "was growing up".

The first thing to mention is that we now know that we need to match our water hardness with that where the fish originated. Just about all livebearers need hard water. Look on your water provider's website to see if they give your hardness - you need a number and the unit of measurement (there are several) rather than some vague words.

Secondly, we now know our fish need bigger tanks that was thought years ago. 5 gallons is very small for fish, and certainly too small for mollies, if that's what they are. You do need a bigger tank for them, but if we can get a definite ID, we'll have some idea of just how big.

The third thing is cycling the tank. Back a few decades, fish keepers always used hardy fish to supply the ammonia which fed the bacteria so they grew more of them. We now know that this harms the fish, so we use ammonia from a bottle to simulate fish waste so that we have grown all the bacteria the fish need before we buy them. Since you already have the fish, you can't do this. But you can do your best to keep the fish safe, and this means testing the tank water every day for ammonia and nitrite, doing a water change every time they read above zero.
Getting some live plants will also help as they use ammonia as fertiliser.

 

[Retired Viking]

Live plants will be very important to help absorb the Ammonia. Plants like hornwort, moneywort, jungle vale, Java Fern and marimo moss balls are just some of the good plants to pick and they are easy plants to have.

 

[Tweetysmamma]

Live plants will be very important to help absorb the Ammonia. Plants like hornwort, moneywort, jungle vale, Java Fern and marimo moss balls are just some of the good plants to pick and they are easy plants to have.

Does Petco or PetSmart have any of those? I've been looking on Amazon at plants but they don't say what the plants are that they are selling....

 

[Retired Viking]

I have a Petco here and do buy some of my plants there like Java fern but they are more expensive than my local pet store and do not have a large selection to choose from. I bought my marimo moss balls on-line at Amazon and they worked great. That was the first plant I put in my tank. Most of my plants I bought at my local pet store and some on Ebay too.

 

[emeraldking]

These are mollies. And not a fancy strain but a wild strain. From what I can see from these pics is that they do look a lot like Poecilia orri. Poecilia mexicana does have some resemblances as well but Poecilia orri is most likely from what I can see.

 

[Essjay]

Thank you emeraldking. I thought they looked a bit different from a typical pet store molly but I didn't know what they could be.

I presume they need hard water like most livebearers and a tank bigger than 5 gallons?

 

[seangee]

Live plants will be very important to help absorb the Ammonia. Plants like hornwort, moneywort, jungle vale, Java Fern and marimo moss balls are just some of the good plants to pick and they are easy plants to have.

Marimo moss balls actually aren't always a great choice for a new tank. The plants that take up the most ammonia are those that grow quickly - these guys only grow a few mm a year, but they are a great place for uneaten food to get trapped.

Not suggesting you don't have them - but they won't help much with ammonia.

 

[Retired Viking]

Marimo moss balls actually aren't always a great choice for a new tank. The plants that take up the most ammonia are those that grow quickly - these guys only grow a few mm a year, but they are a great place for uneaten food to get trapped.

Not suggesting you don't have them - but they won't help much with ammonia.

Actually if you look at these sites https://www.aquascapeaddiction.com/articles/best-aquarium-plants-to-reduce-nitrates and https://www.amoskeagfishways.org/best-aquarium-plants-to-reduce-nitrates/ they say moss ball are number 1 or 2 at reducing nitrates that is why I include them but I do agree they do trap food for my shrimp to eat.

 

[emeraldking]

Thank you emeraldking. I thought they looked a bit different from a typical pet store molly but I didn't know what they could be.

I presume they need hard water like most livebearers and a tank bigger than 5 gallons?

Well, most people just know the Poecilia velifera or Poecilia latipinna as being wild phenotypes of a molly. Although, there are also fancy strains of these two species. And all the rest of the fancy mollies are derived from Poecilia sphenops.
There are several wild strains of mollies that are more stretched in body shape but there are also wild strains that have a short sized body shape.
So yes, it's not weird that you thought that these looked different from the mollies most people know from the stores. And yes, they do need hard water. For sure a tank bigger than 5 gallons would be way better for such fish. They're torpedo shaped. So, they need swimming space.

Here are some pics of other wild strains of mollies:

Poecilia formosa

The Poecilia formosa aka Amazon molly is an asexual species. It only consists of females. To reproduce themselves, females of this molly species will mate with a male of a different molly species. The genetic contribution of the male will be broken down and only the genetic contribution of the female will be left. Which results in clones of the mother. So, the total offspring will be female.

Poecilia caucana

Poecilia salvatoris

Poecilia vandepolli

Poecilia vandepolli is a smaller molly from the Dutch Antilles (Aruba & Curaçao in this case)

Poecilia chica

This vid shows my humpedback limia (Limia nigrofasciata) and the dwarf molly (Poecilia chica).

 

[Tweetysmamma]

One thing I might mention is that as big and long as they look in the pictures (and I know how deceiving that can be), they probably need to be in at least a 10 gallon tank so they can swim a more lengthy distance. Definitely upgrade if you think about getting more fish. The website I was on actually recommended a 30 gallon tank for Mollies (if they get to 4" long) and a 20 gallon tank for most swordtails since they are a little smaller. I guess they like long distance swimming.

I haven't seen mollies since I was a kid, but looking at pictures in the online stores and comparing them to yours they look like mollies or swordtails to me. Total amateur opinion, I've never owned one. But even in a 5 gallon tank I'm sure they are 100% better off - thanks for taking them in. It's probably like wonderland to them!

I don't think mollies are particularly temperature sensitive, but depending on the temperature in your house this winter they may need a heater - I think they tolerate cooler water (upper 60's) ok but can also enjoy waters into the 70's and low 80's - sounds like they are a fairly easy fish to care for. So just a thought. Most heaters aren't too expensive - the cheaper ones just set the water temperature at 78 (a good temperature for tropical fish) but that may be warmer than they need so you might want an adjustable heater.

Congratulations on being a fish owner! You'll find there is plenty more stuff to buy and people like me always recommending it - at some point you just do what you can afford.

The big one is an inch & a half long & the little one is almost an inch long

 

[Retired Viking]

At the current size of your fish I think you are fine with a 5 gallon tank for the time being.