Ok, New Plan

[Animal Lover 2000]

i currently have platies and guppies and a couple endlers and also an endler guppy cross i think but anyways im thinking of selling my guppies and getting mollies instead i also want to keep 2 of my current fish one is an endler one is the endler x guppy but everyone else is being sold as a guppy seeing as i dont want to muddle somebodies endler strain with my mutts. i still want to keep guppies but only a few nice looking males i may come across at the lfs so basically im going to have an endler, a possible endler guppy cross, a select few male guppies, and a breeding group of mollies.
 
 
anything important i should know about mollies before i get any? anything i should do? ive done a lot of research but i was just wondering if you guys had anything to say

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The biggest question is:  How big is the tank?
 
 
Second: Mollies DO NOT require salt.  Mollies, however, do far better in HARD water than in soft water.  But, salt is not a requirement.  That said, mollies can be acclimated to a full marine environment, or a brackish environment.  They are tremendously adaptable fish, but what they can't really adapt well to is soft water.

 

[Animal Lover 2000]

the tank is 55 gallons

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Perfect.  My concern was that it was a 10 gallon tank or something.  Mollies need swimming space, especially breeding groups, so that the females have areas to retreat to, etc.

 

[Animal Lover 2000]

no way i couldnt live with a 10 gallon tank so tiny 

 

[Ch4rlie]

I have a 10 gallon tank
 
Have had great success with black bar endlers, Red Cherry Shrimps and Assassin Snails in this tank, with low tech plants and light
 
But a 55 gal  is obviously better for more choices of fish species you can keep, dependant, as Eaglesaquarium mentions, on water hardness/softness, pH etc as that may determine if these species will thrive or just survive.

 

[Byron]

JD (post #2) is spot on.  You can ascertain the hardness of your water from your municipal water authority who probably have this on their website.  You want the GH (general hardness) and KH (carbonate hardness) and pH.  You can of course buy test kits, but I wouldn't spend money on a GH/KH test as you may never use it again.  A pH test kit (liquid, not test strips) is worth having, as sudden changes in pH can indicate serious issues.  Once you can give us the numbers for GH, KH and pH, one of us can explain things relating to water parameters.
 
I will offer a couple comments on the issue of breeding mollies as you raised it.  If you just want mollies to breed and then raise fry, that is one thing; but if by breeding you want to be more selective and stay with specific strains (forms like Lyretail, etc), you need to be very careful where you acquire the mollies.  Females can be impregnated by any male in the tank very early, and this could spell disaster for selective breeding attempts.  Also, the numbers are very important--even a tank of 45g (we dealt with this in your earlier thread) will quickly become overpopulated by fry and even just the initial fish depending upon numbers.  Males drive females very hard, and the numbers have to be well planned out from the start.
 
Byron.

 

[Matt68046]

Thats a big tank.  Could hold alot of sailfin mollies and dalmations.