Sailfin Mollies

Elisabeth83 · Sep 4, 2005

I have never kept sailfin mollies before but I've always wanted to so I bought 6 for my now empty 30 gallon today. I bought 2 males and 4 females. I tried to go by the 1 inch per gallon rule although I know that rule is not set in stone.

So is 6 in a 30 gallon ok? :unsure:

Tokis-Phoenix · Sep 4, 2005

6 in a 30gal would be ok i suppose if you had strong tank filtration and the tank was well established/matured, 1male and 5females though would be alot better though as there wouldn't be much terotory space in the tank after all the mollys had been put in if the males became agressive towards each other. If you are having it as purely a sailfin molly tank though it would be good to make the tank slightly brackish for reasons in the below link;

http

/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=106376

tank212 · Sep 4, 2005

Sounds right to me they get up to five inches..atleast the males do anyways. Sailfins are beauties should be fun raising their babies if that's what you're doing :nod:

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Elisabeth83 · Sep 4, 2005

Yeah I have 2 filters running in there right now so the filtration should be good and the filters are mature too.

I guess I will watch the 2 males. I was told to get 2 males though so that I would see them display more often :dunno:

When I first kept mollies I didn't know they needed salt and they always looked skinny and well now I know they had the shimmies and all (5) ended up dieing a sad death. Now though I know all about salt and have always kept it in my molly, swordtails and platy tanks. Though I've always kept more in my molly tanks.

Mine are about 3 inches right now. The guy at the shop said he's never seen them get too much bigger than that. :dunno:

I read they don't live too long so maybe that's why?

tank212 I used to raise a lot of swordtail, platy and molly fry but stopped about 4 months ago. I'm thinking of starting again then with these guys though. I have an empty 28 gallon now so I could do it.

tank212 · Sep 4, 2005

Yeah I love raising fry and seeing the colors they get. About the male mollies not getting past 3 inches I am sure if you took good care of them they would live longer and grow larger. I have seen 4 inchers at my petstores. I myself have never kept sailfins yet but I think I will when I set up my 55gal swordie tank.

Tokis-Phoenix · Sep 4, 2005

Female sailfins can get to 4inchs max within a year or so and the males can max out at 5inchs- its standard mollys that grow to 3inchs and are different from sailfins and better suited to freshwater.
Most molly breeders breed the mollys in brackish water(particualy sailfins and black mollys) and then quickly acclimatise them to freshwater for sale and most mollys that end up in freshwater tanks that have been raised this way don't fair well or last long.
None the less there are still many breeders that raise mollys in freshwater and these ones do alot better in freshwater setups than ones that aern't raised this way which is why some people can have alot of success with mollys while others just can't keep them alive- its worth finding out which way your petshops molly breeder/s raised their fish to see how badly your new mollys will need brackish water

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Elisabeth83 · Sep 4, 2005

I have a 36.5 gallon long tank it's custom built so it's 45 inches long it's about 15 inches longer than the tank I have the sailfins in now. Right now I have platies and 2 swordtails in it...maybe it's better if I swap them around? Sailfins in the longer tank and the platies and swordtails in the 30 gallon?

The shop I bought these ones from keep theirs in salt as well as get them from breeders in thailand who raise them in salt. I know there is one shop near me who sells mollies who have been raised in complete freshwater for generations. They get them from a guy who breeds them here in Sweden.

Tokis-Phoenix · Sep 4, 2005

I would swap the swordtails and platys to the slightly smaller tank as the sailfin mollys will realy appreiciate the little extra space

Elisabeth83 · Sep 4, 2005

Tokis-Phoenix said:
I would swap the swordtails and platys to the slightly smaller tank as the sailfin mollys will realy appreiciate the little extra space

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Yeah I think I'll do that tomorrow. Most of the platies are only 1.5-2 inches so they should fit fine. I had them all in a 28 gallon before and then moved them to the 36.5 gallon the other day but now that I have the sailfins I think they should have the 36.5 gallon tank instead. I think It'll look nicer with the sailfins in the longer tank too and like you said they will appricaite the extra space

Elisabeth83 · Sep 5, 2005

I decided to move them to my 55 gallon instead. I moved my pearl gouramis, harlequins and cherry barbs to the 36.5 gallon tank instead. I figured the gouramis would love the tank because it's long and low.

So I'm wondering if 6 can fit in a 30 gallon ...how many can I fit in a 55 gallon? I'd like to possibly buy 1-2 more females ( I want a pure black female :drool: