Sailfin Mollies

[geezer]

Ello

I bought 3 sailfin mollies to go in my tank along with the black tetra and clown loach.

I heard the mollies are brakish fish and like a bit of salt, I'm wondering can they live ok without it?

I love the fish but I'm considering taking them back if it's unfair on them.

My black sailfin molly has developed a mouth fungus which I'm currently treating so that's why I'm concerned.

55 gallon
PH 7.8
Water hardness at 18
Amonia at nothing
Nitrite nothing
I think the man said nitrate is pretty low

 

[nmonks]

The short answer is no.

The long answer is _sometimes_ mollies will do fine in hard, alkaline water. But even then they are prone to fungus and fin-rot. There's a pinned topic in the livebearer section here that explains it all.

Don't view adding salt as a bad thing. Even a low salinity tank can open the possibility of keeping a lot of really nice fish, such as orange chromides, bumblebee gobies, and Florida flagfish. There are also a lot of freshwater fish that tolerate salt well and naturally occur in slight brackish water as well as fresh, including kribensis, spiny eels, glassfish, and halfbeaks.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[jarmado]

i add a bit of aquarium salt when releasing medication on the tank...
not too much though so not to upset the other fishes..