shimmying molly??

[nirvanarama]

i dunno if the condition "shimmying" is meant literally or not, but my new mollie (been in tank for about 24 hours) is doing a kind of mexican wave with its body, but staying in one spot (behind plant). is this shimmying? if so, how much salt should i add to the aquarium? my setup is on my sig!
thanks

 

[fishdudein]

Hi tetras_rock! Mollies are actually brackish water fish (not saltwater, not freshwater, something in between), and you are right, they do like some salt in their water. I have used salt at the rate of about a teaspoon per gallon for them, you may want to work up to that. Keep an eye on your other fish when you are doing this, as some are not as tolerant of the salt as others, corys especially. I actually at one time acclimated some large sailfin mollies to a full-blown saltwater tank to see if they would help out with an algae problem I was having.

Also keep in mind that mollies need a good portion of vegetable matter in their diet. You can get this many ways,Spirulina tablets or algae wafers from your lfs, a good growth of algae in the tank, supplementing their regular food with grocery store veggies such as cucumbers, romaine lettuce, canned or frozen peas (squished). There are lots of folks on this forum with ideas for feeding fish, check out some of the posts in the archives.

Hope this helps!

 

[I_found_Nemo]

cool thnx!

he has black neon tetras also...and hoping to get cardinals and guppies....can they tolerate it???

thanx

 

[pandapops001]

Hi
Can i add salt to mine, i previously thought i had a cory (which is a big no no), but can my plec take it??

i currently have
mollies
platys
swordtail
guppies
1 cherry barb(awaiting more on thursday)
pleco
and i'm planning to get a few tetras

 

[Dubby]

Tetras_rock,

When a molly starts shimmying, its trying to tell you that the water conditions are poor. I use my black mollies as indicator fish, to tell me when a water change is due

So I would suggest you first do a 25% water change and see if the shimmying stops after a while. Also if you have a test kit send us the results.

 

[vantgE]

yes shimmying means high nitrites and amonia, for all fish

 

[I_found_Nemo]

amonia: 0
nitrite: 0.1-0.2
gettin a nitrate kit sumtime this week

sorry about all thia confusion, this username is my g/f's but i (tetras_rock) am usin it cz im round hers. confusing

anyway, the molly has calmed down a bit now (shimmying-wise) and is a bit more active, without the shimmying! ijus added some stress coat as i supected that it might just be the initial stress of being transported.