Some Questions On Mollies And New Tanks..

[chiqui_baby]

Hey all!

I started a tank about a month ago and my LFS told me to start the cycling with 2 black mollies (since learned that wasn't the best choice). As of now, I believe my tank was cycled but then I added another fish, the ammonia went up and she died (broke my heart) and since have been advised to do constant water changes.

Here are my questions:

1) If my ammonia is 0.25, nitrite at 0.25 and nitrate at 0 now (used to be 0-0-5) how often should i do water changes and test my water? (I use the master test kit and it's a liquid test)

2) When I upgrade to a 55G in a few months, can I still add 2tbs of aquarium salt / 10G as I do for my mollies or will that harm most freshwater fish (some have said they can't feel it, it's so little, others have said to wean my babies off salt before the move)

3) The 2 are happy now but I'm a bit nervous to add fish again and am unsure if that would be too crowded. They seem to love 10G to theirselves. When I move them, what fish would you recommend to be in the tank with them (some have said only mollies, others have said differently)

4) Should I add a live plant and if so, what can live in a ten gallon or should I wait for that?

Sorry about all the questions but I feel completely lost. On the plus note, my bigger girl was swimming with a little bit of a drop to her tail with no other symptoms/spots/discolouration and my LFS told me to add the aquarium salt and since then she has perked up quite a bit and is back to her active self with no tail dropping!

Any and all advice from experienced fishkeepers would be really appreciated! Thanks again!

 

[my fat fish]

okay well like you i have started new tho i hacve started with a 20gal tank

mollies are fish that need to be in groupes i did the same and got 2 mollies buy you should get a 3rd/4th mllie aswell or 1 will gte agressive to the other like mine are i am getting some more soon.

it is recomended that you get live plants as plastic 1's will not help you keep algae undercontroll and all fish like haveing place they can hide you LFS will be able to tell you about plants and what would be a goodsize fore your tank

as for water changes as you have just started you tank i would recommend at least 30% water change every week but 2 times a week would be better.

try getting hardy fish for your tank fish like rainbow fish are good many people say tetras are hardy tho they cna be a hard 1 as sometimes they are fine and other times they die faster then u can replace them.

i have just added 2 plecs to my tank and they are verry happy you could try adding them but be warned as they can grow very big i was told they would only grow to 6" by my LFS but later foud they can double that size. if you are planning on a bigger tank soon you should be okay.

also if you wanna get a bigger tank my friend did that and teh brought his way before he was going to use it so he culd start cycling it every time he did a water change he put the spare water in his big tank making it safter for when he was ready to move his fish over i would recomend you do this.

hope some of this helps

 

[chiqui_baby]

Hi!
That is awesome advice, yeah! I think I do need a third since 1 of mine is chasing the other more than originally. When I did have a third, though, it died 2 days later so I thought maybe my tank was still cycling or something and wasn't ready for the third molly. She was a sailfin, would that make a difference? I am going to go to a new place but am very confused abought brackish water, if they can be in freshwater (they are doing SO much better with the salt so i am hesitant to wean them off salt) etc and when I can add a new fish, etc.

 

[iroc]

Mollies NEED salt, so just add other fish that thrive in saltly water as well

 

[KathyM]

Can I urge you not to put plecs in? They don't tolerate salt very well and common plecs grow to very large proportions.

Myfatfish - what species of plec do you have? Because your tank isn't big enough for one common plec, never mind two I would urge you to take them back now.

 

[chiqui_baby]

Can I urge you not to put plecs in? They don't tolerate salt very well and common plecs grow to very large proportions.

Hey! I wasn't really considering plecos since I know about their size restriction and I think they'd outgrow anything I could keep! Perhaps some rainbow fish in the future. Can they tolerate the salt?
Anita