Just Have Some Questions. I Am New To The Aquarium Thing.

Was making sure this was a Sailfin. My wife fell in love with it. It has a very big top fin (sigh. Still new to keeping fish, didn't know the proper name for the fin.)



Also I am new at the whole aquariumist thing and atm I have 2 Black Mollies *-Female-*, 1 (I think) Male Sailfin, 3 Dalmation Mollies *-1 Lyretail Female, 1 Male , 1 Female-*, 1 Gold Lyretail Molly *-Female-*, 2 Silver Mollies *-1 Lyretail Male, 1 Female-*, 3 Creamsicle Mollies *-2 Females, 1 Male-*, and I have 2 Plecos. *-1 is a Common one you get from Petco, Walmart, etc, and the other one is a Candy Striped One.-* I will probably eventually remove the common one, since they can grow around 20" I heard, but the candy one supposedly only grows to be 5".

I have yet to have any problems with the water. Yes I am still using the stock filter but it seems to be doing a great job atm. I have had this tank up for a month and half now with no fish dieing or signs of sickness. I went from a 10g to a 36g. My concern is that, do I have too many fish? I do a 20-25% water change every weekend and no problems. I just want to make sure even though its been almost 2 months now should I be worried about anything coming up as overcrowding the fish and causing stress. So far I believe I don't see any. So to summarize, I have 14 fish total. 2 of those are plecos the rest are Mollies, and they are in a 36 gallon bow front tank. *First real big one for me*

EDIT**** - I don't plan on adding any fish atm or anytime soon. Not unless I have to replace or get a bigger tank. Thnx!

Here is a good picture of them eating a Wafer.


Sorry about the flash.


The Tank.



And my final question..... Is she fixing to Pop? And if you think so... how long do you think before I put her in her breeding net?


Thanks for all your comments and help. Glad I found these forums as well. Thanks agian!

i like the tank it's very nice. You have some pretty mollies in there. The last one does look about ready to pop. be careful about putting her in the breeding net as sometimes this can stress mothers out and they can abort fry. Normally you look at the Gravid spot. Which is a dark spot but the anal fin when they are about ready to drop you can normally see little baby eyes in there. Although sometimes with the different colourings of fish it's difficult to tell x

the bottom black one looks ready to pop anyday soon i never use a net or trap as thay stress the mollies just let the fry free swim. are all you mollies from the same place? as the more inbred mollies become thay produce fewer and weaker fry

I have a few platies with my mollies and seem to get on well all hand fed and very ott

Food Wise mine eat algea wafers, carnivor pellets,flake and crisps. fry do well on crushed flake and hikari micro pellet. you can feed blood worm but not too much as thay can get constipated

I agree. The female in the bottom picture is about to pop. Id say withing a day or two.
I do remove my pregnant females out of my large community tank into a breeding trap which is in another tank.
If removed close to popping I have seldom had problems with mum aborting or getting stressed.
I have over 200 Molly fry in my fry tank at the moment, all doing well

Nice Mollies by the way

Thanks for the fast reply and the good comments.

My wife asked if we could add anymore fish to our 36gallon tank. ATM we have 12 Mollies and 2 plecos. Any advice would be apperciated.

nice looking tank and fish. i wouldn't keep the common plec very long as some times they grow pretty quick and you will have a lot of waste from him and he'll start knocking stuff in your tank over or loose.i think you could add a few more.maybe a few corys' or some small loaches.

flash22 said:

the bottom black one looks ready to pop anyday soon i never use a net or trap as thay stress the mollies just let the fry free swim. are all you mollies from the same place? as the more inbred mollies become thay produce fewer and weaker fry

I have a few platies with my mollies and seem to get on well all hand fed and very ott

Food Wise mine eat algea wafers, carnivor pellets,flake and crisps. fry do well on crushed flake and hikari micro pellet. you can feed blood worm but not too much as thay can get constipated

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Nonsence, if used right, they are fine..

Anyways, the last one does look far on, im thinking possibly within the next 2-5 days, look for behaviour changes like her dwelling on the bottom, being very unsocial, hiding away, hangin around the heater or filter.

Check this pinned of mine, lots of good info in it... click here

Also, check this out as well, this is how good traps are for saving fry if used properly, this was yesterday.. click here

Also this one has well click here


most livebearers will drop fry every 4-6 weeks, guppies, platys, endler, more at the 4 week mark, swords and mollies more at the 5 week mark...

here is a littlke pic i have done for you (your pic edited).

Hope this help you understand more about them.

Thanks agian for the quick reply and the advice.

5teady from your experience what do you think about being able to add anymore fish to my current tank set up.

Thanks Dnn3 for your comments. I will definately be taking the common out and looking for a smaller one. Maybe another Candy Stripe *L15* I believe. Thanks agian.

EDIT - WOW! 5teady thanks for the picture edit. I wasn't expecting an evaluation of my other fish. Just showed my wife it. We have 2 10gallon tanks for the frys. Thanks! BTW That lyretail one you pointed out is my favorite one. She is named Firefly. I am hoping she has babies. Hoping for more lyretail as she came from a tank full of them.

tear70 said:

Thanks agian for the quick reply and the advice.

5teady from your experience what do you think about being able to add anymore fish to my current tank set up.

Thanks Dnn3 for your comments. I will definately be taking the common out and looking for a smaller one. Maybe another Candy Stripe *L15* I believe. Thanks agian.

EDIT - WOW! 5teady thanks for the picture edit. I wasn't expecting an evaluation of my other fish. Just showed my wife it. We have 2 10gallon tanks for the frys. Thanks! BTW That lyretail one you pointed out is my favorite one. She is named Firefly. I am hoping she has babies. Hoping for more lyretail as she came from a tank full of them.

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your welcome, happy to help...

the tank you want o add more fish to, what is the size of it? how many fish are in it now?

It is a 36 gallon tank. Roughly 136 Litres. I have 12 Mollies and 2 Plecos. 1 is a Candy Stripe Pleco *L15* and the other is a common one from LFS *Took me a bit to figure out what LFS meant*. I plan on eventually removing him due to his potential size and his waste production. I have a stock filter that came with the kit (Yes I know. I am still new remember). Aqueon Power Filter30. I also do 25% water change every weekend and vacuum gravel. And since I put the fish in, I have had no deaths for almost 2 months now. Thanks.

If you get rid of your plec this is what i would do...


First i would count your males and females of mollies and swords..

Then i would buy more to ratio them out to 1 male to every2-3 females..

I would go as far as putting 25-30 in it, but if they are pretty big mollies and swords, maybe only 20-25.


Personally, i think if you stick to 20, this will be good as you dont want to be riddled with over run fry..

Also, when adding more, do it over a period of time, like 3 every week...

adding loads at once could cause ammonia and nitrite spikes..


If you do decide to max out at 25-30, up your waterchanges to 35% a week..

Also, only feed the recomended amount and dont over feed.

Do weekly tests as well before each water changes, if your levels seem to be not coping, you will have to take some out (but i doubt this will happen in a well established tank)..


If you have a pretty powerful airpump, you could split the line and get a 3 way tap (little plastics one, all lfs sell them), and add a small sponge filter to the tank.. like this one...



This will over filter your tank and help a very lot. if you have a airpump, its no extra cost on electric if you split the line u see and saves u buying another


Hope ive answered all u need, if not, just ask more

Thanks. I have a ratio of 4 males and 8 females. I did my research before I bought my fish *Thanks Fishforums.net*. They are all mollies. I will for sure look for a sponge fliter to better the tank. I have an airpump but was afraid of the airstone to bother the fish. (Any comments on the airstone would be great too. Are they good or do they do more damage than help?) Do you know the name of that sponge filter by anychance? My wife will be happy to hear we can buy more fish. Also I was reading about the different levels of the tank. Should I get more bottom dwellers or getting the mid/high fish is ok?

about the airstone,there is a long thread about it on the trop discussion forum so check that out and decide for yourself.as far as what to get(top or bottom)i think with mollies you should go with bottom dwellars.corys are good at cleaning the bottom of your tank and loaches are just fun to watch.

tear70 said:

Thanks. I have a ratio of 4 males and 8 females. I did my research before I bought my fish *Thanks Fishforums.net*. They are all mollies. I will for sure look for a sponge fliter to better the tank. I have an airpump but was afraid of the airstone to bother the fish. (Any comments on the airstone would be great too. Are they good or do they do more damage than help?) Do you know the name of that sponge filter by anychance? My wife will be happy to hear we can buy more fish. Also I was reading about the different levels of the tank. Should I get more bottom dwellers or getting the mid/high fish is ok?

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Well, the sponge filter varies, just choose one you like (one that sticks to side then you can put it higer up in the back corner out the way.)

Most local fish stores do them, or ebay is good for them.


As for the airstone, i always get 6" ones, and put it either at the back or sides, just make sure the fish have a section in the tank to settle at night. what i have done on mine is, split the airline and put a 3 way connector on it, 1 runs to the sponge filter, and one runs to the airstone, each one also as a tap so i can adjust the flow of each exactly how i want it.

Even if you say stock the tank with 20-25 fish (swords or mollies etc).. you could add a shoal of corys (little ones like pygmys) maybe 5 ish of them.

I would stay away from plecs in your tank, they are big waste producers and if your not trying to breed them (say bristlenoses) there aint much point in adding them just to end up making your stocking levels lowered, unless you really wanted one but if you got a plec, you would need to knock 5 fish off your stocklist so 20 stock level in mollies and swords etc.

Any more ???, feel free to ask

you dont need to get rid of the pleco for a fair bit tbh, i.e months-years