Bettas With Silver Molly

[ReMz]

I bow to your experience. It must have taken so many hours.

I don't have much hands on experience with tropical fish but I have been reading and absorbing every scrap of information that I can for the last month. Everyone has to start somewhere and rather then criticising my advice with no constructive comments let us debate a little which is the whole point of a forum. Just because someone has kept fish for a number of years does not mean they are doing it correctly, so in my opinion hands on experience and theory are on equal terms.

I'm only doing this because you think you have a clue about what you are debating.... and have no idea what you are getting yourself into.

Quick disclaimer: I respect your interest and research into tropical fish, and everyone has to start somewhere. You shouldn't start by defending your advice on a very weak basis. I was never obligated to give 'you' constructive comments, but offer the original poster my best input. Reconsider your stance if you think this forum is about debating needlessly.

Based on that, I'll have my fun.

-Fact one that you have confirmed: You do not have much 'hands on experience with tropical fish'

-Fact two: You have been reading and absorbing every scrap of information that you can find for the last month
*From what sources? Google searching? Forums searching? University archives? First hand experience? Opinion? ....

Based on this, It would not be overly presumptuous to label you as an inexperienced fish keeper that has done some reading. I can read every book on racing cars.... but I won't have a clue what to do until I actually race a car.

Now your assumptions that have no basis:

"Just because someone has kept fish for a number of years does not mean they are doing it correctly"

Correct (circumstantially, and therefore easily disproved). This does not disprove that they are actually doing it correctly... and the individual may in fact be gaining intelligent analysis on a subject. You must consider equivalent research of the "someone" as well as analysis of data collected from the "someone" on an individual basis. If you are here to make generalizations, you are talking to the wrong person. Someone that has successfully kept fish and helped others treat their fish is most likely a reliable source.... not just someone that got "lucky". Consensus of common and probable thought/information further backs this up (aka a forum community of fish experts).

"so in my opinion hands on experience and theory are on equal terms."

Your opinion. Yes... lets debate. ..... Especially on the grounds of hands on experience and theory being on equal terms. I hope you typed that fast without much thought.

 

[ReMz]

I guess most people learn best from their mistakes and then (hopefully) not repeating them. The trouble with forums like this is that there is so much expert advice flying around that people can either go against it and learn for themselves the hard way or follow everyone else's advice and come to rely on it without really learning anything. I'd never ignore someone's advice simply because I think they're wrong or that I know better, but in order to further my own knowledge of fishkeeping I feel that it's kind of necessary to make a few mistakes along the way even if I don't necessarily have to by consistently following the advice of others. Of course, this is just my opinion and I wouldn't get offended if nobody else agrees with me on this!

great attitude and open view on things. never believe what anyone tells you without first questioning..... and if your are anything like me, you do what is advised against anyways in as controlled situation to have a bit of fun (aka KNOWLEDGE)

I still don't mix dynamite and flame for fun..... ehemm..... excuse me.... silver mollies and bettas. It may work as I have said.... try it if you are experienced and able to react quickly. Not recommended.

 

[liz2]

IMO, mollies can be quite stroppy I have just moved one of mine into a tank by himself. It was his tank, he didnt like the 2 adorable cories, he didnt like the juvie mollies that he decided were a threat, so he is now in a tank by himself and is still threateneing the ornaments in the tank!
I just adore bettas and would hate to see them bittten. iIgo round aquatic places and moan at the people in there who put bettas in with the wrong type of fish. Just my two pennyworth, no offence meant to anyone.

 

[saltynay]

There is no such think as a needless debate as the whole idea of a debate is a difference of opinions and the changing of the opponents opinion from giving a strong and concise argument, therefore leaving to sides of similar views on a certain topic. Debating is what furthers human knowledge and allows us to progress in the real world in all our areas of knowledge and life in general.

My sources are cumulative; I have read published texts both books and magazines, read the majority of care sheets available online looking for direct correlations to create a cumulative caresheet which draws from the knowledge and experience of potentially 100s of people, Absorbed as much knowledge as possible from this forum, I am a diving instructor and do have an award in water ecology and aquatic conservation I know what a stressed or ill fish looks like, I live 3-4 months of the year in Singapore and have extensively travelled through south east asia having actually been to a siamese fighting fish fight and seen wild bettas in their natural habitat in the paddy fields of my step-mothers family farm.

Have you ever been to Thailand and been to the natural home of your beloved bettas? Seen the wild types with short fins and mottled colouration which move like lightening compared to the show quality bettas many of us have? Do you know why they are kept in the rice paddies and how many will live in a single approx 100-500 gallon paddy field?

Relating to the OP my first statement:

Silver mollies can be nippy I would go for a smaller livebearer like endlers or guppies (with guppies though the tails should not be too long as the betta may attack them) its really russian roulette on personalities between the fish and whether they will get a long. There are accounts of one bullying the other and vice versa however if both are added at the same time then they will generally get a long better.

I never stated it was advised to keep them together, I stated the risks and a possible method which may help to acclimitise both fish with each other and then I was relating my personal experiences to the original poster so that they could relate to real time events in my second post. You stated yourself that there is an element of chance in the encounter and your views seem to correlate with mine although you advocated it I suggested a way which may benefit the OP, neither of us said it was faultless to put them together.

 

[ReMz]

There is no such think as a needless debate as the whole idea of a debate is a difference of opinions and the changing of the opponents opinion from giving a strong and concise argument, therefore leaving to sides of similar views on a certain topic. Debating is what furthers human knowledge and allows us to progress in the real world in all our areas of knowledge and life in general.

My sources are cumulative; I have read published texts both books and magazines, read the majority of care sheets available online looking for direct correlations to create a cumulative caresheet which draws from the knowledge and experience of potentially 100s of people, Absorbed as much knowledge as possible from this forum, I am a diving instructor and do have an award in water ecology and aquatic conservation I know what a stressed or ill fish looks like, I live 3-4 months of the year in Singapore and have extensively travelled through south east asia having actually been to a siamese fighting fish fight and seen wild bettas in their natural habitat in the paddy fields of my step-mothers family farm.

Have you ever been to Thailand and been to the natural home of your beloved bettas? Seen the wild types with short fins and mottled colouration which move like lightening compared to the show quality bettas many of us have? Do you know why they are kept in the rice paddies and how many will live in a single approx 100-500 gallon paddy field?

Relating to the OP my first statement:

Silver mollies can be nippy I would go for a smaller livebearer like endlers or guppies (with guppies though the tails should not be too long as the betta may attack them) its really russian roulette on personalities between the fish and whether they will get a long. There are accounts of one bullying the other and vice versa however if both are added at the same time then they will generally get a long better.

I never stated it was advised to keep them together, I stated the risks and a possible method which may help to acclimitise both fish with each other and then I was relating my personal experiences to the original poster so that they could relate to real time events in my second post. You stated yourself that there is an element of chance in the encounter and your views seem to correlate with mine although you advocated it I suggested a way which may benefit the OP, neither of us said it was faultless to put them together.

I'll PM you from here on out. You have diverted the conversation greatly. And in a forum that is primarily about betta-advice, logical debate should not clutter posts.

P.S. I would call what I have quoted you on a "dodge"

 

[Devorax]

If it's of any use, I have Boris (my male veiltail) in with 3 sailfins (1m,2f) and they get along very well, they don't glare at each other or move out of each other's way at all. That may be because Boris is so damned placid he wouldn't kill a live bloodworm....lol so don't take this as authoratative advice, I am just mixing up the discussion by stating that I have done it, and when I started only mid-Feb 09, I am a complete newbie, so if I can do it, I'd expect others with much more fishkeeping talent to be able to. Hope this is remotely helpful, cos it probably isn't, but thought I'd give my 2p's worth...

 

[TheChards]

Well, it’s been three days now and I haven’t seen any signs of aggression in the tank so far. On Saturday I introduced five female Silver Mollies and “Mr. Spatula” (the male Betta) at the same time and the Mollies didn’t really pay him any attention at first as they were more interested in the green algae which had accumulated on some of the rocks. Mr. Spatula was a little shy at first but he seems far more confident now and swims freely about the tank investigating everything that’s going on.

I’m keeping an eye out for any chasing, bullying etc between Mr. Spatula and the Mollies (when I can) and also for any signs of fin-nipping on Mr. Spatula’s tail. I haven’t seen anything so far apart from a bit of chasing between the Mollies although this doesn’t seem to have been particularly aggressive and Mr. Spatula hasn’t been bothered by it. And everyone’s eating too. Are there any other signs I should be looking out for to make sure they’re doing OK?

Finally, the filter in this tank is an “Elite Stingray 15” which features an outlet which can be pointed in any direction. It is currently pointing out into the middle of the tank but I could equally point it more towards the back of the tank or the side of the tank as the filter is positioned in a corner. Would this make any difference to Mr. Spatula’s well-being?

Many thanks, any advice is very much welcome!
Dan

 

[Devorax]

lol What did he do to deserve a name like that?

 

[TheChards]

Glad you liked it!

My wife (Becki) is a big fan of the "Sam & Max" puzzle-solving/ adventure games and we've just bought the new one for the Wii which we've been playing. They have a fish called Mr. Spatula (who lives in their water cooler!) and we both laughed so much when we found out that we decided we should have our own Mr. Spatula!

Fortunately we don't intend on keeping him in a water-cooler...

 

[GSD]

I wouldnt personally put a betta with mollies, i have kept a betta with livebearers before and all was well for a week or so until suddenly the betta was ripped to shreds.

With regards to the filter, the less water flow the better as the long fins of the betta make it difficult for it to swim in strong current.