dillowpillow
Fish Fanatic
Could I keep mollies with tetra, or a better question might be what common fish cannot be kept in slightly brakish water? I really want mollies and gold skirt tetra together, and I might add some other fish in there too.
Fish Compatable With Mollies
- Thread starter dillowpillow
- Start date
Mollies don't need brackish water. They can cope with brackish water, but they don't need it.
Mollies do best in hard water and most tetras do best in soft water.
Lynda B
Fish Addict
I've got my black mollies in my community tank with red eye tetras, serpae tetras, zebra danios and black phantom tetras. They do beautifully with no salt.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Yes and no.
100% of the mollies sold will do well in brackish or marine aquaria. These mollies will never get finrot or fungus, and the salt neutralises the toxicity of nitrate making them basically easy to keep and hardy fish. Marine salt mix (not tonic salt) automatically raises the pH and hardness to the levels mollies need, i.e., around pH 7.5-8 and hardness 20 dH upwards. Under such conditions mollies consistently reach their maximum size and their longest lifespan.
50% of the mollies kept in freshwater get plagued with finrot and fungus. They are sensitive to nitrate, and in aquaria where the nitrates are anything above zero are commonly found to be delicate and sickly. A nerve disease called "the shimmies" also seems to trouble mollies kept in freshwater. Without the marine salt mix, the aquarist needs to ensure the pH and hardness are optimal by using calcareous substrates or additions to the filter.
For every person who has success keeping mollies in freshwater, I can show you a message on this forum or in a magazine from someone who has no success at all keeping them thus. But if you keep mollies in brackish water, you're providing them with IDEAL conditions right out of the box, and mollies go from being somewhat delicate fish to practically bullet-proof.
Your move. For me, it's a no-brainer. One route guarantees happy and healthy mollies, the other is a roll of the dice...
Mollies naturally come from coastal waters and they are very commonly found in brackish water environments as well as the sea. They are never found far inland, and they definitely do not like soft/acid conditions of the sorts preferred by most tetras.
Mixing mollies with other salt-tolerant or brackish water fish is easily. All the common livebearers will do well in such conditions, as will many gobies, cichlids, rainbowfish, halfbeaks, glassfish, even a few barbs (e.g. ticto) and tetras (e.g. x-ray) and catfish (e.g. hoplos).
Cheers, Neale
B)-->QUOTE(Lynda B @ Jul 19 2007, 11:00 AM) [snapback]1696893[/snapback]
I've got my black mollies in my community tank with red eye tetras, serpae tetras, zebra danios and black phantom tetras. They do beautifully with no salt.[/quote]
100% of the mollies sold will do well in brackish or marine aquaria. These mollies will never get finrot or fungus, and the salt neutralises the toxicity of nitrate making them basically easy to keep and hardy fish. Marine salt mix (not tonic salt) automatically raises the pH and hardness to the levels mollies need, i.e., around pH 7.5-8 and hardness 20 dH upwards. Under such conditions mollies consistently reach their maximum size and their longest lifespan.
50% of the mollies kept in freshwater get plagued with finrot and fungus. They are sensitive to nitrate, and in aquaria where the nitrates are anything above zero are commonly found to be delicate and sickly. A nerve disease called "the shimmies" also seems to trouble mollies kept in freshwater. Without the marine salt mix, the aquarist needs to ensure the pH and hardness are optimal by using calcareous substrates or additions to the filter.
For every person who has success keeping mollies in freshwater, I can show you a message on this forum or in a magazine from someone who has no success at all keeping them thus. But if you keep mollies in brackish water, you're providing them with IDEAL conditions right out of the box, and mollies go from being somewhat delicate fish to practically bullet-proof.
Your move. For me, it's a no-brainer. One route guarantees happy and healthy mollies, the other is a roll of the dice...
Mollies naturally come from coastal waters and they are very commonly found in brackish water environments as well as the sea. They are never found far inland, and they definitely do not like soft/acid conditions of the sorts preferred by most tetras.
Mixing mollies with other salt-tolerant or brackish water fish is easily. All the common livebearers will do well in such conditions, as will many gobies, cichlids, rainbowfish, halfbeaks, glassfish, even a few barbs (e.g. ticto) and tetras (e.g. x-ray) and catfish (e.g. hoplos).
Cheers, Neale
B)-->QUOTE(Lynda B @ Jul 19 2007, 11:00 AM) [snapback]1696893[/snapback]
I've got my black mollies in my community tank with red eye tetras, serpae tetras, zebra danios and black phantom tetras. They do beautifully with no salt.[/quote]
Lynda B
Fish Addict
Mine were also locally bred in fresh water..... perhaps that makes a difference, too.
rob newland
Fish Crazy
Yup agree with nmonks fully - I have kept mollies in FW - they were short lived and never bred, whereas we have a brackish tank that started off with about five fry and now theres loads and none have died yet.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Conceivably, but I think it's unlikely that evolution would have favoured freshwater genes over brackish water ones (say) in the short length of time we're talking about here. There's no evidence breeders are selecting for freshwater-friendly strains of mollies: all the commercial mollies in the trade are bred in brackish water ponds, and only put in freshwater by the retailer.
Where people have good success with mollies in freshwater, they are usually fishkeepers generally and blessed with water that is hard, alkaline, and has low or zero nitrates. Where people have no success with mollies, they're often stuck with water with very high levels of nitrate or the wrong pH/hardness. In London, the chemistry is fine but the nitrates are over 50 mg/l, basically lethal for mollies. Stick them in brackish water though, and the salt detoxifies the nitrate and the problem goes away.
Of course mollies can live in freshwater. They do so in the wild, and have become a pest species in some places where they have become established (e.g., in California). But invariably such waters are "clean" compared with aquarium conditions, and it seems to be this factor as much as anything else that makes the difference.
Bottom line, while you can keep mollies in freshwater, it is usually easier and always more reliable to keep them in brackish.
Cheers, Neale
B)-->QUOTE(Lynda B @ Jul 19 2007, 03:37 PM) [snapback]1697142[/snapback]
Mine were also locally bred in fresh water..... perhaps that makes a difference, too.[/quote]
Where people have good success with mollies in freshwater, they are usually fishkeepers generally and blessed with water that is hard, alkaline, and has low or zero nitrates. Where people have no success with mollies, they're often stuck with water with very high levels of nitrate or the wrong pH/hardness. In London, the chemistry is fine but the nitrates are over 50 mg/l, basically lethal for mollies. Stick them in brackish water though, and the salt detoxifies the nitrate and the problem goes away.
Of course mollies can live in freshwater. They do so in the wild, and have become a pest species in some places where they have become established (e.g., in California). But invariably such waters are "clean" compared with aquarium conditions, and it seems to be this factor as much as anything else that makes the difference.
Bottom line, while you can keep mollies in freshwater, it is usually easier and always more reliable to keep them in brackish.
Cheers, Neale
B)-->QUOTE(Lynda B @ Jul 19 2007, 03:37 PM) [snapback]1697142[/snapback]
Mine were also locally bred in fresh water..... perhaps that makes a difference, too.[/quote]
SnBMeg
Fish Fanatic
Back when my mollies were in my big tank, I was looking into possibly getting some Bumblebee Gobies to go with them. Some even happened to show up at an lfs near me. But then I moved my mollies and didn't have the space.
Many freshwater fish can tolerate low levels of salt in the water, though I'm not sure if they'd be okay long-term or not. To this date I've only ever kept mollies in a single-species tank, so, aside from the brackish gobies, I've never looked into communities much.
Many freshwater fish can tolerate low levels of salt in the water, though I'm not sure if they'd be okay long-term or not. To this date I've only ever kept mollies in a single-species tank, so, aside from the brackish gobies, I've never looked into communities much.
Are you sure that mollies are only ever found in coastal waters Neil?
The last time I collected in Mexico, I found that Poecilia mexicana and sphenops were pretty widespread; we did chase velifera around a coastal arroyo but I would not subscribe to the fact that all mollies need salt or that all mollies get salt in the wild.
I would agree that it is the individuals call, although I disagree that it is a no brainer.
The last time I collected in Mexico, I found that Poecilia mexicana and sphenops were pretty widespread; we did chase velifera around a coastal arroyo but I would not subscribe to the fact that all mollies need salt or that all mollies get salt in the wild.
I would agree that it is the individuals call, although I disagree that it is a no brainer.
buttercupbabe078
Fish Fanatic
I keep my mollies in fw coz i had an experience with fin rot in my mollies and was told by lfs to put salt in. Not only did it kill a load of my other fish the mollies still died!
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Hi dunchp --
By "coastal waters" I don't mean the sea, but rather from lowland rivers and streams along the Atlantic coastal plains, rather than upland and inland rivers. I'm basing this on Checklist and Key to the Mollies of Mexico (Pisces: Poeciliidae: Poecilia, Subgenus Mollienesia)
Robert Rush Miller, Copeia, Vol. 1983. That's an old paper though, and I'm happy (willing, even) to learn better.
Cheers, Neale
By "coastal waters" I don't mean the sea, but rather from lowland rivers and streams along the Atlantic coastal plains, rather than upland and inland rivers. I'm basing this on Checklist and Key to the Mollies of Mexico (Pisces: Poeciliidae: Poecilia, Subgenus Mollienesia)
Robert Rush Miller, Copeia, Vol. 1983. That's an old paper though, and I'm happy (willing, even) to learn better.
Cheers, Neale
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