How To Get My Tank "salty"!

[raza]

Ive got a tank all setup with 8 large mollies, im trying to get them to breed. but ive been told they should have Brakish water, can anybody tell me the amount of aquarium salt i need at the type of salt! My tank is 2ft x1ft x1ft

 

[KittyKat]

Firstly, 2ft is not large enough for mollies, they should have at least 3ft.

Secondly, there is some dispute as to whether they are actually brackish.. I prefer to believe that most species of molly do best with a little bit of salt.

Thirdly, use only aquarium salt.

Fourthly, get a hydrometer or a refractometer for measuring salinity before you even think about adding salt.

Lastly, I use http/www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/DirectSaltCalculator.php which gives accurate results for me.

 

[raza]

Firstly, 2ft is not large enough for mollies, they should have at least 3ft.

Secondly, there is some dispute as to whether they are actually brackish.. I prefer to believe that most species of molly do best with a little bit of salt.

Thirdly, use only aquarium salt.

Fourthly, get a hydrometer or a refractometer for measuring salinity before you even think about adding salt.

Lastly, I use http/www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/DirectSaltCalculator.php which gives accurate results for me.

Yes they are Brakish and YES i KNOW to use AQUARIUM SALTS, i did state that. Also your saying a 2ft tank is'nt big enough? ive seen them kept in alot smaller and they are just fine?

 

[KittyKat]

Firstly, 2ft is not large enough for mollies, they should have at least 3ft.

Secondly, there is some dispute as to whether they are actually brackish.. I prefer to believe that most species of molly do best with a little bit of salt.

Thirdly, use only aquarium salt.

Fourthly, get a hydrometer or a refractometer for measuring salinity before you even think about adding salt.

Lastly, I use http/www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/DirectSaltCalculator.php which gives accurate results for me.

Yes they are Brakish and YES i KNOW to use AQUARIUM SALTS, i did state that.

Do you want help or not? If you do, don't complain when you get it and no need to shout about it.

So, which exact species of molly do you have, that you know it is definitely a backish one?

Also your saying a 2ft tank is'nt big enough? ive seen them kept in alot smaller and they are just fine?

Firstly, 2ft is not large enough for mollies, they should have at least 3ft.

Yep, looks like that was what I said. If you are wondering why, it is because they grow to over 4" in good conditions and just don't have the swimming space they need in a smaller aquarium. Keeping them long term in a small aquarium will result in stunting, which may cause health problems and a shortened lifespan.

Just because someone does it, doesn't make it right. Would you lock up a dog and not feed it for days because someone else does that? Probably not. Same applies for fish, yet more people get away with mis-treating fish because it is more difficult for us to identify with them.

 

[raza]

Firstly, 2ft is not large enough for mollies, they should have at least 3ft.

Secondly, there is some dispute as to whether they are actually brackish.. I prefer to believe that most species of molly do best with a little bit of salt.

Thirdly, use only aquarium salt.

Fourthly, get a hydrometer or a refractometer for measuring salinity before you even think about adding salt.

Lastly, I use http/www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/DirectSaltCalculator.php which gives accurate results for me.

Yes they are Brakish and YES i KNOW to use AQUARIUM SALTS, i did state that.

Do you want help or not? If you do, don't complain when you get it and no need to shout about it.

So, which exact species of molly do you have, that you know it is definitely a backish one?

Also your saying a 2ft tank is'nt big enough? ive seen them kept in alot smaller and they are just fine?

Firstly, 2ft is not large enough for mollies, they should have at least 3ft.

Yep, looks like that was what I said. If you are wondering why, it is because they grow to over 4" in good conditions and just don't have the swimming space they need in a smaller aquarium. Keeping them long term in a small aquarium will result in stunting, which may cause health problems and a shortened lifespan.

Just because someone does it, doesn't make it right. Would you lock up a dog and not feed it for days because someone else does that? Probably not. Same applies for fish, yet more people get away with mis-treating fish because it is more difficult for us to identify with them.

Haha OBVIOUSLY i wanted help mate.. or i wouldnt have joined the forums would i? i was told they are backish im not a expert on fish like "you" im only a beginner and have just started keeping them, seen a few vids on breeding and how they are kept and read a few wibsites and i found out from the information that a 2ft tank is plenty big enough. Im not saying this is right, but my mollies seem fine and they look pretty large, ALOT bigger than they were when i bought them. I was just wondering how to make my water salty as i was told and have read they like it salty, So i was just asking to see if someone could give me some advice on what type of salt,(if there is different types of aquarium salts,im not sure) And how much i would need to add to my tank.THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY.

 

[nmonks]

Mollies do not have to be kept in brackish water. They can do well in hard, alkaline water (15+ degrees dH, 10+ degrees KH, pH 7.5-8.5). But they are much easier to keep in slightly brackish water. Good results will be had by using 3-5 grammes of marine aquarium salt mix (e.g., Reef Crystals) per litre of water. That is not so salty that you can't grow aquarium plants, but it is salty enough to make a difference. Lots of aquarium fish will tolerate this amount of salt, including good molly tankmates like knight gobies and brown hoplo catfish. At 25 degrees C, 3-5 grammes of marine salt mix per litre should give a specific gravity of about SG 1.001 to 1.002. As it happens, you should find 6 grammes of marine salt mix is about one level teaspoon, so using about one level teaspoon per 2 litres of water should give near enough the right amount of salt.

Mollies are sensitive to cramped conditions, and I'd always recommend 30+ gallons of water, especially with the sailfin types. Shortfin types are perhaps a bit less sensitive to smaller aquaria, but they're still comparatively "delicate" fish by community fish standards.

Cheers, Neale

Ive got a tank all setup with 8 large mollies, im trying to get them to breed. but ive been told they should have Brakish water, can anybody tell me the amount of aquarium salt i need at the type of salt! My tank is 2ft x1ft x1ft

 

[KittyKat]

Haha OBVIOUSLY i wanted help mate.. or i wouldnt have joined the forums would i? i was told they are backish im not a expert on fish like "you" im only a beginner and have just started keeping them, seen a few vids on breeding and how they are kept and read a few wibsites and i found out from the information that a 2ft tank is plenty big enough. Im not saying this is right, but my mollies seem fine and they look pretty large, ALOT bigger than they were when i bought them. I was just wondering how to make my water salty as i was told and have read they like it salty, So i was just asking to see if someone could give me some advice on what type of salt,(if there is different types of aquarium salts,im not sure) And how much i would need to add to my tank.THANKS FOR YOUR REPLY.

And I'm trying to point out that if you don't know what species they are (so bog-standard shop hybrids), then they probably don't need a brackish environment.. Basically, there in only 1 species which *must* have brackish (which yours is unlikely to be) and a few which can have only freshwater. The rest will live happily in either. The mollies sold in shops are often hybrids of the freshwater only and the "either" molly species, so on average tend to be between freshwater and brackish for preference, which is just hard water anyway. That makes sense so far?
So, it would benefit the fish considerably more if, for example, you made sure that your pH was at 7.5-8.0ish and your water was hard than adding salt.

Now for size: there are only about 3-4 species which will be fine in a 2 ft tank for their whole life. On the other hand, there are considerably more species which grow to 4-6" when adult, and this vast majority would be stunted in a 2 ft tank. Most aquarium mollies are hybrids, as mentioned before, of the larger species.. so chances are, your fish have the potential to grow at least to 4" and quite possibly more. How can you be so sure that they will be able to grow that large in a 2ft tank? From my experience of keeping mollies and taking them in as "rescues", those kept in 2 ft tanks on average were smaller and didn't live as long as those kept in larger tanks.

Yes, there is a lot of incorrect information out there and there is a lot of correct information too. It is best to look at maybe 30 different resources and take the average on the conservative side for best results. No, I do not expect you to blindly believe me, I would hope that if you really want to learn that you will go and read about the fish some more, find out about the different species, find out about the hybrids, etc.

 

[raza]

Ok, thanks for the advice ive moved my mollies to my 2.5ft tank with 3 angels (medium size). Il just leave the salts as they seem fine without. I had no idea that they grow up to 4-6inches, i thought my mollies were large, but there only about 2-3 inch! Once again thanks for the advice