Mollys And Salt

[leafs]

I recently moved some Mollys from a tank with salt to a tank without salt. Will this cause any stress to the fish?

Thanks

 

[Monte20]

it shouldnt. i did the same thing cus the other fish in the tank do not like brakish water. you could always add a little bit if you want. like not the whole recommended amount. as to ween them. but i think theyll be fine. especially if you have more than just mollies in there. hope this helps.

 

[Annastasia]

Well, it depends how slowly you acclimated them, and how much salt they were in before. How much salt did you add to their tank before?

 

[nmonks]

Depends on the conditions in the tank. If the aquarium contains soft, acidic water then removing the salt is bad, and the mollies will, sooner or later, get fungus or fin-rot. If the aquarium contains hard, alkaline water however, you will probably be fine.

It's a shame mollies are so widely sold without warning people what they need. Unlike most other tropical freshwater fish, they do not like soft, acid water and really should NOT be kept with neons, angels, rams, discus, Corydoras, loaches, sharks, gouramis, etc., etc...

Cheers,

Neale

PS. The plural of "molly" is "mollies", not "mollys".

 

[consp]

It could be stressful depending on the salinity of your previous tank as mentioned by Annastasia & nmonks.

If they're already in there and have been for over a few days, there is no poin t really in adding salt to help them acclimatise... it's a bit to late really. It would be nice to put a tad in though as mollies do like a little but only for that reason and not to help them acclimatise.

 

[leafs]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I added 2 tablespoons of salt to the previous tank. My water is fairly hard and not acidic. The reason I asked was because I have some scaleless fish in my salt free tank and I don't want to harm them by adding any salt. The Molly seems fine right now and is eating, so I think it should be ok. Also, would it be a good idea to keep my Molly fry tank salt free and then they will be raised without salt?

Thanks again.

 

[chrisquinn12]

I'm actully wondering the same. Bec when I bought my Mollies nothing was said about salt. They had some fry then I bought a bigger tank for the adults. which they have been in for about a week. I just added some salt yesterday. (not the whole measure, about half). bec I got told they will do better with it. I also added a little yest. to the fry tank. They are between 1 and 2 weeks old. I hope I have done the right thing?......

 

[Annastasia]

Leafs - You added two tablespoons per what? Gallon? 5 gallons? Or how many gallons is the tank? I probably would have acclimated then to less salt before you put them in, but I don't know how salty your original tank was. Anyway, what's done is done.

As for the fry, it's up to you on how to raise them. If you raise them with salt, they'll always want some salt in their tank. If you raise them in fresh, they'll be okay in fresh but they would still prefer a little salt.

 

[leafs]

I added 2 tablespoons of salt to my 10 gal. I just went by what it said on the salt package. The fry were born with that much salt in their tank, so I don't think it will be a problem. I haven't lost any fry yet and they're eating well. What I might do is slowly reduce the salt in the tank by doing water changes over a period of time. This way I can place some of the fry in my no salt tank when they get older.

 

[Annastasia]

Okay, so a tablespoon per 5 gallons. I would have acclimated them slower to the non-salt tank, but hey, it's done. At least you know for next time.

So you are trying to raise the fry to be fresh? Okay...then yeah, I would reduce the salt over time. Keep in mind though, it's still best for them to have a little salt.