|  |  | 
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Lore Newbie
| molly fish is very depressed
Hi,
About a month ago, I went shopping at Petco, and was very taken-in by the black molly fish... So I purchased one, and asked how to keep it. The sales rep said 1/2 gallon bowl would be fine, and to be sure to change the water frequently... So, I did this, and I got a nice big plant and some rocks.. Set him up a great little environment. I have been filling his bowl with reversed osmosis water, with a pH of around 7.5-8.
So, everything had been going great for the last month or so.. I fed him usually twice a day live bloodworms and brine shrimp. It would get to the point where as soon as I would pull out the bag of worms, he would be swimming around going crazy almost trying to crash through the glass bowl to get the worms. I would place a worm into the water, and he would charge at it like a maniac and gobble it up in under a second. He was very happy.
Then yesterday, it was time to feed him.. and I noticed he was at the bottom of the tank, looking dead. I freaked out, and tapped on the glass and he swam around berzerk, literally bouncing around the rocks and glass.. Like he was crazy. I told him to calm down!!! And he wouldn't listen.. so, I proceeded to try to feed him and he would not even touch the worm. SO UNLIKE HIM!!! I tell you, he LOVES these worms... So, I kept trying to get him to eat, eventually the worm slipped off of the tool that I use for feeding, and it landed on his head.. and this poor little Molly fish just laid on the bottom of the rocks with a worm on his head...
I got really concerned, and tried to remove the worm from his head, and noticed-- he was totally letting this feeding stick touch his body.. I literally could gently lift his body and he just laid there almost dead.. and so I moved the stick and gently touched his back fin, and he again went berzerk and started bouncing around the bowl.. And I felt so bad.. i just left him alone, hoping he would eventually turn into his normal self...
So, later in the evening, I thought I should maybe give him some greens, since I read mollys need that in their diet.. So he ate a little of that, and then eventually I tried feeding him blood worms again, and he eventually ate one worm, but it took a lot of dangling it in front of him before he took it.
And now, he is swimming around-- not quite so dead looking.. but, still seems really sad and not at all the eager-to-eat-blood-worms-and-brine-shrimp Molly that he once was.
Does anyone know what I can do to make him happy again?
-patrick | 
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Master
| the best thing that you can do is get him into a filtered, heated, cycled tank. unfortunately petco gave you some really bad advice, mollies are tropical fish and need temperatures of around 78 degrees to thrive. also, keeping them in a bowl is not enough space for them, they will grow to be three inches and, if kept by themselves, IMO need a minimum of a 10 gallon tank.
here's what you'll need to get yourself started, and if it's no difference to you a 20 gallon would be even better than a ten
aside from just the tank, a hood, a light, decorations, and a substrate of either sand or gravel, you'll need
1. a heater for the tank, i recommend anything made by marineland http://www.petmountain.com/product/a...le-heater.html
2. a filter, for a 10 gallon there are a lot of options, you can get an aquaclear or topfin and there are lots of other brands http://www.petmountain.com/product/p...er-filter.html
3. a water conditioner, i recommend prime, it's more concentrated than stress coat + and they do the same thing, meaning that you get more out of prime even if you buy a smaller bottle. it detoxifies ammonia and removes chlorines, chloramines, and heavy metals http://www.petmountain.com/product/a...nditioner.html
4. a test kit, API freshwater master test kit is the best you can get, it's more expensive than the strips but FAR more accurate and will last longer http://www.petmountain.com/product/a...-test-kit.html
5. a gravel vacuum for water changes to suck up all the waste/leftover food http://www.americanaquariumproducts....iumvacuum.html
when you first get the 10 gallon set up, it will start to go through the nitrogen cycle, in your case (since you already have fish), daily water changes of about 50% using prime are necessary. here are some links explaining the nitrogen cycle http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/TheNitrogenCycle.htm
(i think the second one is a little easier to understand)
good luck and welcome to fishlore!
Last edited by agabr123; February 13th, 2009 at 03:12 AM.
| |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Lore Newbie
| I see.. so a 10-20 gallon tank for one fish!
Ok, let me ask you some questions:
1) Is there a reason to use gravel? Currently I have been using "sand glass" (which is basically large colored pieces of glass that are smoothed around the edges) and rocks. Originally I was using petco's blue/purple gravel, but the color was coming off into the water. Everytime I changed the bowl water, it would be a blue-ish color, and that was very disturbing to me. Plain uncolored gravel just doesn't look as nice to me as what I currently have with the sand glass and rocks.. So is there a problem with using that?
2) What sort of water do you use? I personally am hyper obsessive about health, so I don't consume tap water-- So I thought I should do the same for my fish. I have been filling the bowl with a reversed osmosis coral water that has a higher PH than tap water, and now imagining using this water to fill a 20 gallon tank and then doing 10 gallon water changes per day sounds a bit... expensive.
3) Would it be better for me find someone locally selling a used tank (like craigslist LA) than to just go out and buy all this stuff new?
-p | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| The reason for the larger tank is that Mollies are a social fish and tend not to do well without company of thier own kind.
20 gals is suggested because normally they would be in groups of 4 or more fish.
Mollies depending on the type can grow to up to 5" each in the case of the larger Sailfin Mollies, or about 2" for the balloon mollies so if you had 4 sailfins at 5" that would give you 20" of fish.
It is recommended that you do not have more than 1" of adult fish to each gal of water in the tank
Now if you were to get another 2 baloon mollies to go with the one you have that would give your fish company and allow you to set them up in a 10gal tank.
Remember though to cycle the tank or quick start it with tetra safe start before you put the fish into it.
And yes Craigslist or e-bay would be a good place to find used tanks for a lot less than you would pay new. | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Addict
| Mollies are brackish and the need a small amount of salt. you will need to use a small amount of conditioning salt in your tank or your molly will suffer from shimmies. I use a pH neutralizing buffer salt which keeps the pH within the neutral range but it also provides electrolytes for the fish. only a small amount is needed as too much will be harmful to the other fish. | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| mollies dont NEED salt but some people preferre to add it. | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by patrick99e99  I see.. so a 10-20 gallon tank for one fish!
Ok, let me ask you some questions:
1) Is there a reason to use gravel? Currently I have been using "sand glass" (which is basically large colored pieces of glass that are smoothed around the edges) and rocks. Originally I was using petco's blue/purple gravel, but the color was coming off into the water. Everytime I changed the bowl water, it would be a blue-ish color, and that was very disturbing to me. Plain uncolored gravel just doesn't look as nice to me as what I currently have with the sand glass and rocks.. So is there a problem with using that?
2) What sort of water do you use? I personally am hyper obsessive about health, so I don't consume tap water-- So I thought I should do the same for my fish. I have been filling the bowl with a reversed osmosis coral water that has a higher PH than tap water, and now imagining using this water to fill a 20 gallon tank and then doing 10 gallon water changes per day sounds a bit... expensive.
3) Would it be better for me find someone locally selling a used tank (like craigslist LA) than to just go out and buy all this stuff new?
-p | Question #1 - No, you can use what you want for a substrate, small pebbles, gravel, sand, smooth glass/marbles etc. Sand is used for Cichlids cause that is their normal habitat or Loaches that are sensetive. As long as you rinse it off the gravel really really good to get the dust/debri off before you put in tank. The blue gravel you had, did your rinse off really good first before you put in the bowl? that goes for all decors too.
#2 - I use tap water, no harm is done as long as you use a water conditioner such as Stress Coat Plus or Prime. Stress Coat Plus removes harmful metels, chlorine, chloramines and ammonia from tap water making it completley safe for fish. Prime removes ammonia, chlorine, chloramines, detoxifies nitrite and nitrate. Prime is good to use when you are cycling with fish. If you want a bigger tank it will be easier on your pocket book to just use tap water. http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
#3 - You can find a used tank with accessories, that is fine as long as you clean everything good first. No soap. Can use bleach as long as you rinse until you cant smell it anymore. | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Master
| Quote:
Originally Posted by shadowavenger Mollies are brackish and the need a small amount of salt. you will need to use a small amount of conditioning salt in your tank or your molly will suffer from shimmies. I use a pH neutralizing buffer salt which keeps the pH within the neutral range but it also provides electrolytes for the fish. only a small amount is needed as too much will be harmful to the other fish. | actually most mollies are now freshwater, in order for it to be "brackish" they would need marine salt, not aquarium (conditioning) salt. but if you have JUST mollies in the tank, then adding a little aquarium salt wont hurt them  | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| what if you have live plants with your mollies? | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Helper
| I would upgrade to another tank. Filtration Heater and Everything else. I would use tap water and put tap water conditioner in. | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by midnightwolf what if you have live plants with your mollies? | Live Plants do fine with mollies. | |
| | |
February 13th, 2009
|
| | Fish Addict
| Quote:
Originally Posted by agabr123 actually most mollies are now freshwater, in order for it to be "brackish" they would need marine salt, not aquarium (conditioning) salt. but if you have JUST mollies in the tank, then adding a little aquarium salt wont hurt them | Its not so much what kind of salt is used as it is that there are electrolytes present in solution. The metabolic functions of some fish require ions present in solution. Sea water salinity is very high on the lines of 30- 50 PPM and actual brackish salinity is around .5 -30 PPM depending on the environment. The amount needed for a molly or similar fish would only need to be about .2 PPM in order to provide the necessary electrolytes. Its also important for mollies to have a slightly saline environment because of the risk of shimmies. Most conditioning salts are pH buffers and are phosphate based. These maintain a solution pH of around 7.4 and since all salts are ionic compounds, their dissociation in water creates electrolytes. I mentioned the buffering salt because its easy to come by, readily used to buffer solution and will still provide electrolytes without having to use actual marine salts.
Na3PO4 + H2O ===> 3Na+1 + PO4-3 typical phosphate based ionization in water.
Last edited by shadowavenger; February 13th, 2009 at 11:24 PM.
| |
| | |
February 14th, 2009
|
| | Fish Keeper
| no not that, can plants live in a tank with some salt in it? | |
| | |
February 18th, 2009
|
| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Well, the Molly apparently was acting that way due to temperature.. Once I kept my house warmer and therefore the water temperature was warmer, he started acting happy again... However, I acknowledge that keeping him in a 1/2 gallon bowl is not ideal, and I don't think I want to go all out and get an aquarium at this time (especially since I have a betta also that I am considering getting an aquarium for-- I just posted a question about that situation), so... If anyone here is in the LA area and would like my Molly, it's up for adoption...
Thank you.
-patrick | |
| | | |
Similar Aquarium Fish Forum Threads 
