MaddieLynn

OK, I know that there is already a caresheet stickied on the molly page, but I thought I'd type up another one partly becuase I'm bored, and partly because I feel like I can never find all of the molly info that I want in the same place!

Mollies: What They Are

Mollies are a species of livebearer that, as far as livebearers go, are probably second in popularity only to guppies. The Sailfin molly is the largest of the livebearers, with lengths of up to 8" being reported. Common mollies are maxed in size at 4 inches, however, 3 inches is more common. Balloon mollies get to about 2 inches, making them suitable for a smaller tank. However, they can be more prone to health issues than other mollies because of the extensive inbreeding used to form the "balloon" shape.

Black used to be the only color seen in mollies, but through selective breeding many other colors have been achieved, such as creamsicle (a light orange), platinum (silver), and dalmation (silver with random black freckles), to name a few.

Caring For Mollies

Since mollies prefer to be in groups of 3 or more and since they have a fairly large bio-load, the minum tank size is preferably 15 gallons, with anything less than 10 gallons being unacceptable. To keep aggression levels at a minimum, a ratio of one male per every three females is advised.

Water Chemistry

Mollies are capable in living in conditions from completely freshwater to marine. There are differing opinions on the salinity level best for mollies. If a species only tank is being kept, brackish water would be advisible, however, it is not absolutely necessary. In the wild, mollies are found extensively in freshwater, so if they are being kept with fish sensitive to salt (like loaches or corydoras) salt should not be used.

The reason for using salt in a home aquarium is that in the wild, mollies are found in water which is near limestone, which makes the water hard. Salt in the aquarium raises the pH and makes the water harder, thus mimicking the natural conditions more closely.

Feeding Mollies

Mollies can be fed a variety of flake foods. However, they are naturally very vegetarian, so supplement their diet with plenty of leafy green vegetables and/or algae for best health.

Breeding

Breeding mollies is extremely simple. Just put a male and a few females in the same tank and you will have a 99.99% chance of baby mollies. If you want to keep as many as possible, you should move the mother fish to an otherwise empty 10 gallon tank just before she gives birth. The pregnancy generally lasts for a month. If you don't move her, the majority of the fry will be eaten by her and the other fish.

DO NOT put your molly in a breeder net!!! Mollies are too large for this, so the mother will be stressed and the fry will grow up stunted.

If you want to keep your fry, make sure you understock your aquarium. Even with this, you will still have extra molly fry, so either leave the mother in the community tank when she gives birth, or have a plan of what to di with the excess fry.

There - I think I covered everything. Whew! I hope y'all enjoyed that!

OldMan

You certainly covered a lot of ground there MaddieLynn. Mollies are a delight but I try to keep mine in a hard water high pH tank instead of using salt. They do quite nicely in that kind of setup and reproduce readily as you said. Aquarium mollies in the 50s were bred to have the black color that you probably first saw. Before that, they were "green" mollies, an almost silvery color, much like a wild type sailfin would be today. Your advice to place the female into a 10 gallon to deliver fry can have results like this. Don't do it unless you really want to keep the fry. This girl was gentle enough that I left her in the 10 gallon with her fry. There were about 30 from that drop.

JChacon

Great advice Maddie! Mollies are a great pet to take care of for beginners and experts. And yep, I enjoyed it