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Caring for Your New Molly
Info from Aqualand
Pets Plus on various molly species |
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Original Origins: We’ve seen
large schools of the smaller black and marbled mollies in the river
flowing along San Antonio’s famous River Walk.
They seem to thrive on a diet of popcorn and potato chips.
We’ve seined the larger, high-finned green mollies from ditches in
New Origins: Most of the
smaller-finned molly varieties come from fish farms in Florida.
Most of the fancier-finned varieties come from
Water Conditions: Mollies prefer a pH above neutral. Our Des Moines water works great. Mollies also like salt in their water – one teaspoon per gallon minimum. They can handle many times that much salt. Some species will even adapt to straight sea water. Keep their water around 80o although they can stand it cooler or hotter.
Appeal: Anyone spotting the jet-black smaller mollies can’t resist their velvety beauty. Those who like fancier varieties admire the finnage on the high-finned varieties. Mollies now come in black, marble, silver, Dalmatian, chocolate, gold, red, green and blends of these colors. Their fin types now include the high dorsals, lyre-tails, and veiltails. And do not forget the balloon bodies.
Size: The smaller finned molly varieties top out at two inches. Some of the fancier-finned varieties approach four inches. Jumpers: All livebearers like to jump. We recommend a good tank cover. Mollies especially like jumping from their tanks after water changes.
No Goldfish: Oddly enough, mollies don’t mix well with goldfish. Mollies constantly pick, pick, pick at goldfishes -- apparently snacking on their slime coating. They will also pick at gouramis.
Foods: Mollies will eagerly eat whatever you feed them. They need foods with algae in them. They also constantly snack on the algae growing on your tank’s surfaces. Mollies also love live foods and frozen foods. Mollies respond well to those worm flakes that increase their litter sizes.
Saving Fry: Molly fry taste good to other fishes, although they start life much larger than most livebearers. If you want baby mollies, you need to keep your eyes open. Healthy females release live fry every eight weeks. Give your expectant mom a well-planted 10-gallon tank so the babies can hide. Mollies often give birth prematurely, if you move them less than two weeks before their regular due date.
Protective Plants: Water sprite makes the ideal plant in a molly tank. It grows well with salt in the water. It also grows thousands of tiny rootlets for the babies to hide within and provides excellent areas for tiny edible protozoans to thrive upon.
Fry Foods: Baby mollies eagerly eat powdered dry food. They also love newly hatched shrimps – even the frozen ones. Microworms rate high on their tastometer. All baby fishes grow best when fed several times a day (up to a maximum of five times). Add snails to clean up the excess.
A: Nearly all the livebearers will pick on goldfish. And sometimes they'll pick on gouramis and angels. Obviously goldfish taste good or college students would not eat so many. However, not as many as they used to. Thanks for your report. I'll add it to my molly page. LA © 1999, © 2003, © 2004, © 2011 LA Productions
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