Aquarium fish (mollies)

Question

I brought my aquarium a couple of days ago and added the pumb, heater, the plants and pebbles, as the ph levels where fine, i brought 2 albino mollies and 2 black mollies 1 female and 1 male, the problem is they stay really close together and avoid the other 2. Do mollies need salty water? And is there away of telling if their pregnant? If they are pregnant do you have to seperate the fry from mum and dad? And at which age can i add them into my aquarium, My aquarium holds 37 gallons off water so how many fish is to many? THANKS FOR ALL ANSWERS X

Answer 1

Alright...did you add the fish right off b/c that would suck, the water will fluctuate and seem "ok" until it cycles.

So your death rate might go up soon, maybe not.

If each pair were bought together then chances are that's why they are sticking together.  So that isn't really a "problem".  A problem would be them attacking each other lol.

Mollies do like a little aquarium salt, but NOT enough to call the water "salty".

You can usually tell if they are pregnant from this dark spot that will show up closer to the ends of their bodies.  When they give birth, it doesn't matter if the male is there or not because they often eat their babies anyway.  So the situation is...do you want the mom to eat them or the mom and dad?  If you want to separate them, make sure wherever you put the mom is heavily planted, that way the babies have a better chance of surviving =]

And you can add them with the adults when they are too big to fit in their mouths lol.

You have a 37 gallon, you want to place one fish per gallon, but with livebreeders, remember...they reproduce VERY quickly.

Answer 2

they need brackish water(half salt half fresh)

Answer 3

In my experience, you should always leave a new tank for at least a week before introducing fish. This allows the plants to settle a bit and the pump and filter to bed in. It also allows the water to mature a bit.

Mollies are one of the easiest fish to breed - In fact they were so easy I had to stop keeping them as the tank was becoming crowded.

I wouldn't be too worried about fish behaviour at this early stage - You've just introduced them to a whole new world and they'll take time to settle in.

I wouldn't recommend adding salt at this stage of your tank's life - Perhaps in a week or two's time, add perhaps one teaspoonful of aquarium salt (not table salt) to the tank which will boost the electrolytes in the water.

As for the pregnancy - It will be pretty obvious to you if they are pregnant - A swollen belly is very noticable. Mollies give birth to live young and mum and dad (and the other fish) will eat them. You can try putting mum in a nursery net within the tank and then rreturn her to the main tank once she has given birth, but you'll have to be contantly on your toes watching, otherwise mum will eat them. Once the fry are about 1cm long you can safely add them to the tank. I never got to separate the mother fish before she gave birth, but usually 5 or so fry survived, hiding in the plants.

The final question, about how many fish, is probably best answered by something someone told me - I'm not sure if it is actually true, but measure diagonally across the water surface of your tank. If you then imagine lining up all your fish nose to tail across this line, that would be the maximum number of fish. It's not how many gallons of water, it's the surface area of your tank which is the important factor as this is where oxygen gets into the water.

It sounds like you are a novice keeper - I'd recommend using your local library or fish store and get some books and heed any advice your aquarium store keeper gives you.

Enjoy your fish.