Mollies Fish, the most popular aquarium fish and hobbyist pet, are a colorful and popular addition to any glass tank. These live-bearing characins come in a wide range of colors and patterns. When purchasing these fish, it is important to know what traits they have so you can buy ones that will thrive in your aquatic ecosystem. In general, mollies are not very difficult to take care of as long as they have access to clean water. Check out our article on Aquarium water test kits – protecting your fishes
Molly Fish Species Profile
Mollies fish are members of the livebearing family Poeciliidae, and are the most popular fish kept in a freshwater aquarium. They come from Central America and can be found in many different colors, sizes, and shapes. In one tank, you may see a variety of Mollies because they often breed with other breeds of Mollies.
Mollies fish types
Mollies fish is a small and easy pet for children and adults alike. This fish can be found in various colors, including yellow, gold, orange, red, and bronze; there are also black mollies that have more of a camouflage pattern. Here are some well known types of molly fish found in local pet stores:
- Balloon Belly Molly
- Golden Sailfin Molly
- Black Molly
- Marble Lyretail Molly
- Black Sailfin Molly.
- Gold Dust Molly
- Black Lyretail Molly
- Harlequin Sailfin Molly
- Creamsicle Sailfin Lyretail Molly
- Platinum Lyretail Molly
- Dalmation Molly
- Dalmation Lyretail Molly
- White/Silver Sailfin Molly
- Gold Doubloon Molly.
Mollies fish can live in both freshwater and saltwater environments. They don’t get too big at about 2 to 3 inches long and they’re not expensive to feed. Mollies are very easy to care for and they’re extremely hardy, so they can tolerate a variety of conditions.
What molly fish eat?
Mollies Fish are freshwater fish that are often found in aquariums. They play a key role in maintaining balance in the ecosystem. Like many other types of fish, mollies can survive on a diet of live or frozen food such as brine shrimp, bloodworms, feeder fish, and daphnia. They should not be fed a a diet consisting mainly of flakes or pellets.
How can I feed my molly fish?
Mollies are omnivorous so you can feed them any type of food you want. From dry flakes, to fresh bloodworms to brine shrimp you can feed mollies anything you want. It’s important to avoid overfeeding or underfeeding to your mollies. You can use an automatic fish feeder as well to provide right amount of food at right time. You can check our article Automatic fish feeder – All you need to know
Here are some common mollies fish foods you can try for your pets:
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TetraMin Tropical flakes
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API FISH FOOD FLAKES
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Ultra Fresh Mignon Pellet
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Aqueon Tropical Flakes
What are common mollies fish diseases?
Common molly fish diseases include fin rot, fin rot with mouth ulcers, white spot disease, fin rot with black spot, fin rot, and fin rot with white spot. Most of these diseases can be treated if you catch them early so make sure you do so. Do make sure to keep your aquarium water clean all the time. Molly fish tend to produce more ammonia through their waste and controlling ammonia will be the utmost important task to keep diseases away. Check out our article How to control aquarium ammonia levels
Is my mollies fish pregnant?
Reproduction in mollies fish is very common. The easiest way to find if your mollies fish is pregnant is by her looks. She will start looking little bulkier mainly near abdomen. She can produce eggs in hundreds. You will also start noticing pregnant molly fish starts hiding in dark spaces of your tank more often. Also do note, they like warm water and we recommend to buy a aquarium water heater to maintain your aquarium water temperatures around 75 to 80 °F if you are from colder regions. Also they like little alkaline water, pH values of the order 8 to 9 to thrive. Do checkout our article on
Do you know?
One of the interesting fact is, mollies female is known for eating her own babies. Nothing you can do about it unless you separate mother molly fish from her babies as soon as possible. Well that’s mother nature for you! To avoid baby mollies from getting eaten by their mother or other fish from your aquarium, you can use breeding box or fry traps. We recommend following breeding boxes:
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Fluval Multi-Chamber Holding and Breeding Box
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capetsma Fish Breeding Box
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Pawfly Fish Breeding Box
We do not recommend to touch your pregnant molly fish. It can be stressful for her. To separate her from other fish, better identify her pregnancy earlier. Usually mollies get pregnant quite often. Almost every month. So have a close look!
Conclusion
Mollies Fish is a common household pet and it is easy to care for. However, there are some circumstances that can affect the molly fish and make them more susceptible to threats like parasites and disease. If you are looking to breed molly fish, as long as you have the right equipment for the fish tank, fish breeding is a fairly simple process. I hope you liked this article. We also review great products available commercially on our website Aquarium Water Treatments. Do check all the available reviews. Feel free to add your comment in case you have any doubts and we will try our best to reply you ASAP.