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Hey all, no one really replied to my aggressive mollie thread so i thought i would try some of my other questions.

I currently have:
1 Male Mollie
5 Female Mollies
1 Male Pineapple Swordtail
3 Female Pineapple Swordtails
1 Ghost Catfish
1 Plecostomus (sp?)
1 Angelfish
4 Gouramis (blue dwarf, fire, gold and one that seems to be blue with red tiger stripes)
6 Tetras (i believe these are mixed fruit - got them before i knew about the coloring thing - what are these actually?)

so that is 23 fish in a 55 gallon aqaurium. Most are around 1 inch in size though a few may be bigger. They all seem to be doing well for the most part - the biggest problem i have had is with the mollies. The male tends to clamp his tail a lot even though the water is perfect but since he does it i get paranoid and check the water, the only thing i can think of is that the females are bullying him again heheh.

so the 2nd main question i have is: when you do the 20% water change weekly should new aquarium salt be put in to replace the water you removed? I have read differing opinions, some say yes because you remove the salt with a water change, some say no because directions say it does not evaporate etc.

3rd main question is should you run a bio wheel and a regular charcoal type filter? Just one or the other and what are the benefits and drawbacks of them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Last edited by shadows at 14-Sep-2005 12:15

OK

1- Mollies are more of a brackish fish and should not be kept with the others- they like salt but many other FWF do not.


2- You need to test for the salinity of your water when using salt to be sure of the level in your aquarium. If you are replacing water that has evaporated (topping off)- do not use any salt. If you are doing a water change, then you add the ssalt to keep the salinity at the level prefered.

Please refer to answer 1 above- the mollies should be in a seperate tank.


3- a biowheel is used with a filter- it is the part that provides the biological filtration- which is the most important, as it breaks down the amonia and nitrites into nitrates- the" cycle". The Nitrates are removed with water changes.

Carbon is used for chemical filtration to remove impurites or medications, if they were used, from the water. It is not as important as bio and mechanical filtration. I rarely use it in my filters.

The Penguine filters , as an example,uses all 3 forms of filtration, so you do not need to use 2 filters.

Hope this helps

http://www.fishprofiles.com/site/aquarank.aspx

Well that might explain it. I have had more issues with the mollies than the other fish in this setup. I have a rather large filter that has a siphon tube that draws from near the bottom up through a tube to two filters inside one box (i can get the exact model later, am at work currently). I have two air lines doing the bubbler thing and a penguin power head that i have not installed yet and am not sure if i should or not since the current filter appears to be doing a rather good job of making current in the water. The female mollies are doing extremely well so far. I will do a search for a better filter that hopefully does all types of filtering.

I would guess then that i need to get a salinity tester though i can not recall seeing one. I currently have the 5 in one tester strips along with the ammonia tester strips and other than the water being between the safe and hard levels everything appears to be going well.

Last edited by shadows at 14-Sep-2005 12:48

To check salinity - look for a hydrometer- an inexpensive one is about $8 US.

I am guessing- you will give the Mollies a tank of their own?

http://www.fishprofiles.com/site/aquarank.aspx

I would be very careful about adding salt to this particular tank. Your gouramis are very salt sensitive and probably won't do well in, or appreciate, the added salt. The mollies are brackish and need to go somewhere else. Plecos are a little sensitive to added salt as well. I killed a couple of cherry barbs adding salt. IMHO, salt in a freshwater tank is very tricky. Not something to be added casually.

---

~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

not sure about moving them right now. Only other tanks i have are 5 gallons and those will not be large enough for the mollies. Have 2 goldfish in one of them and a betta in the other. May have to just deal with it by attrition sad to say.

Of course i start looking for a bio-wheel filter from penguin and surprise surprise, everyone in the local area is out of the one i need

The goldfish need at least a 55g if they are fancy goldfish and a pond if they are comets or common goldfish. Most mollies have been tankbred to the point they survive in freshwater to saltwater equally. There was a thread in livebearers forum recently and it looked like just about everyone agreed they do fine in freshwater. What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings? Any of those could cause problems.
A biowheel provides extra space for alot of bacteria but isn't all that useful unless you overstock, have a bare bottom tank, or do alot of heavy gravel vacs that remove too much bacteria. Otherwise there should be enough for the bacteria to live on. Biowheels can lead to higher nitrates.
I would call that tank overstocked and could be the reason the molly acts odd sometimes. Fish don't like to be cramped. Overstocking can also lead to water quality problems if you don't do enough maintenance and test frequently.

I haven't had any problems with keeping my mollies in freshwater. I know it is supposed to be good for them, but it's not a absolute requirement. I think if it was the lack of salt in the water, wouldn't all the mollies be affected, not just the one?

So the bio-wheel may not be the best solution then? Let me see if i can clarify a bit here. The only problems i have had lately are with the mollies. A couple of the Gouramis have been kind of aggressive off and on but usually only with each other and not for long. They seem to be working out a 'who's the boss' pecking order. Nothing extremely violent or destructive to each other. Just some chasing and occasionally a stand off where they are side to side and head to head and sometimes whap each other with a fin.

The mollies are doing great and the only reason i can think of with the male to be clamping his fin at this point is stress. Because when he left alone for a while and during feeding it opens back up no problem and he swims around eating and such just fine.

I check the water every 3 days using the 5 in 1 test strips and the ammonia test strips. Any time it moves close to anywhere near stress i usually do a 20% water change and/or gravel vacuuming on 1/3 of the tank (alternating so that the other 2/3rds of the tank do not lose the bacteria) and use "Pure" for the chlorine removal and ammonia/nitrate/rite lowering. Let it sit again for a few hours and test again, if it is somewhat high then i use a little more Pure if necessary but it has not been required yet. I try to minimize the water changes to only when necessary because i do not want to stress the fish. I also used "start right" i think that is what it is called. It adds the helpful bacteria in there and helps it get going.

I feed them twice a day just enough so that they finish in about 3 minutes (though they are always picking on stuff on the bottom of tank even though no flakes are apparent). I have a regent filter that has 2 huge filters and takes up practically half of the tank. I also have a diffuser that i have not installed because i was unsure if it is necessary with the 2 bubble stones i have installed in the tank. I have given them plenty of hiding spots although all the plants are fake.

Currently it looks like one of my female pineapple swordtails and one of my mollies are close to birthing.

and i can not wait. My dalmation mollie is just huge and looks like she is carrying a book under her heheh. (not completely square but darn near it) I tried putting her in a birthing tank but she did not like it at all and started freaking out so i let her out so as not to stress her into aborting. Anyway, everyone appears to be doing well currently but this hobby is a learning experience for me and way too addictive, (edit: and expensive ) the wife says i pay more attention to their care than any of the other animals we have heheh.

The goldfish are going in a pond in a month or two when i move because they have gotten huge. They started out as feeder fish from some carnival the kids came home with one day and now are getting way too huge. The reason they are waiting is that i am moving houses at the end of Oct and will need to have that set up for them. They are great and happy and have had zero problems to date. Though in a 5 gallon tank it is filtered and aerated and the water remains clear all the time.

Think that is everything, sorry i tend to write novels, but i would rather provide too much information than not enough.



Last edited by shadows at 15-Sep-2005 11:52