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I wanna now if I can keep like 8 goldust mollies in a 10g tank with a 25g sponge filter. It woul be bare bottom tank with no gravel. I want it like an breeding tank. And I would setup another tank like that but this case with marigold platies.Please help me.

Thats pushing the limits of the tank In my opinion. I have around 8 mollies in my 29 gallon and thats about all I plan on keeping.

IF you plan on breeding them, just keep a good ratio of males to females (1m - 2/3f) in a regular tank and they will spawn on thier own. Livebearers are about as easy a fish to breed as possible. To be honest you really don;t need to do too much, at least in my experiance.

I wouldn't keep mollies in a 10 gallon, really. They get too big, and are QUITE active. I've seen them kept in a 15 gallon long (same footprint as a twenty gallon, but shorter), and I really wouldn't recommend them in a smaller tank.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

NO! mollies will get very large, and are not small platiyes.

since u want them to breed, a large tank is needed, b/c one female can overstock a tank in one drop, and all those fishes is way to much. 8 6-7 inch mollies in a 10 gallon no.

anyway, i have had a large male sailfin green molly around 7,1 inches, very big.

Last edited by bettachris at 06-Oct-2005 21:04

Chris, yikes, no need to jump down his throat.

Where do you get your info, chris? The largest molly size I've heard of is a sailfin, which FP lists as 5.9". "Regular" mollies are more like four inches. I've seen some mollies that never get beyond 3". *shrugs*

In any case, chris is right... when breeding livebearers, you have to understand that they drop a LOT of fry. I don't know specifics for mollies, but I know guppies can drop 20+ fry every month and I think mollies have even more.

If you go by the standard recommendations of one male to every two females, let's say you stick to six mollies and get two males and four females. Four females x at LEAST 20 fry per month... you're looking at close to 100 fry a month and possibly a LOT more. Do you have room for that? Do you have someplace to put the fry? And do you have any place willing to TAKE the fry. Remember that you'll have to grow them out to saleable size if you intend to bring them into a store.

That's just a LOT of fish. Even if some of the fry don't make it or get eaten... Yikes, the numbers are just mind boggling, really.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

whoah, 7 inches molly... haven't seen that big. i've seen 5 inch, but that's all.

BTW, agreed to all, 10g is way too small for a regular mollies. But maybe a balloon molly can fit in their.

ronn

Yes I have the space because I am gonna supply my LFS with livebearers, I am just setting it now so I really need that. And my best advantage is that I can keep them outddoor because here in winter it doesn't drop below the 65 farenheit. It is really strange that it drops below that and if it drops it is no more than one day.And I have keeped goldust and they don't grow no more than 2.5 inches.