Balloon Molly – mix

The Balloon Molly is one of the best freshwater fishes for beginners.  They are hardy and easy to care for and do well in peaceful community aquariums. If kept in a healthy environment, a group of mollies will thrive and can live up to 5 years.  Minimum tank size 100 litres, adult size up to 12 cm.

The Balloon Molly fish (Poecilia latipinna), also known as pot belly mollies, can be found with a combination of black, white and yellow colors and have been selectively bred from the sailfin molly.  Mollies are native to the Americas, but their habitat can vary significantly.

Behaviour

You should keep them in groups of at least four or more, they naturally stick together. The group should be made of mostly females since males are known to harass them.

They are a peaceful bunch most of the time but can show signs of aggression when crowded or surrounded by aggressive tank mates. Therefore, it’s important that their tank is big enough, and that they have suitable tank mates.  Mollies are active and social so they enjoy schooling together. A shoal should be predominantly female since males are known to harass and stress females.

It’s easy to spot personalities in active fish like these. Watching them for a while will quickly get you attached as you notice their individual differences.

Tank Conditions

The Balloon Molly prefers a tank of at least 100 litres with lots of strong live plants such as Java fern, Sagittaria, Vallisneria and Anubias. They require a good filtration system because of their hearty appetites and more frequent water changes.  You can add 3 to 4 mollys per additional 40 litres.

Compatibility

The Balloon Molly is well suited for the community tank because of its peaceful nature, and is compatible with other peaceful, large fish that can withstand similar water conditions (salt).  Some recommendations:

• Guppies
• Platies
• Swordtails
• Other mollies
• Cherry or Rosy Barbs
• Corydoras Catfish
• Danios
• Tetras
• Loaches
• Snails and shrimps

Fish to avoid are large or aggressive as they will try to eat your mollies, aggressive ones may attack and stress them to the point of death.

Feeding

The Balloon Molly is omnivorous and requires both meaty foods as well as algae. Provide these fish with an algae-based flake food, as well as freeze-dried bloodworms, tubifex, and brine shrimp.

Feed them small amounts twice a day. This gives their digestive system chance to process the food. Give them as much as they can finish in two minutes.

Care

Mollys always do better in slightly brackish water (1 tablespoon salt per 20 litres) but it’s not a requirement.

Warning: Catfish cannot tolerate the higher levels of salt typical of brackish waters. Catfish and live plants can tolerate some low levels of salt. For these, a general rule is start with one tablespoon of aquarium salt for 20 litres of water. This is a safe dosage for most all fish and plants.

Your mollies may develop a condition called “molly disease” (or “livebearer disease”, or “shimmies”). This isn’t actually a disease because it’s caused by poor water conditions.  Affected fish will swim around less, wiggling and shimmying in one spot. Check your water parameters and correct any issues, once conditions return to normal you should see improvements in the health of your mollies.

Since mollies are particularly sensitive to nitrates, aim for nitrate levels at or below 20 mg/l and do frequent water changes.  Salt reduces the toxicity of nitrate (and nitrite) and fast-growing plants can remove nitrate between water changes.

Mollies can be prone to bacterial and fungal infections and small amounts of aquarium salt helps to keep these at bay. A dosage of around one to two teaspoons per 10 litres of water is often recommended. However, a marine aquarium salt mix will help with setting up the brackish water that they thrive on. Use a dosage of about a level teaspoon per litre of water to get a specific gravity of 1.002-1.003 at 25°C.  Ensure that pH stays steady at around 7.5 to 8.5 because mollies do better in hard, alkaline water.

Click for Fish Disease Diagnosis and Treatment at Rebel Pets.