There are some peculiar varieties of fish which requires special conditions for their existence. Black molly is one of them.
Black Molly is a brackish fish. Such type of fish cannot sustain in either pure freshwater or in pure saltwater. They must be kept in a tank with water which has some salt. The quantity of salt may not be very high like normal saltwater but there has to be some salt required for them to live. Naturally you cannot easily accommodate Black Molly with other fish in fresh-water or salt-water tanks.
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| Black Molly (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
You should make some on-line research and also consult your pet shop owner about how much salt needs to be placed in the water.
There is no need to get worried about their compatibility with other species due to their salt requirement. There are other species which can sustain in such partly salty water.
Besides this specific requirement, Black Molly is like any other average fish. Usually it resembles a black guppy fish. This is a live-bearer fish. So you need to provide a lot of baby fish around the adults. If you keep a pair of a male and a female with no young ones around, they may not be comfortable with the environment and may develop stress which may even result in their death.
In spite of these specific requirements, Black Molly is an easy fish to care. You should put the fish in a tank with the water capacity of 10 gallons or more. This is required for taking care of their living environment. The fish will grow up to two inches over a period of time. If you want to keep a family of them in the tank, which is recommended, you should calculate the water capacity at two gallons per one inch of fish. So if the family consists of 10 members, you can keep them in a tank of 20-plus gallons.
The temperature of water should be kept in the range of 75-85 degrees. You should install a lighting system to provide sufficient light for them. They will usually require 6 hours of light every day. Please do not keep the light for longer time. In that case, the temperature of the water will increase and the fish will get over-heated. Providing light for 6 hours will resemble their natural habitat.
This fish is peace-loving. So it will be happy to live with other species comfortably. It will not chase or hurt other fish in the tank. It does not have any territorial ambition, so it will swim around the tank happily with others without any stress.
Considering the acquiring costs, the fish is available very cheaply in the shop. So even if you bring a dozen of family members at home one time, that's within your budget. It may not cost you more than $25!
There are no specific requirements of food for Black Molly. They are happy to eat the food you will provide to the other species in the aquarium. You can feed them flaked food or pellets. They are happy to eat live food like brine shrimp or blood-worms, but you should not offer them live food very often. You can also make a few experiments to find out which food your fish like the most.
Black Molly fish very popular among the fish keepers and if you put a combination of mollies in different colors like black and gold, they can make your aquarium beautiful and lively.
Chintamani Abhyankar is a goldfish enthusiast and has been raising and breeding goldfish for many years. He is an expert on their care and an advocate for raising healthy goldfish the natural way.
Article Source: EzineArticles |
