BikBok Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 My daughter likes the white mollies and she has a brand new tank to fill :-) Can Mollies be kept with guppies and dwarf gourami? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 Guppies can tolerate salt which means they can be kept with Mollies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 From memory guppies/mollies cross breed readily don't they? Same with swords/platties.. Wont be an issue if breeding isn't your game but might be something to consider (if it is indeed true). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracytrout Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I've kept guppies and mollies together is freshwater tropical setup with no salt for last couple of years with no problems at all and no cross breeding . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malevolentsparkle Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 Platties can breed with swordtails, mollies, and guppies. But swordtails, mollies and guppies cannot interbreed with each other. It's rather facinating really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted July 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 thanks for replies. I forgot about the salt factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I always thought that mollies and guppies could and would cross because they were the same family? Plenty of info on it on the net though although it is really hard to find creditable information, I have never tried and Tracytrout says she keeps them together with no problems so at best it is very unlikely to actually happen. http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/breed ... aties.html Most mollies don't need salt although they do tend to do better with it, guppies won't mind a little salt in their tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 Platties can breed with swordtails, mollies, and guppies. But swordtails, mollies and guppies cannot interbreed with each other. It's rather facinating really. This is only based on what i have noticed with my livebearers over the years and different attempts to interbreed: Accept for male guppy's "attempting" to breed with everything, including other male guppy's, I've witnessed no cross breeding or even interest in inter breeding out with another specie of livebearer within long established tanks of mixed livebearers (swordtails, platties, guppy's, mollies and leopards), Infact I've witness small amounts of hostility between some of the species, not enough to cause concern, but enough to make you curious. This has included tanks with a single male platy and only female swords, single male platy and only female guppy's, almost no interest displayed by the male. However switch it up with a male swordtail and only female platties and the male will produce interest and most likely fertilize (offspring show little or no difference to normal accept for colour manipulation). No interest displayed by the male however with only female guppy's. Mollies and guppy's hardly acknowledged each others exsistance in all scenarios and leopards always kept to themselves no matter the situation. Male swordtails and male platties show little interest to female mollies and vice versa, male mollies with only female platties or swordtails do show interest but offspring never produced molly traits, about 80% sure of no fertilization. Male mollies and only female guppy's - again no interest. Mollies and guppy's will live great together without interbreeding and with low aggression, almost every livebearer commonly available (bar leopards) love a bit of salt, mollies can just cope with higher concentrations happily and having salt in a tank with guppy's and mollies is more likely to keep a few common diseases away. Pack your tank full of plants as well and you'll be more likely to keep some of your guppy fry, molly's grow big and have big mouths, guppy fry is food when they are older. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted July 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 thanks for all the information. lol @male guppies mating with anything. I had my red tux male in a salted QT because a female got annoyed and ripped his tail. he hid in the corner for a couple of days so I added a female platy for company.. wow - see him come to life, he was chasing and showing off to her like she was a guppy. Never saw any mating though. My daughters tank will have the usual driftwood, a few plants and an ornament (urn) to provide hidey places. Not to worried about saving fry though... my female guppies in the community tank breed 3-4 weekly and usually all at once! (i.e they drop all the same day) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 18, 2010 Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 As far as I understood, swords are just a sub species of platies so would interbreed. It is only selective breeding that produced the tail shape. A book I have here says "mutual cross breeding of the sub species as well as pure strains is undesirable" so that says to me they will do so. By that I mean various platy types will interbreed, not that they will breed with mollies or guppies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malevolentsparkle Posted July 19, 2010 Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 swordtails are a natural species, not a selectively bred platy. platies are unique in that they can cross with species outside their genus. I did a lot of research several years ago but i can't remember much more than ive already posted though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davd-lw Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 So, wot about PH ,fellows? :dunno: my guppy tank ph is 4.6. Mollies r 8.8. :happy1: Also, it leads a Q. Y the Fancy guppies ppl bring back frm LFS sumtime wont even last 5mins, or nx day u find floaters or sinkers... Same as molli.... There r addapting issues among them. Fancier the softer!!! :facepalm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windsparrow Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 So, wot about PH ,fellows? :dunno: my guppy tank ph is 4.6. Mollies r 8.8. :happy1: Also, it leads a Q. Y the Fancy guppies ppl bring back frm LFS sumtime wont even last 5mins, or nx day u find floaters or sinkers... Same as molli.... There r addapting issues among them. Fancier the softer!!! :facepalm: PH is low for your Guppy tank, raise it to 7.5 ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 PH is low for your Guppy tank, raise it to 7.5 ish. lol have a look at davids video link in this section, if his guppies look like that they he doesn't need to do anything.. I think he knows what he is doing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windsparrow Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 lol have a look at davids video link in this section, if his guppies look like that they he doesn't need to do anything.. I think he knows what he is doing Yes, I've seen his videos - very cool. Sure, they could thrive in those water conditions that they're used to. But when buying it from a LFS (Which i would assume have a higher or appropriate PH), and putting them into a PH of 4.6. I have a feeling it wont end well. Don't really want to acclimatize for 12 hours. It's similar to say "I don't waterchange my tank and my fish are fine, why should you?". I would much rather have fish in their preferred range - and be happier than somewhat trying to wing it. Oh, and he asked a question, which i answered. Also Ryan, I'm sure you know it's important to have an appropriate ph/kh value with all the cichlids you breed, yes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 this is an old thread We ended up putting pearl gourami in that tank with the eel and guppys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davd-lw Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 thx Ryan, thx Windsparrow. I mean in general guppy like low ph, dont need to b as low as mine, while molli like high ph. sometime ppl think guppi like high ph. Well, this is wot i learnt frm my experment. If u want raise some nice fat big tail guppy. First of all quality breeder is very important, second of all , food. More importantly. Water condition--low ph. Try it, use one guppi to try. and then tell us if it wrks:) i hav no problem wit my guppi tank water ph change from 4.5-6.5. However, they wont b happy if water ph over 7.5, this is just wot i learnt frm trying. Not a debate or something. Just sharing some my tips wit all. Plus, ph is a main factor to stop Aggizizis double red getting blow up n die too. Hope this help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.