How long do mollies live?

[Deitta]

I have lost two of my adult female balloon mollies and can see no reason why! In fact the last one (Spot) had just dropped about 20 fry and was fine one morning and was floating the next night!

Any idea how long this breed lives? Educated guesses? All of the other fish are fine, water/chemical levels haven't changed. I do have very hard water, but the fish don't seem to mind since they get frequent changes of water.

 

[myriam]

I also lost a molly about a week after she dropped around two dozen fry. Just fine one day, floating and hugely bloated the next. The water was fine and everyone else in the tank was fine, too. Maybe sometimes they get stressed from the birth and just retire?

I don't know how long they live...a few years would be my guess.

 

[William]

I believe they live around a year or two if I'm not mistaken.

 

[QTOFFER]

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/beginnerinfo/a/lifespan.htm

I think that these are average lifespan estimates. I'm sure that they vary among individual species.

 

[rocky_2197]

I am bo expert but from all that I have read about mollies are the average life span in a tank is around 18 month. They also like a little hard water and a bit of salt. And after birth the male molly my have tried to mate with her a little to hard causing unneeded aditional stress. A final note to live beares like to be in a ratio of 1 male to 3-4 females ( they are horny little things). I hope this helped.

 

[dralarms]

Neon Tetra - 5 to 10 years


Had to laugh at this one. lol your lucky to get neons to survive the ride home. I know people keep them with out problems but every one I get dies.

 

[Deitta]

Lost my last adult female, now all my breeding hopes rest on a female that is less than 6 months old! sigh This last one looked like a few of her scales were flaking off. I did not notice this with the other two. The water levels were all within norm, but I did a 50% water change and added a little aquarium salt. And all of the babies and the tetras are just fine. If it was a water issue, wouldn't the littlest ones be hit first?
I may give up on livebearers for a while (is that my husband cheering?) and go for some ciclids. I could move the remaining mollies into the 6gal and move the aggressive gourami into the big tank. How do ciclids and gourami do together?