New, have question about mollies?

[fishgirl30]

Hi, I am new here, this is a great site! I have a ten gallon tank, I have four guppies (two male, two female), four small neons, one plecostamus, and I just got two mollies. The man at the store said he got one male and one female, but I can't tell the difference. How do you tell with mollie? Also, my friend gave me my heater, its for a ten gallon, and I have it at the top heat. But the temp wont go above between 72 and 74. Do you think the heater is bad, or do I need two of them. There is a small plant a few inches away from the heater, but I wouldn't think that would be a problem. Thanks for any advice!

 

[platylover]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice, Fishgirl!!

First of all, the way that you can tell if a molly is a male or female is to look at their anal fin. If their anal fin looks just like every other fin then it is a female. If the anal fin looks like a stick or other pointy device, then it is a male.
Second, I would watch your female for excessive stress. Most livebearers are recommended to keep in a ratio of at least 2 females to one male. If you do have one male and one female, I would think of getting at least another female down the road, if you tank isn't overloaded already.
Thirdly, the heater that you have, what kind is it? How many watts is it? A good rule of thumb is to have 5 watts of heater to 1 gallon of water. Basically a 50 watt heater should be ok to use with your tank.

HTH!

 

[Kerrinne]

First...I am fairly new to all this too, but that sounds like a lot of fish (esp live bearing that will make more babies!) for a 10 gal! I'm not sure how to tell the difference with mollies...but ask me about Buenos Aries Tetras!

When you say it's a heater made for a 10 gal..is it a 50 watt heater? That's the size you should have for the 10 gal. If it's at top heat and at 72/74 I'd say either it was a heater for goldfish or it's broken. It's not expensive to invest in a 50 w heater at a LFS.

As for the plant, I have one close to my heater and it's never posed a problem. I expect as long as it's not touching it you should be alright.

PS - Welcome to the forum! There are great people here that will help you on your journey through fish. I'd never have made it without them.

 

[fishgirl30]

Thanks for advice! I think the mollies I have are both female. The fins look alike to me, and no stick or pointy things down there. The heater I have does not say what watts it is. It came from my friend, the tank and hood also came with it so I assumed that it was the right size. It might be, but I am begining to think it has problems. I will have to get another one next week when I have some $$. I was at Wal-mart just a bit ago, and was looking at the heaters there. The only ones they have are ones that lay on the bottem of the tank. Never saw those before. Is it better to have heaters on the bottem of the tank rather than on the side?

 

[Kwenbee]

OOOHH...I can answer that one! And I KNOW what I'm talking about here....

I just bought a heater for a 10 gallon tank at Walmart. I have no idea what wattage it is, but it was $14.84 and it said it was for a 5-15 gallon tank. It does go either on the bottom of the tank horizontially or you can stand it vertically. It has two little suction cups to hold it to the glass and has a temp adjustment on the end to turn it up and down. I have mine in the back of the aquarium, lying horizontally and suctioned to the back glass. The algae eater sat under it until he died last night, and the other fish sleep under it sometimes.

I don't know if you can see it in my gallery pics or not. It has worked fine...but I've only had it since Sunday.

I kind of agree, if the temp won't go above 72, the heater is either not working or is for a goldfish (but I don't think they sell goldfish heaters). It's probably broken.

Please, please, please go get a heater so you don't run into what we did when we lost heat this week and seven of our babies died!

 

[myriam]

Hi fishgirl, and welcome to AA.com

I agree with platylover; you will have to up your male:female ratio for the livebearers or else those poor females will be harassed beyond belief. I have heard both 1:2 or 1:3 is fine...guess it depends on how aggressive/horny the males are.

As for sexing the fish, I have found the pictures at this link to be incredibly helpful, and it counts for all livebearers: http://fish.orbust.net/livebearers.html

You will definitely need a better heater. I do believe mollies do better in temps from the mid-70s to 80 or so. Personally, I keep mine between 78-80.

Here is a great site for mollies that you may also find helpful: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1101

Good luck!