Have a question, need education.

[NoTank]

Hi All,
Found this site on Google, and have lots of questions. From what I read, it sounds like you all are experts. I recently got one of those kits to put a fish in a vase. There were no betas when I went fish shopping, so I got a Mollie, because a friend of mine has a vase, and I think that is what she has. So, my questions: how long does the transfer shock last? did I put enough salt in the water? he(she) is not eating the fish flakes very good (eats a few), how much do I feed? what is normal behavior? he "wiggles" alot like wagging a tail., how often do I clean the vase? Please be nice. Like I said, I need education.
Thank you,
NO TANK

 

[zoalover34]

First off Welcome to MFT.. mollies are freshwater fish,(never heard of a sw mollie) is there a reson you put salt in the water? what kinda salt did u use? when you say transfer shock did you acclimate the fish or just dump it into your water from your house? did you use the stores water with your water? theres a bunch of stickies at the tops of the pages i suggest you read a few times as they are very helpful

 

[FroggyFox]

Welcome to mft The best thing you can do for your molly is to bring it back to the store, or get a real tank for it that has a filter and a heater. Although it is possible to keep a betta in a vase or bowl, it is really only possible for a betta because they breathe differently than other fish. A molly is a tropical fish so it needs a filter and it will need a heater to keep the water warm in the wintertime. And even though people CAN keep bettas without a heater and a filter, they really prefer to have clean water also.

In order to keep the water conditions in that vase right for your fish, you will have to do about a 50-100% change every day. You do not need much salt in there for your molly...since it isn't much water at all...and you dont *have* to put any in there.

It would be kind of hard to say what normal behavior is for a molly since thereisn't much swimming room to speak of in there and there is only one of them. You should check out the livebearers section of this forum...a molly is a livebearer.

 

[NoTank]

First off Welcome to MFT.. mollies are freshwater fish,(never heard of a sw mollie) is there a reson you put salt in the water? what kinda salt did u use? when you say transfer shock did you acclimate the fish or just dump it into your water from your house? did you use the stores water with your water? theres a bunch of stickies at the tops of the pages i suggest you read a few times as they are very helpful

Thanks Jim, I didn't use the water from the store because they told me not to. they had put some kind of shock chemical in it. i used aquarium salt because according to the tag at the store, that is what you are supposed to use. i didn't put only a couple crystals in the water. i used bottled water - not distilled - water was same temp as water fish was in because i acclimated fish for awhile in the bag it came in, to my home environment temp.

 

[punkrockfish]

go and read all the stickies on in this forum before you do anything else. they have all the info you need on starting a tank. the reason it said to add some salt is because mollies can live in brackish water (mix of salt and fresh), but it is not a must have. everything froggyfox said was right on. welcome to the tank/hobby, you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

 

[MissFishy]

Welcome NoTank. The first thing you need to do if you intend to keep fish is GET a tank. The link in my signature has some good basic beginner information that you should definitely read through. Read through all that and come back with any questions you have.

P.S. That molly needs to go back to the store or go in a real fish tank ASAP.

 

[Orion]

Right on. Froggyfox gave you some good information to get you started. And the stickies at the top of the forum will help you along even further.

Mollies don't need the aquarium salt the fish store said. They are brackish water, meaning they prefer a mix of saltwater/freshwater. But the aquarium salt does not make the water brackish. The only way to make brackish water is with marine salt. But brackish water is the least of your worries right now.

If you want to keep the molly, you will need a tank with a filter and heater like others have said. You can get a kit at some pet stores and wal-marts and the like to get you started for not a terible amount of money. I would skip over the 'desktop' tanks and get no smaller than a 10 gallon kit. Most kits should come with everthing you need, but read on the box to make sure before you buy incase you need anything else.

 

[NoTank]

I am so grateful for all of the info you all gave me, and for being nice.