# Black molly and neon tetra



## snackhans

Just a small question, does anybody know if black mollies and neon tetras get along well? We have a tank with a capacity of 120l, we would want to have 4 mollies and about 10 neon tetras. 

Thank you


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## coralbandit

The mollies may stress out the neons?Can't say for sure,but 1M and 3females of the mollies will keep the male chasing them and maybe not the neons.The more neons the safer they will feel.


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## MriGuy85

I have 14 neons and two mollies. The neons don't seem to be bothered in my tank, but the Cory cats are getting highly stressed. I'm moving my cats to the smaller tank I think


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## pepe

You're combining two species that have very different needs with regards to water hardness and ph. I imagine the neons will tolerate hard water better then the mollies would soft.Why not come up with a combination of fish that can thrive together and not merely survive?


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## jrman83

pepe said:


> You're combining two species that have very different needs with regards to water hardness and ph. I imagine the neons will tolerate hard water better then the mollies would soft.Why not come up with a combination of fish that can thrive together and not merely survive?


Debatable. I don't think that I would necessarily have them together, but not for your reasons mentioned. These fish can thrive in the same water.


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## pepe

jrman83 said:


> Debatable. I don't think that I would necessarily have them together, but not for your reasons mentioned. These fish can thrive in the same water.


Please describe how you would have black mollies and neons thriving in the same aquarium


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## jrman83

pepe said:


> Please describe how you would have black mollies and neons thriving in the same aquarium


How could they not? These fish have no special requirements for water. 

I will say that Mollys like a little salt and some believe Neons may not like that, but I put salt in with Cardinals and have no problems. Then again, some never put salt in for their Mollys.


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## coralbandit

It is general consensus not to adjust your water for fish unless you are breeding or have sensative ,very specific needs fish.Niether the mollie or neon qualify as a fish I would even consider adjusting water for unless I was attempting to breed them.In which case I would not have them together.
The true underlying issue(as it should be for all tanks and fish) is compatability.
If they got along(which I think is the biggest question) I think they both fare well in "whoevers" tap water.


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## pepe

jrman83 said:


> How could they not? These fish have no special requirements for water.
> 
> I will say that Mollys like a little salt and some believe Neons may not like that, but I put salt in with Cardinals and have no problems. Then again, some never put salt in for their Mollys.


How can you say mollies have no special needs? True they don't necessarily need salt but they do need the minerals that come with the addition of salt. Mollies not kept in hard alkaline water fade away rather quickly and are much more likely to develop velvet,ick or shimmies.
Also neons kept in water that is acceptable for mollies for any lenth of time become sterile.Not my definition of thriving


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## jrman83

pepe said:


> How can you say mollies have no special needs? True they don't necessarily need salt but they do need the minerals that come with the addition of salt. Mollies not kept in hard alkaline water fade away rather quickly and are much more likely to develop velvet,ick or shimmies.
> Also neons kept in water that is acceptable for mollies for any length of time become sterile.Not my definition of thriving


Okay, so think out of the box a little. I will say that if you looked at their "prescribed" ranges you could be correct. But the low end for a Molly is probably more than doable for the high end of a Neon...just depends on where you read at. All fish need the minerals. There is a medium space where both of these fish can thrive. 

If a Neon becomes sterile does it shorten its life-span? How many get to say that they have had Neons/Cardinals spawn in their tanks? Mine did in water that is about 7.8ph, but if you read sources on the net they all say around 6.0. Are mine thriving?

I think people just get a little too worried about ph. Most species can have normal lives in most people's water - irregardless of gh/ph.


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## snackhans

pepe said:


> You're combining two species that have very different needs with regards to water hardness and ph. I imagine the neons will tolerate hard water better then the mollies would soft.Why not come up with a combination of fish that can thrive together and not merely survive?


we wanted neons, shrimps and "window cleaner" in the beginning, but when we set up our tank we took some water from another aquarium (about 20l) the thing is that a baby black molly is now in our tank because it got sucked up from the other one. We found out when we were looking at how our plants looked... the aquarium is about 2days now and the small fish is happily swimming, eating and pooping.. (we added the sera bio nitrivec),, i was expecting that the fish would die, but i couldn't just let it die without trying to save it.. i'm also wondering what the survival chance of this fish is,...


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## pepe

If it's eating I think your chances are pretty good.I wouldn't worry about what we were discussing in the previous few posts.Water cleanliness and warmth will go a long way in helping your baby grow.Please keep us updated on how it's going .Good Luck


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## snackhans

pepe said:


> If it's eating I think your chances are pretty good.I wouldn't worry about what we were discussing in the previous few posts.Water cleanliness and warmth will go a long way in helping your baby grow.Please keep us updated on how it's going .Good Luck


Thank you! She's still doing fine now, I bought some food for baby fish this morning and some test sticks, the water condition seems to be fine for mollies. We've also decided that we're going to see how the fish does with other baby mollies in the tank so that this one doesn't feel alone and see how it goes, this weekend will be a first test with the other fish.. if it doesn't work we can bring the mollies back to the place where they first came from. I had no clue that this would make me so worried.. it's incredible how fast you get sucked into trying to make the perfect tank.. but it's fun 
*w3


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## pepe

I know what you mean. I've been keeping Mollies almost (gulp) 50 years and I still get worked up when I find unexpected fry.There is nothing,in the hobby, more rewarding then seeing those little ones grow into healthy beautiful adults.


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