Lyretail Molly Care – A Complete Guide

Mollies are one of the coolest types of fish on the planet. And you can often see them in many aquarium homes. Especially lyretail mollies. They exhibit a beautiful display of white and black color combination.

Lyretail mollies are very easy to care for. Their basic needs are easy to obtain. Starting from their wide feeding option, basic tank requirements, to easy cleaning techniques.

Follow through as we delve into important aspects of caring for lyretail mollies. Which include their aquarium maintenance, feeding, body size, and many more.

 Are Lyretail Mollies Aggressive?

Lyratails are peaceful and beautiful creatures you will likely come across in most aquariums. Compare to male bettas, they are compatible with many other species. Moreover, mollies are not an aggressive species. Although, there display some aggressive traits in certain conditions. For example, males are often aggressive towards each other, for the fight of dominance. Also, the males may fight each other over a female molly present in the tank. However, one thing you may want to look out for is their mild nipping act. Because of this, we recommend you don’t place fish with long fins in the same tank as mollies.

An interesting part of mollies in the hierarchy division they set up among themselves. Sometimes, they appear as though a low-rank fish is showing respect to the fish with more power. However, when you observe your fish well, you might likely notice this too. Therefore, having just males in your tank may cause your fish to express aggression, in fighting for supreme power. Generally, mollies are peaceful fish. Also, they have an interesting sight to behold. Especially when the males display their beautiful color combination.

In every aquarium tank, there is a tendency to have more aggressive fish, as well as timid fish. So, you should save the life of any bullied fish by providing decorations and live plants, that will serve as hiding spots. The more plants your aquarium has, the safer it will be from the bullied fish to stay away from an aggressive fish. However, ensure not to scatter the plants about, as it may hinder big mollies from moving about.

Lyretail Molly Size

Usually, lyretail mollies will grow quickly if you feed them well. Female mollies are often larger than the males. As females grow up to 5 inches, while the males grow up to 3 inches.

 How Big Do Lyretail Mollies Get

When “mother mollies” give birth. Her baby often appears to be quite small. As mollies fry are half inches at birth. However, they can grow up to 6 inches (15cm) in body size.

Choosing the Best Tank for Your Lyretail Molly

As a fish keeper, you should bear in mind that, tank condition is a major contribution to the well-being of your fish. However, getting an appropriate aquarium is not difficult, but it is better when you research ahead for adequate preparation. Also, there are many factors you need to consider when creating an aquarium tank. Including, sizes, compatible tank mates, and water condition. Moreover, many aquarists have assumed getting a small tank would be meaning a cheaper expense. Whereas, in the long run starting with a small tank would result in spending more.

Tank Care Level

More than just getting an aquarium, you need to consider and understand the input that it requires in maintaining your fish. Moreover, it’s not just about feeding or adding water to the tank. You need to be a good fish keeper, by closely observing your fish behavior, installing proper filtration and lighting, and maintaining the water quality. Understanding this concept will prevent your fish from life-threatening issues.  However, this doesn’t imply that setting up an aquarium tank is difficult. Rather, understanding the easy setups for an aquarium. This is when making proper research before purchase comes in.

You need to install a filter and heater to your aquarium tank. The filter is often referred to as “water changer”. This will help remove toxic waste present in the aquarium water. Moreover, these wastes may induce infection, which is harmful to your fish. Also, a heater will help maintain the aquarium at normal water conditions. Lyretail mollies tank requirements include; 72-82°F, 7-8 PH, and Hard water.

Tank Cleaning and Maintenance

For your home aquarium, you will need a water changer. It has a switch installed with it, that allows water to flow out from the hose, and flow in through the hose. Moreover, a water changer is a piece of simple equipment even a layman can use. You just need to attach it to your faucet and pull water from your aquarium. Then, fill up the aquarium with water, by switching on its switch.

Types of Aquarium Water

• Freshwater: A freshwater setup is the most affordable, and it’s the easiest to maintain. For beginners, we recommend that you get a small tank. However, this should be spacious enough for the quantity of fish you want to keep. Many aquarists choose freshwater tanks. A debatable topic has been whether it is important to add salt to a freshwater tank or not. After making my findings, I get to know that the addition of salt to a freshwater tank is not important. However, the presence of salt might be helpful. As, it helps improve the health of your fish, and help out with bacteria. However, make sure you are adding just a small quantity of salt.
• Saltwater: If you are considering the appropriate tank for a startup, saltwater may not be easy to manage for you. As it requires quite an extensive maintenance. Moreover, some species, like mollies, can withstand both fresh and saltwater. Regardless, each has their preference. Also, it will be easy for you to determine the most suitable aquarium tank, if you can be keeping the same species together. Whereas, it might be a somewhat difficult decision if you are going to create a community tank. In this case, the best way to go about it is, selecting species that can withstand the water condition and can also survive in the same PH and nitrate levels.
• Brackish: Brackish water is a combination of saltwater and freshwater.

Aquarium Size

Cost is majorly the deciding factor in choosing an aquarium size. Which in turn influences the number of fish in your tank. For example, a low budget means a smaller tank. Therefore, you should only raise a small amount to fish. Also, a large tank would require extensive routine cleanings and larger filters. Although the cost is an important factor to consider, you need to make sure the tank is suitable for the fish. As a restricted environment will restrict the fish from growing in length, which may lead to an untimely death. However, the general aquarium size rule is, raising one-inch fish per gallon, five inches’ fish for five-gallon size, and so on. Although, this is more applicable to one unit of fish.

Acclimating Your Aquarium Tank

Acclimating your tank is an important aspect of sustaining the life of your fish. It is very useful when you just purchase your fish from a store. And you want to transfer it from the shipping bag to its new home. However, there are two methods of acclimation. Floating and Drip method.

Floating Method

For the floating method, the process of acclimation involves;

• Firstly, you need to turn off your aquarium light.
• Dim the room light where you will be opening the shipping box that contains the fish. As sudden exposure to light may cause shock to your fish.
• Allow the box to float on the aquarium surface for 15 minutes. This way, you are maintaining a high level of dissolved oxygen, and allowing the box water temperature to slowly adjust to the aquarium temperature.
• Cut open the bag a little, then gently roll the top edge of the bag down openly. This creates an air pocket at the tip of the bag.
• Then, add half a cup of aquarium water to the shipping bag containing the fish. And full the shipping bag with water, by repeating every 5 minutes.
• After filling the sipping bag, lift it from the aquarium, and discard half of the water.
• Place the shipping bag on the aquarium surface again, and start adding a half a cup of aquarium water again. However, repeat every 4 minutes, until the bag is full.
• Gently release the fish into the aquarium. However, do not allow the water in the shipping bag to flow into the aquarium. You should discard the water.

Drip Method

The drip method is a more advanced process than the floating method. Moreover, make sure you are ready to monitor the entire acclimation process. However, this article focus is on the floating process of acclimation. As drip method is more suitable for sensitive inhabitants such as sea stars, corals, shrimp, and wrasses. With the floating method of acclimation, you are good to go with your lyretail fish.

Lyretail Molly Food

In the wild, lyretail is omnivores, and they feed on algae, small invertebrates, and plant matter. And in home aquariums, you should still feed them the same food option. As their taste bud never changes. Food options you can choose from include; flake food, and a variety of vegetables, like medallions, shelled peas, zucchini, and cucumber medallions. Moreover, the vegetable is the major choice of plant diet in mollies food. Whereby you are too busy to chop or blanch vegetables, a flake, or spirulina based pellet is a good option. However, you can take a small number of vegetables when preparing your meal. Just make salt you haven’t added salt or any other spices to the food. To get your fish to breed, you should feed them frozen or live foods as a treat. Such as daphnia, bloodworms, and brine shrimp.

Regarding the number of times to feed your molly daily, you can feed them twice per day. They will survive with that. However, adult mollies can even survive once feeding per day. Moreover, the quantity of food should not be more than what they can finish in five minutes. This will prevent them from creating a mess to your aquarium.

Breeding Lyretail Mollies

Mollies are livebearers, i.e. they don’t lay eggs. Breeding mollies is easy when you follow precautions that ensure the safety of the fry. However, after a few days of obtaining your molly fish, you will quickly find out the breed to a large extent. When it comes to breeding, mollies can be crazy about is. As any female specie can hook with the male gender. Although, females are usually more attracted to the bigger males. Moreover, avoid putting the same-sex of mollies in the same tank. Also, female lyretails should outnumber the males. The appropriate ratio is in 3:1 for females and males respectively. Male mollies relentlessly mate with their female counterpart. If the attention of the males is not divided, the attacked female will feel harassed and stressed.

Suitable Tank Mates for Lyretail Mollies

Mollies have a record of successful cohabitation in a community tank. However, lyretail mollies are schooling fish, as they love to stay in groups. Although, some aquarists prefer to raise them in a single species tank. This is because, mollies are fin nippers, which may likely not be suitable for long-finned fish. Examples of suitable species for mollies include; Platies, Guppies, Tetras, Swordtails, Gourami Fish, and Pleco Catfish.

How Do I Stop My Mollies from Eating Their Fry?

If you are housing a community fish, the first measure is placing enough plants in the tank, as hiding space. The best type to add is floating plants, such as java moss. Although babies are highly developed when born, they are quite small in size. This makes them food options for the adult mollies. As they perfectly fit into their mouth.

You can also place the pregnant molly in a breeding box when she is close to giving birth. At birth, the fry will escape from the box holes successfully, while the mother remains in the box. Regarding what to feed the fry, they require no special food options, other than the ones you serve the adult mollies. However, make sure you grind their mouth to a powdered form, to ease digestion.

In conclusion, lyretail mollies are not burdensome. Moreover, this article has provided the information you need in maintaining the fish, and measures that ensure the safety of your lyretail. Therefore, you should be a successful and proud fish keeper henceforth.