Assorted Lyretail Molly 5.5cm

Assorted Lyretail Molly

The Molly is already one of the world's most popular aquarium fish because of how colourful, easy to care for, and how readily they are available. With quite literally hundreds of colour variations, mollies make for a downright fantastic fish to add to a community aquarium as they are filled with activity, and personality and look stunning. The lyretail moly takes all these features and enhances them with its beautiful crescent-like tail. 

Mollies come in an assortment of colours ranging from black, gold, orange, white, and more. The best thing is that these fish can be kept in a group which really shows off the range of colours available. To take this further the lyre tail Molly has a pair of extensions on its tail fin which essentially look like streamers. When flared out this really does look like the crescent of a moon compared to the generally rounded tail fin of normal mollies. Mollies are one of the larger growing livebearer fish meaning they give birth to live young and are closely related to guppies and platies. Breeding them in captivity is also a really easy task because of this, males have a pointed gonopodium fin which acts as their method to reproduce with females. Females have a rounded ventral fin which makes them easier to distinguish, she will have around a one-month gestation period before giving birth to fully formed live young. 

The lyretail Molly can be expected to reach around 10 cm which makes them a great larger peaceful fish to add to community aquariums. Mollies are also a great fish to add to planted aquariums as they make for surprisingly good hair algae eaters, they constantly peck at plant leaves and almost scrub plants and rocks clean with their mouth but are overall just a great fish for both beginners and well-seasoned aquarists to enjoy and experience. One other amazing fact about these fish is that mollies can live in full fresh, brackish, and saltwater which just shows how hardy they are. The wild habitat of the Molly is widespread from South America to Mexico.

Tank Recommendations for your Lyretail Molly

Being a fish, which grows to around 10 cm but remains relatively easy to care for. The black molly can be kept in a fairly small aquarium with the minimum being 70 Litres. However, a larger size is always recommended for these fish due to their size and active nature. 

A sand or gravel substrate would be fine for these fish as well however because mollies like alkaline or high ph environments a crushed coral or aragonite sand would be optimal. They will also enjoy plants in the aquarium with great options being ferns, Anubias, Pogostemon, and Vallisneria as these are large and denser growing plants and allow for great natural breeding grounds and placed for fry to grow. As mentioned mollies are in fact considered to be a ‘hard water fish meaning they prefer the water to have an elevated PH and are not like a tetra. This higher PH of 7 - 8 can be achieved with a PH buffer or African cichlid lake conditioning salts.

Suitable Tank Buddies

The Lyretail Molly is a very peaceful aquarium fish that can get along with a wide range of tank mates both in fresh and saltwater conditions. They are great with a wide range of community aquarium fish however slower moving fish should be avoided as mollies may outcompete them. As the lyretail mollies have extended tail fins, any fin-nipping species should be excluded as they may pester the Molly. 

Usually Compatible

Rainbow fish, mudskippers, platies, danios, loaches, and a lot of other common aquarium fish.

Sometimes Compatible

Smaller-sized fish such as neon or cardinal tetras, bottom-dwelling fish such as Corydoras, and certain slower-moving species like Apistogramma. Tiger barbs and similar fin nipping species should also be avoided.  

Rarely Compatible

Large and aggressive species would prey on the mollies such as Oscars and very slow-moving fish like discus or Borneo suckers. 

Feeding your Lyretail Molly

The Lyretail molly is very easy to feed once it is settled into the aquarium. It will readily eat a wide range of foods but would prefer to have high a floating nano pellet or flake due to their top dwelling behavior. Giving them nutritional food with good protein will ensure optimal health. Feeding should happen once during the day during lighting hours.