# Male betta with mollies?



## Swishfish (Dec 17, 2014)

Would a mollie be a good tank mate for my male betta?


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## kjg1029 (Jun 14, 2014)

what size is the tank?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Personally I don't like to see mollies as tank mates for bettas even though a lot of people do it, because mollies do best in alkaline, brackish water while bettas are by evolution more suited to water that is soft to neutral.


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## Swishfish (Dec 17, 2014)

It is a 3 gallon tank.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

3 gallons is too small to really have tank mates, I think maybe shrimp would be about all that could be done and they need a cycled, planted and established tank to thrive.


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## kjg1029 (Jun 14, 2014)

in a three gallon I would just stick to a betta, and maybe try some live plants for something extra to look at. A 3 gallon cant handle the bio-load of more then one betta unfortunately.


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## Swishfish (Dec 17, 2014)

Ok


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

LittleBettaFish said:


> Personally I don't like to see mollies as tank mates for bettas even though a lot of people do it, because mollies do best in alkaline, brackish water while bettas are by evolution more suited to water that is soft to neutral.


Mollies thrive in Los Angeles tap water :lol:. Mollies like unusual water conditions - high PH and _hard_. In nature they have been found in saltwater, brackish, and freshwater conditions. No kidding. For people with neutral, soft water, salt can help them stay healthy - they are just not adapted to soft water like bettas are...and they will do considerably worse in soft water than a betta will do in hard water.

I do keep a betta with my mollies, because my tap water is what it is, and I can't afford an RO unit to keep my babies in anything but the "liquid rock" that comes out of the tap. I don't recommend a male betta with mollies unless he's a short fin. The mollies are crazy fast and will out-compete him for food.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Swishfish said:


> It is a 3 gallon tank.


You'll want 20-30+ gallons for mollies. They are large and quite active.


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## Swishfish (Dec 17, 2014)

thanks!


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## Elysium (Oct 18, 2014)

I now know that even in a larger tank, they like different water conditions. But a long time ago I kept a few mollies with a betta, and i had to separate them as the betta never stopped trying to attack them.


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## BettaNamedHerbert (Nov 23, 2014)

Hmm, for a while I had a golden panda molly with a male betta in my 10 gal bio orb. My molly gave birth, and both the she and the betta found the babies delicious snacks. I was able to save a couple, though, and they're growing up with my PetCo baby in what used to be my quarantine tank. But really, I'd recommend platys for tank mates. I keep my tanks at 78 degrees, which is a good compromise in temperatures for both.


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