Instructions
Keep the water warm. Mollies do best in water that stays between 75 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. They can survive in slightly warmer or cooler water for short periods of time.
Sustain a slightly saline environment. Though mollies do well in a wide range of water environments, they do best when the salinity of the water is between 1.005 and 1.010.
Maintain a school of mollies. They're schooling fish, so you should have at least six at a time. Make sure there are always at least three females for every male, since the males are aggressive breeders and could mate the females to death if there's a smaller ratio.
Provide a variety of food. Flaked fish food is a good part of their diet, but make sure to provide live plant matter as well. Mollies are great algae consumers. If you keep your aquarium in a sunlit area, the algae should grow naturally. You can also provide live aquatic plants.
Monitor the offspring. Mollies aren't aggressive and are the least likely of the livebearers to attack their offspring. If you notice the mother or other fish attacking the fry, you can separate them in a nursery tank until they mature.
How to Care for Gold Dust Mollies
With their varied yellow and black bodies, gold dust mollies are a popular fish for aquarium enthusiasts. They're hearty fish that can thrive in a variety of conditions and they're also a common fish to use when you transition a tank between freshwater and saltwater. They're amongst the intriguing group of fish called livebearers, which carry their fertilized offspring inside their body until they hatch and are released, swimming, into the water.