things about my fish

I bought a 3 gallon fish tank a while ago with 1 silver molly, 1 black molly, and 2 red wag tailed fish. 1 died of depression, 2 died of a disease called mouth rott. I had 1 more left, the silver molly. she had 11 babies recently and i need to know if since they're still small do i still need a bigger tank because the water will still become very polluted or not?? Also, i need to know if silver mollys can actually outgrow their fishtank if it is too small or will the growing process be controlled by the size of the tank?

please answer quickly before they end up dead!!!

hm 3 gallons only!!!it's too small for the babies and the silver molly.provide them a big one.ya obviously the size depeneds on the size of ur tank.more the tank size more that fish can move freely and hence growth quickly...

you need like a ten gallon tank if you want them to do well.

thankyou. do you have any suggestions of what size tank i should get for 1 grown silver molly and 11 baby silver mollys. Also, is it okay 2 put salt in the fish tank, if so how much depending on what size tank i should get

Mollies do like a little bit of aquarium salt.

The mommy and babies should have a ten gallon tank, and the salt should come with instructions of how much salt to had to a certain amount of gallons.

is it urgent to get a bigger tank now or could it wait a couple of weeks or months?? Also, what can i do to stop cloudiness,algea, and polution in the water. also, how often should i clean my tank and what is the process of doing that??

Three gallons is much to small, so i wouldn't wait more then a week. They are not very expensive to buy though.

Algea: make sure tank is not in direct sunlight, make sure water is conditioned properly.

Cloudyness: make sure you are not overfeeding. Do 25% water changes daily, and vacuum gravel very often. make sure you condition the water with every water changes.

That last paragraph is VERY important.

whatever miss jesskozzy said is absolutely true,.u should do that she said.

i know im not over feeding the fish but since ive had the tank which is about 2 months i havent cleaned it yet. but im getting to it asap so i should take 25% of the water out and then do what??

Well thanks :]

your welcome

replace it with new, conditioned water.

PLEASE clean the tank!

Do me and your fish a favor, and please please please read this!
http://www.firsttankguide.net/waterchange.php

how do you know if water is conditioned. i have this liquid thing that came with my fish tank when i first bought it and it say "aqua fresh water conditioner" so im guessing i use that but did you say to do this process everyday?

I would since you have babies. (Did you know that fry empty their stomachs every 20 minutes? That waist can really add up!)

But that last link was for tanks 10 gallons and up so read this one instead. Sorry!
http://www.firsttankguide.net/bowl.php

I do weekly 25% water changes in my 29g-and will be doing the same with my new 10g as well. Not sure how often in a 3g...Also, about the comment above regarding vaccuuming the gravel, you shouldn't vacuum ALL the gravel but only about 1/3 to half each time, since, as John says, that is where the good cooties live....

ok i read it and i dont have a fish bowl, i actually have a tank with a filter and everything so do those rules still apply or what??

Ahhh, just get a bigger tank!!!

Think about it, what if you were stuck in that bowl with decaying old food and toxins from your poo, and breathing that stuff in. It's like torture! Poor little fishys.

yes they still apply because your tank is the same size as a fish bowl!!!!!

There are fish bowls bigger then your tank.
You should have no more then one fish in a tank that small, not 12 fish!

i understand. i keep trying to explain that to my step dad but he continues to say, they'll be fine where they are but after showing him this conversation im sure he aill change his mind so thankyou very much for the help and bye.

your welcome, good luck.

the best way to condition ur water is that u need a plastic packet. after the 25% water change when u give new water keep in this plastic packet and tighten it with a clip then pour it onto ur tank and it stays over ur tank.after 30 mts u pour that water into ur tank.in this way u can conditioned ur water rather than use "aqua fresh water conditioner".

Since a small aquarium has a small volume of water, any mistakes get magnified. For example, if you over feed one day you could get an ammonia buildup the next day. A 20 gallon tank will take much longer to go bad, because the pollution will be a much smaller percentage of the total water volume. If price is an issue with larger aquariums, try yard sales. Sometimes you can find a real bargain.

Welcome to the forum!

I would recommend getting as large of a tank as you can afford. As John said, a lot of times you can get GREAT deals at yardsales.

Please read up on cycling... Because you need to get your new tank ASAP so that it can be cycling while you're trying to take care of the smaller tank. It takes around a month to cycle the new tank... We have MANY posts on this, and also look for the nitrogen cycle... same thing.

Have your dad look at this forum... Perhaps even get involved! There's lots of people here trying to learn, we're all in this together! LOL!