# Black Mollies, For surface scum



## OakRaid (Mar 17, 2004)

Pretty strange thing happened today ... I have had a problem with this white surface scum build up. Read that a few people have had luck with black mollies keeping this under control. So today I went down to PetsMart and bought three of them .... while adding my water to get them used to my tank, one of them had 5 babies. Pretty strange?? I guess either she was ready or the trip home caused her to stress out enough to have them.
Don't really want 8 mollies in my tank .. but I guess I will let them grow out and try to give them back to the store. May get eatten anyway, as there are a couple pairs of rams in there.

Dave


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I've heard that Molly's are good surface scum cleaners, although I have not had that experience myself. I use surface skimmers for my tanks.

If your tank is heavily planted the babies may have a chance, it is hard to say. You will need to feed them some fry food like First bits.

If your Petsmart is like mine they will not take fish back, only if they expire before the guarantee runs out.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

It probably was the stress of being moved that made her give birth.

If you have a problem with the surface scum, it's best to try to find the source to see what changed to cause it. 
That's not saying that buying Mollies is a bad thing, but I just like to know what's going on in the tank if something suddenly changes. :smile:


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## OakRaid (Mar 17, 2004)

I am not sure why I am getting the surface film ... but I am kind of leaning towards my having been feeding a lot of frozen foods ...brine shrimp and beef heart (maybe a little over feeding involved also) 
Am trying to cut back on the frozen foods now ..but can't stop completly, as I have a real nice male Borenlii that won't eat anything but live brine or frozen foods.


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## Plattykins (Apr 3, 2005)

OakRaid, maybe all it needs is a little more movement of the water? It worked for me. I have one airstone and I just turned it up a tad to move bubbles across the surface of the water a bit more.


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

Its usually a buildup of protein and oils from certain foods or could even be from aresol cans that get sprayed in the room, perfume or the like. Surface agitation will remove it (but thats not what we want in a planted tank). A paper towel works but is tedious. You could always get a skimmer.


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## Andrew-amano-wannabe (Jun 29, 2005)

Yep any surface dwelling fish, toothcarps are most popular for they are regularly available, although i have used killifish for this same purpose in the past, although dont mix with whiteclouds can get nasty!
I had a film on the surface which was down to calcium build up from my foods, the more rich they are the worse, though your fry no doubt will use it as a food source. also be carefull of fry grain it is rather rich which could make the surface film worse.


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