Electric Blue Eyes Lyretail molly

Low-pH streams hide a three-centimeter lyretail whose electric-blue eyes never dim.

Electric Blue Eyes Lyretail Mollies bring shimmering blue eyes and flowing lyre tails to peaceful community tanks — hardy, colourful and easy to keep.

• Water Conditions: These mollies are adaptable but appreciate stability above all else. Aim for a temperature of 24–28°C (75–82°F) with a pH between 6.8 and 7.8 — farmed strains like the Electric Blue Eyes tolerate the softer, slightly lower-pH end of the scale well, so if you are keeping them at low pH, avoid dropping below 6.5 and never let values swing. General hardness of 8–20 dGH suits them nicely. Adding a small amount of aquarium or marine salt (roughly one teaspoon per 10 litres) is optional but often improves colour, vitality and disease resistance, provided your other fish can handle it. Use a filter that turns the tank over 6–8 times per hour, and keep the water surface gently rippling. A tight-fitting lid is essential, as mollies are enthusiastic jumpers.
• Ideal Tank Setup: Allow a minimum of 60 litres for a trio of one male to two females, adding around 10–15 litres per extra fish. Plant the tank reasonably densely with vallisneria, hornwort, java fern or floating plants, leaving open swimming space near the top where these fish spend much of their time. A dark background or substrate helps the electric blue eye and the iridescent lyre tail truly glow. Because the lyretail gene extends both the dorsal and caudal fins, keep the current moderate — strong, blasting flow can leave long fins ragged and stressed.
• Feeding Habits: Mollies are opportunistic omnivores with a genuine need for vegetable matter, and this is where most keepers go wrong. Offer a quality spirulina-based flake or micro-pellet as the staple, then supplement several times a week with blanched courgette, spinach, shelled peas, nori or cucumber slices weighted to the bottom. Frozen or live foods such as daphnia, brine shrimp, bloodworm and baby brine shrimp add protein and encourage spawning condition. Feed two to three small portions daily, only as much as they clear in two to three minutes. Mollies are grazers that will constantly nibble at algae and biofilm, so a mature, well-established tank suits them perfectly — but this grazing habit also means they can strip plants if their diet is low in greens.
• Care Requirements: Carry out a 20–25% water change every week, siphoning the substrate gently to remove mulm and leftover food. Test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate weekly, especially in newer setups, and keep nitrate below 20–40ppm. Rinse filter media in old tank water only, never under the tap, and stagger media replacements so you never lose your bacterial colony. Acclimatise new arrivals by drip method over 45–60 minutes, as mollies handle transport and pH shifts poorly. Keep a spare heater and check temperature consistency daily — cold snaps commonly trigger shimmies and ich.
• Suitable Tank Mates: Choose calm, similarly sized community fish that will not nip trailing fins. Platies, guppies, swordtails, cherry barbs, harlequin rasboras, zebra danios, corydoras catfish, kuhli loaches, otocinclus and peaceful rainbowfish are all excellent companions. Nerite snails and larger amano shrimp usually work well. Avoid tiger barbs, serpae tetras, bettas, and boisterous or aggressive cichlids, all of which will shred the delicate lyre tail. Keep males in the ratio of one to every two or three females, as constant harassment wears females down and can lead to stress, disease and early death.
• Health, Size and Longevity: Supplied at approximately 3–4cm, these fish are youngsters and will grow on to a body length of 6–10cm with practice, with males generally slimmer and females heavier-set. With good care they live three to five years. Watch for white spot, fin rot and shimmies (a shivering, clamped-fin behaviour often linked to low mineral content, cold water or pH shock), plus bloat and constipation from overfeeding — a day of vegetable-only food or a shelled pea rapidly resolves most mild digestive upsets. Quarantine any new fish for two to three weeks before adding them to your display, and keep a small hospital tank ready for emergencies.