mollied dead

Question
QUESTION: hi, i recently bought 2 sailfin mollies, probly about 1 mth ago, and they were in a 5 gallon with 1 mini aquatic frog. They were doing great, but then yesterday one of them was dead, im pretty sure it was the female, and then last night the male was at the bottom a lot kind of laying on the rocks and then my mom found him dead thismorning, what could be wrong? my frog is doing good and ive been changing maybe 30% of my water weekly with a syphoner or however u spell it. i also have 2 live plants in my tank and 2 plastic ones, and i feed them regularily, i just hate not knowing whats wrong, because when the first 1 died i was planning on going out today to get a platie or another molly for a tankmate for the male but im afraid now to get more cuz i dont know whats wrong.

Thanx
Linsey
ANSWER: Hi Linsey
Honestly your tank is too small for mollies.  There's not very much you can put in a 5 gallon.  A betta would be ok with the frog.  Also maybe 2 guppies(same sex though so you don't end up with babies).  

Your water changes are good, keep up with that regardless of what kind of fish you put in.  Also, don't feed any more then once a day.  And even skip one or two days during the week.  If you don't have one, I suggest buying a water test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates.  You really need to know what those levels are.  I suspect that may be what killed the fish.  Frogs are sensitive to ammonia and nitrites in the water as well.  

Does the tank have a filter?  If not, really should have a filter on there with fish, unless you go with a betta.  And with no filter, you'll need to do more frequent water changes, that size tank I would do about 25% every few days.  

Also, I've heard this both ways, some say mollies do best with salt in their water, some say brackish conditions.  I've even seen mollies in full salt water tanks before.  Then I've heard the opposite, people never put salt in with their mollies and they lived a long long time.  Either way, you shouldn't add salt in with the frog or the plants.  So I'd suggest going either with the guppies(if there's a filter) or a male or female betta.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Christy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanx:), and yes i do have a filter and a betta, in a seperate 2 gallon tank, and i got my water tested yesterday and apparently my water is good, but anywayz how many guppies can i have in my tank? because its a tall 5 gallon...

thanks, linsey*

Answer
Hi Linsey
Hmmm, well maybe they weren't in the best of shape from the pet store.  That's always a possibility with any fish we buy.  If you go with guppies, I would only put 2 or 3 in there tops.  The frog does put out some waste and such as well.  That should be good, and the guppies are pretty active so they should show a lot of color around the tank.

Good luck!!

Christy