Best Food For Molly Fish Compared & Reviewed

Mollies are livebearers, meaning the females keep their eggs inside their bodies until they hatch and give birth to live young.

They breed year round every 6-8 weeks.

All of that breeding can really take a toll on the fish, especially the females, so it’s very important to give them the nutrients they need to recover from producing all those baby fish.

Quality protein, vitamins and minerals are key to maintaining their health. 

Today, I’ll go over some of the best foods on the market and discuss what you should be looking for in a fish food.

Quick Overview

A vaired diet is best for molly fish. You’re best option is to get a few different high-quality foods and rotate them day to day.

Last update on 2023-12-01 / Commissions Earned / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Molly Fish Food Reviewed

Do not be fooled by marketing! There are major fish food brands out there that use low quality ingredients and fillers.

Just because the packaging shows vibrantly colored fish doesn’t mean that the food inside is nutritious.

Always look at the ingredients list before buying a food.

1. New Life Spectrum Naturox Optimum All Purpose Flakes

Main ingredients:

• Whole Antarctic krill
• Giant squid 
• Whole menhaden fish
• Ulva seaweed
• Chlorella seaweed
• Wakame seaweed
• Kelp 

I wish all fish foods had an ingredient list like this. New Life Spectrum provides a wide variety of quality proteins and plant-based ingredients.

This is an excellent staple diet for molly fish. The rich proteins and vitamins will help their bodies recover from constant breeding. 

The krill and seaweeds are also natural color enhancers that can help fish look more vibrant. 

I feed these flakes in almost every tank; the fish love them.

Last update on 2023-12-01 / Commissions Earned / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

2. Omega One Freshwater Flakes

Main ingredients:

• Salmon
• Whole herring
• Shrimp
• Whole herring oil
• Dried kelp

Omega One is a leading brand in the fish food industry. Their foods are made from whole fish that provide lots of healthy protein.

I’ve used these flakes for years. They make a great staple diet. I use them in my fry tanks and get excellent growth rates.

Last update on 2023-12-01 / Commissions Earned / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

3. Ultra Fresh Tropical Micro Pellets (Slow Sinking)

Main ingredients:

• Sword prawn
• Jingou shrimp 
• Squid
• Spirulina
• Norwegian seaweed

These small pellets are just the right size for molly fish. My juvenile fish ferociously gobble these up.

The main ingredients are packed with protein and the spirulina and seaweed are excellent sources of easily digestible vitamins and minerals.

These pellets might be a little too big for newborn molly fry, but they should be able to eat them within a week or so. The adults will definitely be able to eat these.

Last update on 2023-12-01 / Commissions Earned / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

4. Northfin Community Formula (Slow Sinking Pellets)

Main ingredients:

• Whole Antarctic krill meal
• Herring meal
• Whole sardine meal
• Organic kelp
• Spirulina

Northfin is another great company that puts out high quality foods. The herring and sardine meals are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, as well as protein.

The krill meal is also a natural color enhancer for yellow, red or orange fish. And the krill’s shells help provide calcium.

I love that these also contain the kelp and spirulina, adding even more protein and vitamins.

My adult and juvenile fish love these slow sinking pellets. I’ve found these are popular even with my pickier eaters.

Last update on 2023-12-01 / Commissions Earned / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

What Makes Fish Food High-Quality?

Low quality fish foods use stuff like generic fish meal for their main ingredient, followed by a bunch of cheap fillers, like rice, soy or wheat.

Generic fish meal is made up primarily of the leftovers from fish processing plants. It’s made up of all the trash from fish carcases, like the bones, scales and guts.

It’s better than nothing, but just like a human eating nothing but hotdogs morning, noon and night, it’s less than ideal nutritionally.

High quality fish foods will have ingredients like:

• Whole fish 
• Shrimp
• Krill
• Squid 
• Spirulina 
• Seaweed/kelp

These are all aquatic food sources that are easy for fish to digest.

It’s OK for there to be some non-aquatic ingredients in fish food, especially wheat germ for added fiber and pea powder for added protein. You just don’t want these to be the main ingredients. 

A Varied Diet is Best

I really recommend feeding your fish more than one kind of food throughout the week.

Get a few different high quality foods and rotate them from day to day.

Giving fish a diet made up of varied ingredients helps to ensure that they get all of the different nutrients their bodies need.

Just like how a healthy human diet is made up of lots of different foods, a fish’s diet should be made up of diverse ingredients.

Final Thoughts

If you get nothing else from the information I’ve laid out today, please, get this: always look at the ingredient list on fish food.

Sadly, there are some VERY big brands out there that do not use quality ingredients. They’re basically the equivalent of feeding a human nothing but hotdogs. 

Sure, it will keep them from starving, but it really is not optimal nutrition.

Don’t be fooled by marketing and slick packaging. Ignore the pictures of gorgeous fish on the front and look at the ingredients listed on the back.

If the main ingredient is just generic fish meal, followed by a bunch of fillers, don’t buy it!

Look for whole fish, shrimp and/or krill. Having plant-based ingredients thrown in, like seaweed or spirulina, is always a bonus. 

I hope you find this article helpful.

I wish you and your fish the very best!

Last update on 2023-12-01 / Commissions Earned / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API