2 Month Birthing Molly

[andy334]

I bought a batch of 4 mollies from my local pet store 8 weeks ago. Since then one of the Molly's has given birth about every 10 days to 2 weeks. I have no males in the tank at all as it was a new tank and I wanted to give the females time to settle before adding the males. My query is really one of "how long will she stay pregnant"? I was happy that she was already pregnant when I bought her but thought she would finish within 3-4 weeks - but she's still going and looking like she is about ready to birth again.

I now have a nice batch of baby mollies who are growing well but none are mature enough yet to impregnante a female - so how is she staying pregnant or is my 3-4 week target wide of the mark?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Annastasia]

Female Mollies can store sperm from one mating with a male for up to 7 pregnancies. She'll keep getting pregnant off of that stored sperm for a while to come, especially if she came from a mixed sex tank at the store.

As a side note, Mollies can be picky about water conditions. They prefer hard, alkaline water, or the addition of some salt. Are you planning on putting anything else in the tank, or just Mollies? If not, salt would probably be your best bet. And some fish can be adapted to some salt in the water, so you aren't especially limited.

 

[nobody]

Yes, the addition of salt at 1 teaspoon every two gallons would certainly help your mollies. By the way, are you sure you don't have two or more pregnant females in that batch of four fish?

 

[fishguy18]

hmmm...it sounds a little strange that she is having babies every 10 days or so...that just seems to close together for like proper growth and development...could it possibly be that u have 2 females? like suggested up above?

and just a personal experience...my mollies didnt really enjoy the aquarium salty i put in their tank I dont know why...i didnt use too much or anything...but ya they clamped their fins until i did a 50% water change to get rid of some salt

I guess it depends on the fish

 

[blitztidus]

andy334,
That sounds like a short period to give birth, it normally is every month, is there stress on her at times, because that can delay birth which would make it seem like that.

 

[andy334]

Many thanks to all for the advice.

When I started the tank I placed in 4 female Mollies and 2 Albino Corries. After 4 weeks I added 4 Neon Tetra's. With the birthing that has occurred I have not yet added any male mollies for fear of over-populating the tank, especially if any of the recent arrivals are male. I could swop out the new arrivals for males but the kids are really enjoying seeing the babies grow - it has really caught their enthusiasm which was one of the aims of my going back to tropical fish after a couple of decades lay-off.

As the tank seems to be flourishing at the moment I intend to leave it as it is and just continue to monitor what is occurring. I will pay particular attention to the other females and just make sure I have not missed something. I will keep the site posted for info if the birthing does continue on the current timescale.

I am a bit split over the salt issue. Whilst I have used it in the past to resolve some mild infection issues I am not certain that my current set-up would benefit from routine salt use so again, I will not tempt fate by tipping the balance of the tank one way or another at the moment.

Thanks again to all for your advice and help - really appreciated.

PS - Additional thanks to the moderator for putting my newbie post in the right place.