Ballon Mollies

[08-johns-c]

I know that this is a stupid question but can Balloon Mollies become pregnant? I've had them for a few years now with about 2 males and about 4-6 females. The males keep matting with the females but they haven't given birth. I've been keeping an eye on them and the males don't seem to be stressing them out. Could someone plz tell me what might be happening?

 

[Nick16]

yes they do give birth, they look massive when heavily preganant.

1) what is your water temperature?
2) what else do you have in the tank?
3) what size is the tank?
4) what do you feed the mollies?

 

[Honeythorn]

If you have other fish in the tank then the fry may be getting eaten before you get a chance to spot any.

 

[kribensis12]

Yes, they can and do get pregnant. They are probably giving birth at night, and the fish are eating them before morning. I, sure if you did a sweep of the tank( upturn ornaments ect.) you could find some babies. My mollies( not balloon) had some babies live, when i didn't expect it. I would walk in one day, feed the fish, look down, and a baby would dart out and get some food.

Balloon mollie fry may or may not have a big stomach. The big stomach is a horrible gene that affects some of the fry. So, you never know.

 

[HCpetraitis]

Maybe they are just stressed a lot and they don't go all the way through with the pregnancy.

 

[08-johns-c]

yes they do give birth, they look massive when heavily preganant.

1) what is your water temperature?
2) what else do you have in the tank?
3) what size is the tank?
4) what do you feed the mollies?

The water temperature is around 26 to 28 degrees celsius. The type of fish that I have in the tank are;
2 Golden Gouramies (male and female)
1 Plecostomus
4 Balloon Mollies (1 male, 3 females)
4 Guppies (2 male, 2 female, possibly 20+ babies)
1 Golden Barb (female)
1 Clown Loach
1 Neon-red Dwarf Gourami (male)
1 Penguin Tetra
Tuxedo Platy baby (could be a balloon molly-tuxedo platy hybrid baby, male b.m. seen breeding with female platies. Has black mark on left-hand side of body (tuxedo platy), a very warm golden-orange throat and is roundish in shape (fatter than platy babies but not quite balloon molly shape).
The other inhabitants seem very quiet and don't seem to show any aggression towards each other, especially towards the guppy fry.

The tank is 3ft in length, 1ft 6inches in width and 1ft 7 inches high.

The Balloon Mollies are generally fed flake food with vege flakes, however, they are also fed bloodworm when aquired.

Two of the three female Balloon Mollies (Gold with rows of bronze spots and black with white flecked belly) are very fat.

 

[OldMan47]

Almost everything in that tank will eat fry and there are plenty of mouths in the tank. Chances are fairly good that you will rarely ever see any fry in the tank unless you notice them the first few minutes after they are born. The single tuxedo platy, they can't cross to a molly, is the only exception in your tank. I have a single platy that survived on its own in my community in the last 4 years of having livebearers included in the tank. When I remove a female to a birthing tank, I often end up with lots of fry very fast but, I have as many mouths in my community tank as you do.

 

[HCpetraitis]

Yep, you have a lot of fish in your tank. Most likely, the babies are eaten. Sorry