Cross-breed pregnancy?

[Kiwi2016]

Hello.
I have 5 make Penguin Tetras and 1 female Molly, 1 female Platy and 1 female guppy.
Since the females are different breeds from the males I thought there'd be no offspring. However, it looks like my Molly/Platy could be pregnant. Can you tell from the photo? If she is pregnant I don't know if I should just let her give birth or if I'm to intervene? I didn't want my fish to have babies because I don't know what I'm doing and I thought it would be easier to have all females. Originally I had all males but I was seeing aggressive behaviour so was transitioning over to females. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Gruntle]

Unfortunately with live-bearers you can often end up with offspring. Many of them become pregnant in the LFS before you buy them. Some of them can store sperm packets for months on end.

I don't know enough about mollies to tell if yours is pregnant. And if she is, I don't know what intervention you can perform other than let nature take its course.

 

[FroFro]

Hello.
I have 5 make Penguin Tetras and 1 female Molly, 1 female Platy and 1 female guppy.
Since the females are different breeds from the males I thought there'd be no offspring. However, it looks like my Molly/Platy could be pregnant. Can you tell from the photo? If she is pregnant I don't know if I should just let her give birth or if I'm to intervene? I didn't want my fish to have babies because I don't know what I'm doing and I thought it would be easier to have all females. Originally I had all males but I was seeing aggressive behaviour so was transitioning over to females. Any advice would be appreciated.

Well if she IS pregnant, mollies and tetras are known to eat fry, so you can guarantee that some will be eaten. A second option is to raise them in a separate tank until they are large enough to give to a pet store. I've read of people getting large totes and filling them with water as well as a heater and an airstone for fry when they don't have a breeding tank. If you keep up on clean water you may be able to use this method to house them if you are worried about them getting eaten/overcrowding your tank before you re-home them.

Now another option, and I know it may seem grisly, but if you know anyone with larger fish you could use the fry as feeding fish. They'd make a tasty snack for some oscars. Best of luck to you!

 

[NickAu]

Most pet shops will not take live bearer fry or and if they do they usually end up as live food for other fish.

 

[FroFro]

Most pet shops will not take live bearer fry or and if they do they usually end up as live food for other fish.

Some do, and if they do end up as feeder fish it's not as if they'd go to waste. A lot of family owned pet shops in my area readily take in fry when they can and if they don't use them as feeder fish, they carefully raise any fry they decide to sell. So yes, its not uncommon. That is why I also suggested he give them away as feeder fish if he knows anyone with larger fish that require live feedings. The only other option I suppose is to gather up the fry and euthanize them if the OP cannot raise them/find a better alternative or allow his tank to be overrun with fry. However we are getting ahead of ourselves, the molly could just be bloated and not pregnant.

 

[NickAu]

Some do, and if they do end up as feeder fish it's not as if they'd go to waste.

I agree, I have no problem with feeding fish live food, I readily feed live fish fry and Red Cherry shrimp babies that I breed to all my fish, Its one of the realities of the hobby, The best food is live food.