Is This Wierd?

[GAB99]

as some of you might know i have 2 balloon mollys, 1 male and 1 female. in the 5+ months i have had them they have not had babys.
they act like an 80 year old couple, they just bicker some times. but other than that show no interest in each other

i have come up with possibilitys as to why this could be so

male infertile

female infertile

both infertile

i really want these two to have babys, so any help would be appreciated. i was thinking of buying a nother female to entice the male but..... or should i buy a male or a newpair al together?

 

[fatheadminnow]

Not sure if this is the answer or not:

I have a pair of breeding Kribensis, and had to buy a couple males and a couple females and put them all together in the same tank. Then I let the fish naturally pair up.

So, this may be the case for you or it may not be? Your two Molly's just may not be interested in each other.

IMO, being that one may be infertile is unlikely.

Maybe buy a couple more males and a couple more females and put them together and see what happens?

Now, this may not be a good idea, so lets see what other people have to say about the matter?

-FHM

 

[kribensis12]

You should ideally have 1m/2f. The more females together. THey do not pair off. They most likely have eaten the fry. It's hard to tell when balloon mollys are pregnant because they are so deformed.

 

[Harlequins]

Its hard to tell if balloon mollies are pregnant has mentioned,

Its quite possible she has had fry and they've been eaten by the mollies or whatever you have in the tank,

I know my red platy has dropped recently,i normally catch they immediately,but i was on my way out at the time,and i haven't spotted any of the fry since,so they're either hiding very well or they've been eaten.

 

[GAB99]

im only gone about 6 hours every week day other than that that tank is watched by at least 1 person everyday, it would be hard to avoid seeing babys especially after 4+ months

 

[Harlequins]

What other fish have you got?

 

[GAB99]

5 decent sized puntias semifaciolatus (gold barb) and 5 M. praecox (neon rainbowfish) as well as a stripped raphael (seems most likely the suspect if any) as well as 2 newly added bosemani rainbows. and there all well fed so i doubt theyll go for babys, and i have hiding spots.

 

[Harlequins]

TBH,all of them will eat fry if it fits in their mouths,i've had month old guppy fry eat new platy fry before now...

So don't underestimate them,if it moves they will eat it

 

[hughessomefish]

no way harlequins,i whatched my 1 month old guppy fry chow down on my new molly fry,there is only one left and he doesn't fit in there mouths so were good

 

[OldMan47]

The rainbows and gold barbs are both potentially big fry eaters. I have no idea about the raphaels because I have never kept them. I would be quite surprised to ever find a fry in that tank. If you want to see some molly fry, try moving either of your females to a 10 gallon tank with decent cover and give her a month alone to prove that she does or does not have any fry to give you. That is what I did with this girl and at two weeks in, this was the result.

She never bothered her fry much and there were still 30 or so living with her when she dropped over 20 more 6 weeks later.

 

[Paradise3]

I would do as oldman47 says because the same happened with my Guppies about 1 year ago and now i have moved my 2nd plec down to the shop as i was never told having 2 would cause problems, my 1st plec sort of looks after the fry i would come home and find him/her sat on the bottom with fry hanging around and, silly as it sounds if any fish tries to catch a fry my plec seemed to stick up for it as it would chase the other fish until it left the fry alone. I also moved my female guppies to a different tank and haypresto got lots and lots of babies.

 

[kribensis12]

5 decent sized puntias semifaciolatus (gold barb) and 5 M. praecox (neon rainbowfish) as well as a stripped raphael (seems most likely the suspect if any) as well as 2 newly added bosemani rainbows.

You've just awnserd your own question. Those fish are the reason you haven't been seeing any fry.

 

[GAB99]

ok, now i definatley 100% know that the male and female are fertile because they bumped uglys last night lol

and o had a suspiscion that my other fish would have a decent amount of time to eat all the fry that popped out, i think the schedual leaves about a 6 hour gap of no one watching them for a few days.

i honestly do not want molly fry and in fact thought both of them were males till my orange one grew a sail fin and really long anal fins.

at least ill know there is an option available if i want to start breeding.


and now i think my gold barbs pregnant/ full of eggs she is FAT!! or she hogged the fry last time lol

thanks for the time guys