Mollie breeding question

[Koenator]

I recently acquired a male and female molly. My 10 gal will be empty and ready for new fish this week once I rehome my tiger barb, and it has been established for some time now.

Should I remove my mollies from the 30 gal community tank and put them in the 10 to encourage breeding? I know the recommended ratio is 3:1 females to males but I don’t have any way of getting more females at this point.

Or should I keep them in the 30 gal and wait for them to court? Would this help the male not chase the female down to much?

Either way I want to use the 10 gal as a birthing tank and will remove the parents after the fry are born.

 

[Colin_T]

I would get rid of the male molly and buy a couple more females or just stay with 1 female. Male livebearers harass females and 1 male will constantly chase and try to breed with the female. This can stress the female.

The common livebearers (mollies, guppies, platies & swordtails) can carry sperm packets from previous matings and use these to fertilise eggs when the environmental conditions are good. This means the females don't need to be around males for most of the time. If the female has been with a male, she will be carrying sperm packets and doesn't need a male with her until she has used up all the sperm packets, which could take 6-12 months.

With common livebearers, have lots of plants in the tank and keep the adult fish well fed. They will breed and the babies can hide among the plants. You can then use a plastic cup/ container to scoop the babies out and move them to a different tank for rearing.

Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a good plant for livebearers and has lots of branches for the babies to hide among. It normally floats on the surface but can also be planted in the substrate.

 

[emeraldking]

Basically, you could keep them in the 30g and use the 10g as a grow out tank for those fry. Not always will mollies mate right away when put together. And also know that the gestation period of mollies differ. Mollies that belong to Poecilia sphenops (like black molly for instance) have gestation period around 4 weeks. But sailfin mollies can take longer and usually between 6-8 weeks.
If it's just for breeding purposes, a m:f ratio can be 1m:1f without any problems. And once you're sure that she's pregnant, you can put her in the 10g. But a smaller tank won't encourage a mating in comparison to a bigger tank. They just follow their nature or they won't...

 

[Koenator]

Basically, you could keep them in the 30g and use the 10g as a grow out tank for those fry. Not always will mollies mate right away when put together. And also know that the gestation period of mollies differ. Mollies that belong to Poecilia sphenops (like black molly for instance) have gestation period around 4 weeks. But sailfin mollies can take longer and usually between 6-8 weeks.
If it's just for breeding purposes, a m:f ratio can be 1m:1f without any problems. And once you're sure that she's pregnant, you can put her in the 10g. But a smaller tank won't encourage a mating in comparison to a bigger tank. They just follow their nature or they won't...

this is the helpful answer I was looking for, thank you so much. I will keep them in the 30 gallon then