Mollie Breeding

[mark7616]

can a male sail fin mollie breed with other normal mollies?

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

yes i seen a link like thi a couple of days ago try searching

 

[Weaver]

Yes they can.My last set of molly fry were from a big green sailfin mother.Of the 10 survivors 8 are dalmation molly and only 2 are like their mother.Mollys will breed with any available female molly

 

[james1971]

I had a bad experience a couple of weeks ago when I had a load of molly babies on my hands.

I bought a pair of Silver Mollies from my lfs. the female was obviously pregnant ( I did not notice in the shop - Stupid ! ). The day after she gave birth to 16 babies. I spent 3 hours frantically chasing them so the angelfish and sharks did not scoff them for lunch.

I managed to get all 16 into a small breeding trap within the tank away from the other fish. The next day they were fine so I gave them a little flake food that I crunched into tiny pieces. When I checked on them the 2nd morning all 16 of them were dead.

I was gutted and still don't know what I did wrong.

I was thinking that maybe I overfed them, maybe the bigger fish scared them to death, maybe they all had a disease. I just don't know. Water all checked out fine cos I regularly test it.

I am in 2 minds what to do if they have any more. Do I try to get them in the breeding trap again or am I better letting them fend for themselves seeing as I killed the last lot.

Anyone know what I might have done wrong ??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

James1971

 

[clareriley]

I had a bad experience a couple of weeks ago when I had a load of molly babies on my hands.

I bought a pair of Silver Mollies from my lfs. the female was obviously pregnant ( I did not notice in the shop - Stupid ! ). The day after she gave birth to 16 babies. I spent 3 hours frantically chasing them so the angelfish and sharks did not scoff them for lunch.

I managed to get all 16 into a small breeding trap within the tank away from the other fish. The next day they were fine so I gave them a little flake food that I crunched into tiny pieces. When I checked on them the 2nd morning all 16 of them were dead.

I was gutted and still don't know what I did wrong.

I was thinking that maybe I overfed them, maybe the bigger fish scared them to death, maybe they all had a disease. I just don't know. Water all checked out fine cos I regularly test it.

I am in 2 minds what to do if they have any more. Do I try to get them in the breeding trap again or am I better letting them fend for themselves seeing as I killed the last lot.

Anyone know what I might have done wrong ??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

James1971

It sounds to me like she might have had them too early so they didnt survive, if you buy a heavily pregnant female then there is little chance of some if none of her fry surviving due to stress of the move and such like.
And it is very rare to buy a female that isnt already pregnant unless she has been split from the males since very very young.

 

[james1971]

Thanks

That has made me feel slightly less guilty. It might not be totally my fault after all that they all died.

James1971

 

[chris_1127]

ive only recently added mollies to my brackish tank, but have had 2 batches of fry so far - four silver/sailfin x in the first batch (of which 3 survived and are now growing out in a net), but also a second lot of black molly fry which were born overnight - only 2 remained by the time i woke up in the morning, and one of these had actually managed to jump into the breeding net!! the other was at the surface behind the net. I'm guessing anyothers had been munched by my gobies, puffers or chromides.

i'm totally new to livebearers, but have noticed with all the fry they tend to stick to very close to the water surface - i did wonder whether in freshwater some floating plant coverage might help survival rates? (obviously wont work for me due to an sg of 1.006)

 

[clareriley]

Floating plants are the best thing to have in a tank with fry being born.