Molly Fry Maybe Not Ready

[FishBlast]

Awesome color morph!
Well, the only functional male I have at this time is... This guy.

Who just got lazy and doesn't even court the females anymore, he just sits there looking pretty or eats.
I would like to see if he'd have offspring with my lyretail female, some black berlins with orange lyretails would look cool... But he shows no interest in her or his once favorite red female.

Then there are some of the fry, which seem to be acting like males (courting / swimming backwards towards each other):
1 black fry with red face and red pectoral fins
1 red fry with black-edged fins (could end up blood red or pink).

So if only these fry are male, not sure if I can obtain a copper color out of them at some point in a generation, might get peppered swordtails though. They don't have gonopodiums yet either, they're almost 3 months old.

 

[basboi85]

All you can do is wait and see if he picks up again,he does look cool with how his colours are. when I put more females in my tank my males went bazerk and went on a 2 day shagging spree with all the females. Maybe putting another female into the aquaision and it might kick start him off ??

And I bought that copper Molly from my lfs and I was thinking of getting 1 or 2 more because of the weird colour.

And I've somehow been really lucky today as one of my Molly's almost died trying to do the great escape!!!!!

Thought I'd give the gravel a quick clean as I was bored and scooped most of my fish up that I could catch and stuck them in my bucket as it was only going to be a quick job.
Anyway cleaned the gravel out and filled my tank back up with fresh water and as I was lowering my bucket in to the tank one of my biggest mollies thought she would jump from 4.5ft hi onto my wooden flooring !!!
I couldn't try and catch her as I had hold of my bucket with more fish in it half in the tank water so me panicking just tipped the whole lot back into the tank threw the bucket and scooped her up
And she didn't have any gill movement obv a few chosen words was said but I quickly put her back in the tank and she started swimming ( lucky me ) but BELLY UP then I'm panicking more trying to get her to swim up right and she would balance then tip over again but whilst this was happening her tail and fin wasn't moving so I'm massively panicking at this point.

Eventually I manage to somehow get her to stay upright but still no tail/fin movent.

Half hour to 45 mins later she starts to perk up and try swimming by herself and she did it but had a few collisions but she's somehow made a full recovery including her tail/fin is moving and is now beating the boys up as she couldn't defend herself properly earlier and was getting probed by the boys constantly lol

But I need a bit of advice as I'm adament these 2 mollies are preg just don't know how far along they are

I'm adament they are preg as I got 3 from my neighbour all same age but one is slim whilst these 2 have belly's dropping, in the last pic you just catch a glimpse of the other Mollie that is from the 3 ( on left of pic) and she's slim I'm guessing they are about 2 weeks preg any ideas ???

And sorry about the water marks on back of my tank I've been lazy and not cleaned it of as my 2 year old has run me ragged since half 5 this morning !!!!!

 

[FishBlast]

I am not sure how many swordtails I can keep in a tank that's 76L, 85 cm long 30 cm wide 30 cm tall and with 1 hoplo, 3 teenage swordtails (1 m 2 females) and 4 swordie fry in it.

Your mollie's adventure reminds me of what happened to my youngest female hoplo long ago... She didn't last long after she got hit by the edge of the tank and then the floor... seems her brain got damaged as she was spinning the whole time after I put her back in the water...
Only that it was my fault, not hers. I was doing 100% water changes back then, so I had to take her out of the tank to empty it.

The slim one might be a male in disguise though... (even if it has a fanned fin now). I think the prego ones still have long to go till a drop, maybe 2 more weeks.

 

[basboi85]

I am not sure how many swordtails I can keep in a tank that's 76L, 85 cm long 30 cm wide 30 cm tall and with 1 hoplo, 3 teenage swordtails (1 m 2 females) and 4 swordie fry in it.

Your mollie's adventure reminds me of what happened to my youngest female hoplo long ago... She didn't last long after she got hit by the edge of the tank and then the floor... seems her brain got damaged as she was spinning the whole time after I put her back in the water...
Only that it was my fault, not hers. I was doing 100% water changes back then, so I had to take her out of the tank to empty it.

The slim one might be a male in disguise though... (even if it has a fanned fin now). I think the prego ones still have long to go till a drop, maybe 2 more weeks.

my tank is only 100L and is 2.5ft long and has about 20-25 fish in it but im passing on 6 and its down to working out i think 1 inch of fish(body) to a litre of water i think, but my neighbour had a tank half the size of mine and had 25-30 fish in it.

i thought my molly was dead as couldnt see any gill movement and i held my molly similar to when ive caught a fish put back and hold it rocking it back and forth till its got its strength/air back into its system and wants to swim off and after a few hours she was ok not sure how but shes fine today thank god.

im going to blame myself for her jumping out as i should have kept the guard over my bucket but ive learned my lesson as i dont wont a repeat again

and the three mollys i got off my neighbour are atleast 9 months old now and the worst is that shes sterile but i guess
only time will tell

 

[FishBlast]

my tank is only 100L and is 2.5ft long and has about 20-25 fish in it but im passing on 6 and its down to working out i think 1 inch of fish(body) to a litre of water i think, but my neighbour had a tank half the size of mine and had 25-30 fish in it.

i thought my molly was dead as couldnt see any gill movement and i held my molly similar to when ive caught a fish put back and hold it rocking it back and forth till its got its strength/air back into its system and wants to swim off and after a few hours she was ok not sure how but shes fine today thank god.

im going to blame myself for her jumping out as i should have kept the guard over my bucket but ive learned my lesson as i dont wont a repeat again

and the three mollys i got off my neighbour are atleast 9 months old now and the worst is that shes sterile but i guess
only time will tell

Well, I want to have as many adult fish as they feel comfortable being with, and that includes always having at least one spot free of fish. So maybe at most I'd have 10 swordies (the 3 teenage/young adults, 4 fry and 3 more fry that I'll keep from my lyretail) and the hoplo. Unless Ninja and Sushi won't knock it off bickering, then I might need to give up one of them, or that tiny fry I named Hoppy, he's the most aggressive (because he has grown in the main tank, I guess he feels neglected...).

Well, in your case it was an accident that might not have been avoided too easily. In my case, it's because I didn't know I should have cycled a filter and had a filter in the 1st place then. Otherwise I wouldn't have dropped my hoplo Bitza and she would probably have lived till now, would probably have been a mate for my male hoplo nowadays... But I doubt I could have kept her anyway, this tank I have is still considered minimum for hoplos.

I think that molly you think is sterile will grow a gonopodium eventually, unless your friend is 100% sure she had given birth before. But even so, I've had an orange swordtail female that had given birth 3 times and then just grew a sword and a gonopodium and obviously stopped having fry.

 

[basboi85]

the boys try and do their business with her but she fights them off ( swimming off/and sitting on the gravel so the boys cant do anything) lol i'll keep an eye on her see if anything happens and they are probably sorting out who's the boss out the kids lol,

i sure we will both hopefully learn from our mistakes i know im going to learn and try to improve and i got them when they was about a 1.5 months old but the males have been in my tank about a month so still early days if she doesnt become preg in the next couple of months then ill assume she'll be sterile or changing into a male( thought it wouldve happened by now if it was going to happen)

 

[FishBlast]

the boys try and do their business with her but she fights them off ( swimming off/and sitting on the gravel so the boys cant do anything) lol i'll keep an eye on her see if anything happens and they are probably sorting out who's the boss out the kids lol,

i sure we will both hopefully learn from our mistakes i know im going to learn and try to improve and i got them when they was about a 1.5 months old but the males have been in my tank about a month so still early days if she doesnt become preg in the next couple of months then ill assume she'll be sterile or changing into a male( thought it wouldve happened by now if it was going to happen)

Yeah, I hope I can keep these swordies for over 5 years. I never made it past the 2 year mark with my very first swordies. I got the first from a friend and they were HUGE but not at their max size anyway.

One of them had transparent body with gray fins. About 3 of them were orange, all female. And one was a red male with black tail (I think they call it a red wag). Also, 1 black female swordie (looked like Cracker but with clear fins) and a male, same as that female, only that its tail had a yellow stripe on the sword. Only got fry from an orange female, three times before she disguised herself as a male.

As for the fry, I never managed to grow them past 3 cm because I always lost them during either the night or water change times (even stepped on my last and most favorite swordie, who was a transparent one with black tail).

I think that female was older than a year when she changed aspect. Also had the sneaker male later on when my dad bought two red swordies. That big one never got pregnant, many months have passed and it then started growing a sword and gonopodium before attacking the slim male. And it was pretty huge too, so I guess it was over 1 year since my swordies are at least 8 months old (6 months being with me and 2 months probably spent at the breeder, if not more) and they are nowhere near that one's size.

 

[basboi85]

the boys try and do their business with her but she fights them off ( swimming off/and sitting on the gravel so the boys cant do anything) lol i'll keep an eye on her see if anything happens and they are probably sorting out who's the boss out the kids lol,

i sure we will both hopefully learn from our mistakes i know im going to learn and try to improve and i got them when they was about a 1.5 months old but the males have been in my tank about a month so still early days if she doesnt become preg in the next couple of months then ill assume she'll be sterile or changing into a male( thought it wouldve happened by now if it was going to happen)

Yeah, I hope I can keep these swordies for over 5 years. I never made it past the 2 year mark with my very first swordies. I got the first from a friend and they were HUGE but not at their max size anyway.

One of them had transparent body with gray fins. About 3 of them were orange, all female. And one was a red male with black tail (I think they call it a red wag). Also, 1 black female swordie (looked like Cracker but with clear fins) and a male, same as that female, only that its tail had a yellow stripe on the sword. Only got fry from an orange female, three times before she disguised herself as a male.

As for the fry, I never managed to grow them past 3 cm because I always lost them during either the night or water change times (even stepped on my last and most favorite swordie, who was a transparent one with black tail).

I think that female was older than a year when she changed aspect. Also had the sneaker male later on when my dad bought two red swordies. That big one never got pregnant, many months have passed and it then started growing a sword and gonopodium before attacking the slim male. And it was pretty huge too, so I guess it was over 1 year since my swordies are at least 8 months old (6 months being with me and 2 months probably spent at the breeder, if not more) and they are nowhere near that one's size.

Ahhh that's gutting about stepping on your swordie I'm sure you'll get to that 5 year mark and I was dreading losing my latest fry but I'm glad 2 have survived out the 4 I kept and hopefully it's just a stubborn female and doesn't want to be a mum yet. I think I'm going to push it to another 5 mollies and then that's it I'll prob get 4 more females and another male hopefully and copper male as there will be some defo funky colours happening in my tank. It's already a nightmare in my tank with the males but it's mainly the tetras that are causing the grief as they keep having ago at the male mollies.
I can't wait for my 4x2x2 setup and my 2.5ft tank as the fry tank as they'll have a lot more space to them selves and the fry wont have to be kept in a trap for god knows how long.

I don't know what it is but I just can't seem to be happy with my tank it's like something's not right. No matter how I change it or try different fish I.e type of molly I just can't quite say that's it I'm totally happy.

It's probably just me and being a ex squad and of its not 100% sorted or I'm happy with it it'll never be sorted lol

 

[FishBlast]

Ahhh that's gutting about stepping on your swordie I'm sure you'll get to that 5 year mark and I was dreading losing my latest fry but I'm glad 2 have survived out the 4 I kept and hopefully it's just a stubborn female and doesn't want to be a mum yet. I think I'm going to push it to another 5 mollies and then that's it I'll prob get 4 more females and another male hopefully and copper male as there will be some defo funky colours happening in my tank. It's already a nightmare in my tank with the males but it's mainly the tetras that are causing the grief as they keep having ago at the male mollies.
I can't wait for my 4x2x2 setup and my 2.5ft tank as the fry tank as they'll have a lot more space to them selves and the fry wont have to be kept in a trap for god knows how long.

I don't know what it is but I just can't seem to be happy with my tank it's like something's not right. No matter how I change it or try different fish I.e type of molly I just can't quite say that's it I'm totally happy.

It's probably just me and being a ex squad and of its not 100% sorted or I'm happy with it it'll never be sorted lol

I'm happy because 4 more swordies have been born today, and they're from my lyretail swordie, Eris.
Well, there were more, but I tend to conserve space a lot. So i picked the best looking ones I could find. I now have the following new fry:
-transparent front with black rear half
-orange completely
-a possibly peppered one that looks like its mother
-an almost completely black swordie with a bit of orange on the head.
The black one was guarded by my hoplo. See under his head.

I'm content with my tank. Maybe an anubias plant or two would work, but with the fish I have, I'm happy.
I can't wait to set up the other 150L tank though, I want to have a bunch of colourful egg layers in there with some bronze cories. Would be something new for me as opposed to the livebearers.

 

[basboi85]

ahhh thats awesome i wish my mollies would hurry up and have babies as i eager to see what colours the fry will be and thats good your hoplo guards your fry to help them survive wish that would be the case in my tank lol

and the egg layers sound like a good idea give you something new to try, i'll prob stick to live bearers maybe i'll try some platy's as well as you can get some different colours with platy's

 

[FishBlast]

ahhh thats awesome i wish my mollies would hurry up and have babies as i eager to see what colours the fry will be and thats good your hoplo guards your fry to help them survive wish that would be the case in my tank lol

and the egg layers sound like a good idea give you something new to try, i'll prob stick to live bearers maybe i'll try some platy's as well as you can get some different colours with platy's

It can be both a good thing and a bad thing that my Tzuppy guards fry. It's good because I can save fry easier. But then when I don't really need the rest of them, the tank is overrun with fry and he's headbutting the adult fish from the log or wherever there is a fry in his sight that is about to be eaten by an adult. Not to mention the dust he stirs in the tank when he jets around doing this. But I like his blue colors on his fins when he is in this mode. He lost them when one month-old fry he was guarding started to get along with the bigger fish, but now he's back on duty, poor guy just can't catch a break.

I still see a few of Eris' fry roaming the tank...

I wish swordies would have same colors as mollies though, like... the colors that OldMan's creamsicle lyretail molly has: yellow with white belly. I doubt there are swordtails with that color. I know there are marygold ones, but they never have them on sale here.
They only have red platies here, otherwise I would have bought a cool-colored female to mate it with my swordies and get the color variation.

 

[basboi85]

ahhh thats awesome i wish my mollies would hurry up and have babies as i eager to see what colours the fry will be and thats good your hoplo guards your fry to help them survive wish that would be the case in my tank lol

and the egg layers sound like a good idea give you something new to try, i'll prob stick to live bearers maybe i'll try some platy's as well as you can get some different colours with platy's

It can be both a good thing and a bad thing that my Tzuppy guards fry. It's good because I can save fry easier. But then when I don't really need the rest of them, the tank is overrun with fry and he's headbutting the adult fish from the log or wherever there is a fry in his sight that is about to be eaten by an adult. Not to mention the dust he stirs in the tank when he jets around doing this. But I like his blue colors on his fins when he is in this mode. He lost them when one month-old fry he was guarding started to get along with the bigger fish, but now he's back on duty, poor guy just can't catch a break.

I still see a few of Eris' fry roaming the tank...

I wish swordies would have same colors as mollies though, like... the colors that OldMan's creamsicle lyretail molly has: yellow with white belly. I doubt there are swordtails with that color. I know there are marygold ones, but they never have them on sale here.
They only have red platies here, otherwise I would have bought a cool-colored female to mate it with my swordies and get the color variation.

Couldn't you sell on the fry you don't want that's what I intend to do with some of my Molly fry when they eventually pop them out lol.
I've not seen oldman's pics so I'm going to go have a look now and saying that my orange Molly's are brightening up a bit sortve a yellow orange colour.
Im going to phone my lfs that I got my copper molly from and see if they have any male ones and see what other coloured females they have

 

[FishBlast]

Couldn't you sell on the fry you don't want that's what I intend to do with some of my Molly fry when they eventually pop them out lol.
I've not seen oldman's pics so I'm going to go have a look now and saying that my orange Molly's are brightening up a bit sortve a yellow orange colour.
Im going to phone my lfs that I got my copper molly from and see if they have any male ones and see what other coloured females they have

The problem here in Romania is that the pet shops will not buy fish from you. They have their own farms for the fish, so they don't need more.
And if I'd want to sell, I'd have to look online for people on Romanian forums who are willing to buy or just take the fish.

 

[basboi85]

It's pretty much like that here but some lfs will buy the fry but at fraction of the price they would sell them to you, and do you not have site like gumtree over Romania ?? But if your happy how it is at the moment then there's no point in trying to fix something thats not broken

 

[FishBlast]

It's pretty much like that here but some lfs will buy the fry but at fraction of the price they would sell them to you, and do you not have site like gumtree over Romania ?? But if your happy how it is at the moment then there's no point in trying to fix something thats not broken

I'd even give them for free, as long as I know someone will take care of them.
There's a website, but you give for free on it.
And it's harder to convince my mother to even let me give something. She doesn't understand that the fish could just overcrowd themselves and I won't be able to care for them at some point if they do.