New Fry, Please Help!

[Venustar]

Hello!

My tank holds one female Dalmatian Molly, one male Fancy Yellow Guppy, one female Clown Loach, one male Sunburst Platy, and one female Pleco. We have had these fish for approximately 3 months. We used to have a female Black Molly as well, but I think the Guppy pestered her to death

Anyway, after the Black Molly died, the Guppy turned his attention to the Dalmatian Molly and it was quite a few weeks before he began to back off. Finally, this morning I go to feed the fishies and I notice about 40 fry hiding among the leaves of the Java Fern! The fry look like the Guppy in the body shape, and some even have a yellowish tinge, but I'm not certain of that is just what fry look like (I'm new to all of this!).

I've been doing some reading and it seems that there is a debate as to whether or not Guppies and Mollys breed. If they don't, then what do I have? I hardly doubt they belong to the Loach or the Pleco.

Ideas?

 

[fluttermoth]

It certainly seems to be possible the guppies and mollies might be able to hybridise; many livebearer species can and do, but it's also possible that the molly has been storing the sperm; they can store it for up to six months

 

[Venustar]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that long. Do all small breed fry look the same? These look like miniature versions of my Guppy. Some have big, rounded tails, some have smaller, squared tails. Also, they are about 4-5cm long...is it possible that they've been swimming around for a few days without being noticed?

 

[fluttermoth]

I hope you mean 4-5 mm! It's possible, but more likely they've just been born; they do come out quite big, especially if they're mollies (or half molly any way, lol!)

I expect one of the livebearer experts round here would be able to tell what species they are, but all livebearer fry look the same to me.

 

[Venustar]

Oh my gosh, I meant mm. Tiny things. haha! Thank you@

 

[Venustar]

Oh, one more question!

Is it possible for a platy to be protective? I certainly don't mean to romanticize the intentions of a fish! But I find it quite strange that the platy keeps chasing off the other fish when they hunt the fry. A few weeks ago, when my loach was doing the whole loachie, lying on her side being lazy thing, the platy would just hover by her, watching. When the others would come around, the platy would chase them off, just like he does for the fry. I tried googling this behavior, but I didn't find much.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's a lovely idea, but it's more likely that she's keeping the other fish away from a potential food source!

 

[Venustar]

Heh that's what I figured.