Someone Help

[sstaiert]

I have Mollies lots and i have had them for about 2 years and now i am starting to wonder why they havent had babies? i think i have both sexes. Is there a picture showing the male and female. What could i be doing wrong for them not to breed?



Thanks Shena

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's quite obvious if you have males, they have a gonipodrium (sp) coming down, basically it looks like a little willy!

this is a pic of a male molly, you can quite clearly see this hanging down

 

[sstaiert]

it's quite obvious if you have males, they have a gonipodrium (sp) coming down, basically it looks like a little willy!

this is a pic of a male molly, you can quite clearly see this hanging down

okay i have those and some without those so why dont they mate?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

can you give us some more info on the tank, how big it is, what fish you have in there, what your levels for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are, what your maintenance routine is, what chemicals (if any) you add to the tank, what's the decor like (real/fake plants, lots of hiding places etc)

in all honesty i suspect that they do mate and have fry, but the fry get eaten before you see that it's happened so you never see any babies

 

[noshybabs]

Mollies like Brackish water, slightly slalty

 

[smmetz]

Assuming you have both female and male - they probably did breed. I would guess that the fry got eaten before you noticed them?

Other questions to help nail down any problems are:

1. What size size is the tank?

2. How many mollies do you have?

3. What other fish are in the tank?

4. What kind of filter do you use?

5. Are there lots of small hiding places for fry to survive in, until they get big enough?

6. Are you aware that mollies prefer brackish water over fresh water? You can add marine salt to the tank to make it a brackish water tank. (not tonic salt, or table salt) I would advise doing this slowly - over a week or two. I do not know the recommended concentration of salt.. I'm sure there are more details on this in the brackish water section.

7. Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle in fish tanks? (the rest of the question are related to this one)

8. Do you keep nitrates down with regular partial water changes?

9. Do you avoid killing off the good bacteria in your filter? This bacteria prevents the buildup of toxic ammonia in your water. Ways to kill it include:
* adding untreated water to your tank that has chlorine or chloromine in it (most tap water does)
* rinsing your dirty filter media in tap water instead of a bucket of water from your fish tank
* replacing all your filter media at once (which is were most of the bacteria live)

Good luck with your Mollies!

 

[sstaiert]

Assuming you have both female and male - they probably did breed. I would guess that the fry got eaten before you noticed them?

Other questions to help nail down any problems are:

1. What size size is the tank? 20 gallon

2. How many mollies do you have? 12

3. What other fish are in the tank? 1 shrimp

4. What kind of filter do you use?

5. Are there lots of small hiding places for fry to survive in, until they get big enough? couple fake plants and a lots of shells

6. Are you aware that mollies prefer brackish water over fresh water? You can add marine salt to the tank to make it a brackish water tank. (not tonic salt, or table salt) I would advise doing this slowly - over a week or two. I do not know the recommended concentration of salt.. I'm sure there are more details on this in the brackish water section.

7. Are you aware of the nitrogen cycle in fish tanks? (the rest of the question are related to this one)

8. Do you keep nitrates down with regular partial water changes?

9. Do you avoid killing off the good bacteria in your filter? This bacteria prevents the buildup of toxic ammonia in your water. Ways to kill it include:
* adding untreated water to your tank that has chlorine or chloromine in it (most tap water does)
* rinsing your dirty filter media in tap water instead of a bucket of water from your fish tank
* replacing all your filter media at once (which is were most of the bacteria live)
i always use water condtions i have stuff i add to it just what petco told me to do, there huge fish all full grown
Good luck with your Mollies!

 

[cheesy feet]

in all honesty i suspect that they do mate and have fry, but the fry get eaten before you see that it's happened so you never see any babies

I agree.Guppies,mollies and platys all breed in basically any conditions.