VERY Active male

[Luke_e]

Hello, my (what i presume) male mollie, seems very "sexually" active over the past day or so. I have 2 other mollies in the tank, not sure what sex, but he has been persueing (what i presume are the females) and (to put it simply) getting it on . But the white mollie is accepting it, and he has left 'her' alone, but the black one doesnt want nothing to do with 'him' and is swimming off, but his 'bits' keep coming out and trying to get it on .
Sorry for me putting it bluntly ) .
But will this stop, and will the female (i believe to be) give birth? I must add though, that i don't have the facilities to put the 'fry' eggs in another tank, or put the females in a different tank. To be honest i only have the one tank, and at the moment i don't have the funds to buy another tank.
Thanks.

 

[tonilee7]

You don't have to get a new tank right away. It will be another 3-4 weeks before she has the babies and then you only need a breed net to put her in while she has them. After she has them take her out and just leave the babies in the net they will be alright in the net for a few weeks that's when you gotta think about getting another tank.

 

[dwarfgourami]

First of all, mollies like all livebearers can be easily sexed by looking at the anal fin (under their bottom). The female has a proper triangular fin-looking fin, the male has a rod-like gonopodium, a sort of primitive willy. Check out what you have as 2 males to 1 female could lead to problems!

Livebearer males are notoriously over-sexed, which can be a problem once a female is pregnant, as they won't leave her alone. They get particularly excited near the birth when they keep harrassing her in the hopes that she will drop her fry = a nourishing snack for Daddy. These fish have NO parental instincts, Mummy will also happily devour her offspring.

Being livebearers, they do not lay eggs but deliver ready formed fry who look after themselves from the beginning.

Breeder nets are rather controversial things. They can be useful if a female is being harrassed and totally stressed out, but most healthy females, particularly large ones like mollies, are going to be more stressed out by being put in a net than they would by being left alone. They are better off giving birth in the tank. If you provide some plants, that will give the female a bit of privacy and the fry somewhere to hide.

The main use of breeder nets IMO is to put the fry into and keep them safe for the first few days after birth.

If I were you, particularly given your lack of funds, I would just let nature take its course. Let the female give birth at her leisure in the main tank. If the fry get eaten, they get eaten, it certainly won't upset the parents. If any survive, they will be the strongest and fittest- and hopefully not too many. Once a livebearer is sexually active you can look forward to a new delivery every 4-6 weeks, so this is not like your last chance.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You need to have at least 2-3females per male so if it turns out you have 2males and one female you will have to swap the male for a female at your local fish store, male livebearers will often harrass females alot and if theres only one female to a male she has no chance of getting away and this can make her very stressed out which is not good.
How many gallons does your tank hold?

 

[Luke_e]

Thanks for the replies, i think i have 2 females, and 1 male.
My tank is 27 or 29 gallons (125liters).

 

[Annastasia]

Could you possibly post pictures? As then we could probably tell you the sexes you have. If you do in fact have one male and 2 females, you may want to consider getting one more female, if he is really bothering them.

However, if he did impregnante one, she will definitely have babies. I wouldn't advise you put her in a breeding net or trap, as Mollies really are too big for those, and it will stress her out. Your best bet, in your situation, would probably be to just do a survival of the fittest. As mean as it sounds, it also helps with fry control. I'm sure you are aware, Mollies can have up to, and over 100 fry per month. Not all of them do, but it is possible.

 

[Luke_e]

I was aware that they had a lot of fry, but i didnt realise it was that many..
An i just checked some pictures off the internet to my mollies and it is 2 - 1 (f:m). What am i supposed to do with the fry if they survive? Sell them to a LFS?

 

[fawnmodel]

While there is always a chance of alot of fry, letting things go naturally in the tank will likely help thwart any overstocking problem.

I have had a community tank of livebearers for over 6 months, and have only 4 fry from one batch two months ago, which I had to seperate out to save.

 

[Luke_e]

So will the other fish eat the fry for food? (not just the mollies)
Thank you.

 

[dwarfgourami]

So will the other fish eat the fry for food? (not just the mollies)
Thank you.

Well, it depends on what other fish you have, but a lot of them will eat anything that can fit into their mouths. On the other hand, the fry have a natural instinct to hide in plants etc for the first few days, and will only start emerging more confidently once they have become a little bigger and faster at swimming. How many survive in a community tank depends on a lot of factors including the personality of individual fish.

 

[Luke_e]

Ok thanks everyone for the info. Appreciated greatly.

 

[SnowyzMom]

Very interesting thread, thanks for starting it. I've just ended up with mollies myself. Beautiful babes but not sure I need MORE fish....sigh. Might I recommend checking second hand stores and yard sales/garage sales for older tanks? You can safely clean them up a la the guidelines here at the Forum and it saves a BUNDLE over buying a new tank. I have GOT to find another tank and I'm similarly financially pinched right now. Fish really seem to adapt to anything, it's only us that like the nice glass sided tanks...they can happily be kept in those plastic storage tubs Walmart sells. I've got one standing by incase I just can't find another tank under the price of a second mortgage! It just means you look at your fish from the top, like you do with goldfish in a pond out in the yard. The fish are fine so long as they've got plants, substrate, filtration. My daughter kept all her most treasured livebearers in one for over a month when she had tank problems. It's not great on looks but it works!

Definitely natural predation works in keeping livebearer populations down...that being said if you want to keep some fry, java moss is a great hiding place for them. So is a pyramid of marbles in one corner, or a pile of those smooth polished river rocks heaped up so there's lots of little hidey holes between them.

You could also get a Betta...keep him in his own tank or bowl, hopefully 1 gallon or larger....they just LOVE chasing and munching on guppy fry and I imagine mollie fry as well. It keeps them from getting bored too.

Geez I'm so bloodthirsty!

 

[Luke_e]

Yea, i will hopefully be getting a betta soon, so maybe i could feed the fry to him/her. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Annastasia]

Yea, i will hopefully be getting a betta soon, so maybe i could feed the fry to him/her. Thanks for the reply.

Just be kinda careful with that. Molly fry are pretty big as Livebearer fry go, and you wouldn't want the Betta choking or anything.