lee babcock

A friend of mine had a pregnant molly and didn't want the other fish
eating the young so he gave her to me.
I had an unused little 2 gal tank. Put her in there and a few days
later she had about 10 or so young.
A few days later she had about a half dozen more!
Repeat last line twice!
First batch was about 7 or 8 weeks ago.
Two of the first born now look like they are pregnant.
Is this possible at this age?

Also, Mom is moving stones around the bottom again and is so big I think
I see stretch marks. <vbg>
Four batches on one pregnancy?
Regards
Lee

nikki

Someone on here might know better then me, I have guppies and with them they
can have several batches of fry even after the male has been removed,
however I don't know if that go for molly's also, guppies hold sperm I guess
which enables them to stay pregnant after there is no male around.
Nikki

lee babcock

Mikki......
I found out during my searching on the net that molly's can have births
up to a year after they mate, but I can't find out anything about when
they are ***ually mature. Several of the first born are male, and if
the young are already pregnant, I'm going to be overrun. <g>
Are these things the marine equivilent of a rabbit?
Regards
Lee

nikki

If all livebearers are the same..... females around three months males
around two months
they are pretty neat to raise, I started out with 1 male and 1 female fancy
guppy, I have several now, I would like to get some molly's, when my female
guppy had babies the first time it was only 5 of them, in the end four died
due to an outbreak of ich at around three months, but she went on to have to
more batches of fry before she died having her last batch, I got several of
her offspring (fry) who are now between 1 month and 4 months, its pretty
neat raising them from babies, and watching them grow and get their colors,
I have some pages saved on raising fry if you need them let me know, just
about crushing food, temps, and all the other stuff.
Good luck
Nikki

lee babcock

Nikki....
I did some reading on the net when I first got the female, but I don't
even have a heater in the tank, I'm crushing some of the food with my
fingers and doing a 25 percent water change weekly.
I have a tap mounted Brita filter and fill a jug with filtered water and
let it sit beside the tank for a few days before the water change.
I have major asthma, so I keep the temperature in my apartment at 21
degress and they seem quite happy with that. Water temp is probably a
little above that due to the 15 watt light on the tank.
Zeller's have a nice little 2 gal tank set on sale for $20. so I'm going
to get one of those next week and put Mom in there as she does seem
pregnant again.
I had a good look at the two young who appear to be pregnant (one is
red, the other is white) and I swear I can see the young in the belly,
just like the mother.
Fascinating little buggers and they provide the cat with hours of
entertainment. He thinks the tank is his personal TV set.
Regards
Lee

dick

I moved a pregnant Black Molly to my 10 gallon hospital tank and the
next morning there was a "cloud" of tiny black mollies. By my best
count there were over 50. One shot, 50! As they grew I had to move
the largest to other tanks.

I sure am glad she wasn't a repeater. I eventually separated the boys
from the girls. Enough was enough!

****

nikki

Did you mean you house is at 21 degree's? My son has asthma also, breathing
machine every day.
Anyway I can also see the babies in my guppies belly, I use a flash light,
but towards the end I am able to see them, both molly's and guppies have a
gravid spot, it will be very dark when pregnant, I did a lot of reading on
molly's, pretty close to fancy guppies, they go though the same thing having
babies. I came into breeding them by accident also. I for the most part take
the babies out when she has them, and keep them in something smaller, they
also have "net" square things you can hang on the tank, I don't use them. be
careful moving a pregnant female close to delivery she will sometimes have
them from shock and they will die, found that out the hard way. I use a
little baggie and put food in it and crush it into little grains, if they
cant eat it, it just messes up the tank, I roll the food can back and forth
over the baggie, until its almost dust, and only put in a little bit at a
time, I know guppy fry need to eat many times a day, I use the tip of the
pencil and get it wet and dip it in.
some people get this stuff that grows at the bottom of the tank and leave
babies in there, some will get eaten.....if you come across anything you not
sure about ask, I might be able to help, have had lots of fry, now they are
getting pretty big, and are healthy.
good luck
Nikki

lee babcock

21 degrees Celsius, I'm in Canada!

I appreciate your help and your offer.
I've got a live plant in the tank and large rocks (about 1 inch
diameter) and the young hid in the plant and in the rocks. They young
are eating the plant although I haven't seen Mom doing this.
Actually the kids are chasing Mom around the tank at times.
Regards
Lee in Toronto

nikki

ok, I'm in the US, I was thinking wow I keep mine on 80 in the house
Anyway that is funny, I had some of my older ones in with mom, and they do
the same thing, the funny thing was when one of the other guppies would
chase her she would get nippy but when it was one of her fry I noticed she
did not nip at them, my first female breeder died after having her last
batch of fry, I felt pretty bad, I have another female who is pregnant now,
but my first was my favorite, when she died I was glad I had some of her
babies, I got two who look just like her, I think one of them is also
pregnant (she is about four months old so I guess its possible) I see a dark
gravid spot.
Nikki
I think i might get some molly's also, so maybe i'll need to ask you a few
questions, I'm pretty sure i can keep them with the guppies