Silver Molly

alysalouise

I just bought a second silver molly today, and to find out the one i have is a male and this new one is a female, cause they were spawning, but she was already pretty big in the tummy.... how do i know how long till she has babies, cause i saw her and another male in the pet store before i bought her spawning, and i dont know how long they were together doing that

Thank you

stevenjohn21

Your female can hold the males sperm for up to 6 months, so even if you split them up she will continue to have fry. The male will continue to harass the female which is why it is best to have double the amount of females to males (so the same female doesnt keep getting harassed)

Your female will show a dark shade around her anal fin (gravid spot) when she is close to giving birth. Usually a day or 2 after seeing this i find mine will have an almost square stomach, instead of it being round. Then the next day i would expect babies. It usually takes around 25 days for the process to start again

alysalouise

Well hey more babies is fine :) have plenty of tank room, their going to be moved in a 55 here soon, as soon as i buy a stand and more rocks for it

Thank you

Amethyst123

Make sure you have lots of hiding places for the fry, so they can get away from their parents and other bigger fish until they are too big to end up as somebody's snack. I have a layer of pebbles, marbles, glass drops, etc., on top of my gravel, and the fry (guppy and platy - so far no mollies, since my mollies are still young themselves) will wiggle down in the space between the pebbles, marbles, etc. to hide, or under the edges of the bigger rocks. Moss is also good, as are other plants that are bushy and provide cover.

Have fun with your babies when they arrive! I have 40+ guppies and 20+ platys that were born last Monday - so fun to see these tiny guys swiimming around the tank. I have them separated from the adults, so they don't have to hide, and they look like a cloud in the water sometimes, there are so many.

alysalouise

Im going to be putting the mom in her own tank to have the babies in and take her out after she has them so i dont have to worry about any of my other fish trying to eat them


But i do have to ask
can two silver mollies have different colored babies?

Amethyst123

[quote=alysalouise;624054 But i do have to ask
can two silver mollies have different colored babies?[/quote]

I don't know. My experience with mollies is limited. All I can tell you is that I found 2 molly fry in my tank awhile back, and they are both silver. Actually, at this point they are both pearly white, but so were both the adults at their age. The adult male got a lot more silver as he grew up, and one of the fry is a male, so he probably will also. Anyway, the point is they aren't another color.