oh dear,and i had such plans

[jackie]

well i now have the 40inch tank running cycled with all fish moved into it[used part filter and water and gravel from 24 inch] the 24 was to become the breeding tank for my gouramis,i was going to have a go anyway..but the last new fish we bought for the smaller tank were a pair of sailfin mollies,my husband fell in love with them, he loves silver white fish.they were moved to the bigger tankfirst with a pair of leopard danios to help the cycle.,but now all plans are put on hold.i must admit getting the mollies was against my better judgement ,but we are now the proud parents of 8 babies ,and i'm sure more to come, mother and baby mollies are now occupants of the small tank..but how come i have 4 white , and four dark or speckled babies, i have had the parents for 7 week and they are both silver white.. anyone know thanks jackie

[justDIY]

congrats, you've made your mollies happy!

only 8 babies, mom and dad must have snacked on some of the fry, or mom is real young ... my marbled molly had about 35 fry, most of which got eaten

possible causes:

inbreeding (likely if mom and dad are from same lfs), or even not, mom may have been fertilized by siblings at the breeder, before shipment to the lfs

genetic variation (all animals offspring are not exactly identical to the parents)

color or lack there of may change as they mature

some lfs keep silver and "marbled" (possible other colors too) in the same tank, some cross breeding may have occured

perhaps you can return the off-colored ones to your LFS for credit toward other fish/plants ... the marbled here cost more than the plain silver, or just give them away to fellow local hobbiests