Dalmatian mollie & Platy mated????

[cougargirl50]

Whelp I learned something I think yesterday. I was down at my tank last week and found that there were some new fry in my tank, so I scooped out 12 of them, I thought they were zebra danio fry, but I didn't know that zebra danio's were egg layers till later, and I knew they weren't platy fry because I have some of them in my tank now and these were bigger, but I couldn't understand that if they were zebra danio fry why they were bigger than regular platy fry. So I was puzzled. I watch them everyday and yesterday I got to looking at one or two of them and the markings on them didn't look like zebra danio fry. Monday June 6th these fry were a week old. I couldn't for the life of me figure out where these fish came from. Because all I have in my tank is:

1 dalmatian mollie
6 platy
and zebra danios.

So I got to looking and wondering and I came to a conclusion, my mollie mated with one of my male platy's. I had no idea a mollie would mate with a platy so I called a reputable major fish store in our area and sure enough he told me that a mollie will mate with a platy. I think this is so awesome. I can't wait till they get a little bigger. So what are these called Dalatty's????(JK) I just made that up. But is there a name for them?

[Husmut]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but your female molly can have multiple pregnancies of one mating (which may of happened 6 mths ago!) with another molly. Is this possible? How long have you had the fish? I am not saying your fish guy is wrong (though I have never heard if it!) But I think this is more likely. This rule applies to all live bearers. It can be freaky to watch a female give birth multiple times without the presence of a male if you are not aware of this. I suppose you will have your answer when they grow. Ill be watching for a report!

[Kerrinne]

Exactly. I had purchased two blue cobra guppies - one male and one female. The male died within a week of arrival while in quarantine. I didn't feel like going to return him, so I left the lady alone. Some time later she gave birth...then she gave birth again. I have one of the babies left that I haven't given away. I think it's a male -- hoping so.

Anyway, my point is that husmut is right. They can have multiple births and pregnancies from one mating. If you've not had your fish that long or had it exposed to any other molly within the last several months, I'd say there's your answer.

[cougargirl50]

The 28th of this month I will have my mollie 3 months

[Husmut]

Let us know! But I think you will find that you have mollies!

[krap101]

well it is possible. ive heard of someone getting a guppy that was bred from a silver (molly i think) and a guppy. its not common though

[cougargirl50]

I added a couple pics to my little web pics on webshots. There are 4 pics that I took this morning, TO TRY and get a pic or two of the fry that is in question. Im not sure how to upload pics to put them right onto my post for here, so can you click on my 20 gallon in my signature and look at the 4 bottom pics and see if yous can make anything out. If not I can TRY and get a better one.

Thanks

[Husmut]

Nah, cant tell. Nice tank tho

[TomK2]

Livebearers can interbreed. Platies and swordtails can and do. I haven't absolutely heard of mollies and platies doing it, but I would not thinkit impossible. Improbable. maybe. I don't know how much overlap there is in mollie and platy habitat in the wild, and I would think that the greater the overlap the more likely the two species would have developed a tendency to hybridize.

There is a species called the Amazon Molly that is almost entirely composed of females. The female amazon molly essentially develope eggs that are clones, but still requires the mating process to initiate egg developement. Thus, amazon molly females will "mate" with males from other livebearer species, even though the sperm will not fertilize the eggs.

But since all other female livebearers can store sperm packets for months to over a year, the most likely explanation is that the fry are molly fry from stored sperm.

congrats and enjoy raising them!