molly/platy breeding

[Blueberry]

Hey,

I have had a tank for a few years and have always had tetras and platties although the tetras have never given off any eggs, the platties have given me a fair few fry, most of which i'm unaware of as I don't mean to breed them they just do it lol! But I never seperate the fry from the rest of the tank as last time i did they never seemed to grow big enough and also a lot of runts survived and so died as young adults instead of just getting eaten.

However for no reason at all my platties have been having such a short life span and also the shop i go to have had smaller and smaller platties that don't look too good while I prefer big broad chested at least male platties which look very healthy, so I decided I'll have a break from platties and go to Mollies...

I bought 2 female and 2 male mollies to begin with and I've had one female platy for a while now who has been on her own with no male company at all. I have noticed today that both mollies look pregnant... aswell as the platy... so I ask, can platties and mollies breed within each other?? I know they're both live bearers and so in a way i see no reason why not but at the same time, I've not heared of these two fish crossbreed...

In a way I'm hoping she is pregnant as I notice when my female fish get fat and look pregnant they tend to die so I assume it's some sort of illness that caused the death.

advice would be appreciated thanks

 

[Vircomore]

I'm not sure this is true with platies, but with Mollies it is:

Female Mollies are capable of storing unused sperm sacs within their reproductive tract that can then be used to fertilize additional batches of eggs, even if there has been no contact with a male companion for up to several months.

This may be what is happening with your Platy. If both your male mollies are one color, but the next batch of Platy fry comes out different (or the color of the old male platy) then you'll know that's what happened.

I've also read that - while Male mollies/platies may try and mate with females of the opposite - I believe the genetic differences prevent actual pregnancy.

 

[Blueberry]

I'm not sure this is true with platies, but with Mollies it is:

Female Mollies are capable of storing unused sperm sacs within their reproductive tract that can then be used to fertilize additional batches of eggs, even if there has been no contact with a male companion for up to several months.

This may be what is happening with your Platy. If both your male mollies are one color, but the next batch of Platy fry comes out different (or the color of the old male platy) then you'll know that's what happened.

I've also read that - while Male mollies/platies may try and mate with females of the opposite - I believe the genetic differences prevent actual pregnancy.

ah ok... well i have two different coloured mollies, one male and one female is black and long finned (I fell in love with them at first sight!) and the other female and male molly are gold and black... the platty is yellow and orange, the same as the old male...

I'm not suprosed that the two female mollies are pregnant as the males have been going ape wanting to mate (as my last lot of platties havent been in the mating mood i forgot about the 1 male to 3 female ratio... oops!! will get more females soon anyway)

I'll keep posted once she gives birth... might require a water change... tend to find when females want to give birth but water isn't right they'll hold on... several times i've changed the water and then the next day i have like loads of fry around the tank and i'm wondering what my fish are chasing (as they're sooo small i can't see them hahaha!!)

hoping she has stored sperm, will be nice to have some baby platties in the tank again, not had them for a few months now and kinda miss fry in the tank... its like lately when i've bought the males they've either been gay (honestly the males have chased each other around like they should do to the females!!) or they've been sterile (or seems to be!) so not had much luck with babies lately...