livebearers not having babies

[Phoenixphire55]

I have five female mollies and two male swordtail mollies and they've been together in their 29gallon tank for several months. I only saw mating once and shortly after the female died. The other females dont look pregnant and I've seen no babies yet so I'm curious why they might not be mating. The ph is kinda high in the tank but its very stable. They also share the tank with 4 cories, a pleco and two goldfish. I know the goldfish shouldn't be in their with them but they'll be getting their own tank in a couple months after I move.

 

[Zagz]

That is very strange. Most livebearer's breed like crazy. It might be that they had babies and the goldfish ate the babies. Mollies will also eat their own fry.

 

[mr86mister]

The babies are so small. The corys, goldfish(which are complete hogs) and the pleco's will really keep them from surviving. Not always the case but I'm thinking that might be a possibility.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

Isn't it really obvious when livebearers are pregnant because they get really fat etc? I haven't noticed that at all in any of the mollies I have. weird..

Just to correct myself, when I said I have two swordtail males I meant sailfin mollies.

 

[pitt420dude]

Phoenix, I was wondering the SAME thing!

I have two female swordtails and a male swordtail but they've never bred. Once, a while back, I saw a very small baby hiding in some coral, but I think this was b/c I purchased them pregnant.

Since then I've never seen any. They'd get eaten quick in my tank but I'm still curious to find out if it is abundantly evident when they're pregnant, and why they may not be breeding.

 

[tkos]

That happened to me when I had 2 female platies and a male in a 5 gallon tank. Same situation and in a 20 gallon tank they breed like crazy. Perhaps you need to do more water changes to get any risdual hormone levels as low as possible? Goldfish are waste factories and hormones are some of the waste. Perhaps if those levels are too high the mollies won't breed? Worth a try to do some bigger water changes, and maybe change the food?

 

[pitt420dude]

Thanks for the tips, I'll try them.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

I feed my fish a mixture of tropical fish flakes and goldfish flakes, and goldfish "crumbles" which they all eat, also blanched zucchini, occasional brine shrimp, blood worms, spirellina pellets, tubifex worms and daphnia. The frozen foods are probably a weekly thing and the flakes/crumbles make up the majority of their diet. Should I be doing something differently in regards to food?

 

[pitt420dude]

I don't think so Phoenix, that sounds like one heck of a diet.

My fish only get Algea wafers, Tetramin Flake as their staple, goldfish flake, tubifex, blood worms, and betta pellets and occasionally some green veggies from whatever I happen to be cooking (broccoli, cucumbers, etc.) but this is rare.