Male Fancy Guppy X Female Molly

[ILuvFish]

Hi guys! I am just starting a freshwater 5 gal Marineland Aquarium Kit that my hubby bought me for my birthday. It's been up and running for about a week now. We let the tank cycle for about 24 hrs before we put our first fish in (3 fancy guppy males and 1 male Dalmatian Balloon Belly Molly male). 2 out of the 3 guppies died, and the two fish we had left are still doing great!! We went to our LFS yesterday and bought another Molly. I forgot to check for gender and it turns out it's female. The male Molly is acting aggressive towards her so we quarantined him while the male fancy guppy and female Molly are inseparable... Literally. They have been mating all day lol! Does anyone know about this pairing?? It kind of happened on accident. What should I do about the aggressive male Molly? Thankfully he's not acting aggressive toward the guppy just the female. I need all the advice I can get!

 

[emerald76]

Okay first off your deaths are due to the fact you didn't cycle the tank. Cycling needs to be done before fish are added in a tank that small IMO. Mollies don't belong in anything less than perhaps 25 gallons- a trio of guppies would be fine if you regularly pulled fry. I recommend doing PWC every day until your tank's parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and <20 nitrate. Cycling articles are all over the forum.


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[ILuvFish]

Thank you for the wick response! We took a water sample in to the LFS yesterday and the said the water looked ok. We also bought a big leafy plant and mossy rock.

 

[ILuvFish]

Here's a pic of the tank it's kinda glary and not very good. I'll try to post another pic tonight.

 

[emerald76]

Okay you need your own test kit- "okay" doesn't hold weight here. We need exact numbers to help. Pretty tank by the way. I would take the mollies back and just leave the one guppy.


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[Fishfur]

Fwiw, both species are from the same family and it's not unheard of for mollies and guppies to cross breed with each other.

 

[ILuvFish]

Thanks FishFur! Do you know what I should expect from this cross breed? Will the fry look like fancy guppy mollies? I've heard both good and bad outcomes from this.

 

[Fishfur]

Hard to say. Pretty much depends on what the genetic mix comes up with. They can look more like guppies, and can look more like mollies, or sort of in between, and it may not be clear until they have grown quite a bit, as mollies can grow quite a bit larger than guppies can.