Tips on breeding black mollies?

[SumthingsFishy]

Just wondering if anyone here has any success stories or tips they might like to share about breeding black mollies or just mollies in general. Water temps? Salinity? any other specifications that might be important? I just bought 2 female and 1 male. Probably going to buy more females sooner or later. I feel like mollies are sort of an understudied species when it comes to breeding them.

 

[ImACoolguy]

They are livebearers, put them in a tank and before you know it you will have pregnant females. It's really that simple.


Caleb

 

[henningc]

Mollys aren't hard to breed but there are a few things to know.

First, all mollys are fry eaters so the fry need to be born in another tank or moved. Depending on your set up fry loss runs about 90% if you leave them, have little cover and the parents are not feed 2-3 times per day. Even under the best conditions your looking at 25%-50%.

Secondly, heat speeds up the gestation process. I'd suggest slowly raising the temp to 80f-82f.

Third, salt is not usually necessary but will make the fish more comfortable. 1 tbs per 10gal you can use more, I use 1/2 cup per 20gal.

Forth, if you want the fry to grow fast and strong they need to be in at least a 20gal, I use 20L. They need a lot of live baby brine shrimp or you could sub with Golden Pearl 300mg-500mg. They also need veggies and I suggest blanching a hand full of frozen green peas and feeding 1/2 per day-You can freeze and thaw the rest.

If the conditions are correct, your mollys should be an inch or more in the first month. Straight Black Mollys should reach a size of 2"-2 1/2" in four months.

If you want to know how to up the production just p.m. and I'll tell you how.

 

[SumthingsFishy]

Thank you both for replying,

My male mollie had a really bad ich outbreak and ive been treating it for the past 3 weeks. I unfortunately lost one of my females during this period. The male is now clear of the ich and is ready to start breeding. Im just getting my conditions right for them, and thinking about getting another female for him just to ease the ratio a bit. I started raising temps today, even though they were up to 82 degrees in the past for the ich treatment. I will keep posted on this thread.

Thanks again

 

[DioVeras9]

Agreed to the breeding. Just keep a ratio of 1M:2F and theyll breed pretty quick. To treat ich, its actually best to bring the temperature up to about 86 and leave it like that for 2 weeks, then bring it back down to normal temperature. Thats the method I used and I havent had an ich outbreak since then.

 

[SumthingsFishy]

Alrighty folks the time has come! We're just over a month here and my female is showing signs of pregnancy. Ive had my temps still at a steady 82 degrees and water conditions are as good as they're gonna get. The male is showing some slight aggression to the female but nothing that really causes any concern for me. Im figuring its just because he's made her pregnant. I'm not sure how long she's been pregnant for because her tummy is just starting to show, but if i had to guess she should give birth within 2 weeks or so. I will post pictures if i can find the time to do so. Also, if anybody has any recommendation for some floating plants for my fry that would be great! I know Hornwort is pretty popular. Also, should i put my female in a breeder's net before or after the birth period? As I said, not really familiar with breeding fish. Other than that im pretty excited!

 

[bigsea]

Duckweed is a good floating plant. Spreads like herpes. Came back with 2 pieces on my elbow from my friends tank when i was helping him with maintenance a while ago (he broke his back and has 6 tanks). I put them in my display tank and now,



Ive had to net out hundreds of those. Theyve actually became kind of a nuisance.... But i still like it.


I had water lettuce for a while. Reproduced just as fast but i wasnt fond of the root structure. Its thicker than the duckweed and traps debris. It also blocked out lots of light. AND... I couldnt keep all the leaves green which lead to a yellow glow at the top third of my tank. AAAANNND... Since its a bigger floating plant it had the tendency to clump up if i didnt have my powerhead in a PRECISE position. Drove me crazy....

- St Charles Almendras Geraldizo

 

[Laeris]

How about water sprite?

 

[SumthingsFishy]

So pregnancy was a no go, will keep posted if anything changes. Sorry for the false excitement lol i was so hopeful!

 

[livefishguy124]

so you asked about salinity, well they like salt, it is good for them and wards of disease, i have had fellow Aquarius tell me the best mollies they have seen are the ones in full salt. Plants are great for any tank, fine leave plants or dense plants are great for babies, make sure you have hiding places for the moms. watch the male, some will go after the moms to much and some not at all and you wont get babies, i have had to replace numerous males because of this. how big are your tanks?
the one mom and dad are in and the babies will go into?
and filtration?

and have fun, try breeding different colors they will inter breed and try with different tail shapes, see what happens and what new color/tail forms come out of it. mollies are fun and a great beginner breeder they were my 2nd and i have done more with them tan almost any other. i even help bring a new color form into the hobbies. the gold dust Mollie, i got it by crossing black with gold(mainly black female with gold male) i was very surprised the offspring were mostly gold some were all gold some had a lot of gold(with less than 1/4 black) even though the black are more popular.


so have fun do what you want(try to get a calico lyertail that what i'm going for next)

send us some pics

 

[SumthingsFishy]

Thank you for the advice, I will definitely take it into consideration when I get a 40B this summer. For now I am looking to get rid of this pair, will go to anyone who is looking to pay shipping, fish are free to a good home. I have other plans for my 20g and I just can't picture them being a part of it.