What baby fish is this??

[Pisces68]

I've edited this to try & make it less confusing.
I bought 4 adult female swordtails from the pet shop (on xmas eve) & added them to my aquarium which already had a male fighter, 2 corydoras, a sucking catfish, 6 neon tetras & a bristlenose. The following day I found 5 babies swimming around my tank I'm not sure if the babies were in the bag of water that the swordtails came home in from the pet shop, or one of the swordtails gave birth within the 24 hours they were in my tank. I took the babies out & put them in a smaller tank, as I assumed they might be eaten. One baby died at 3 weeks old, the 4 left are about 5 weeks now. From the beginning the white one was twice the size of the other 3 bronze ones, but over the last 2 weeks or so the 3 bronze ones have had a big growth spurt & they're all the same size now, just under an inch. The white one looks like a swordtail to me, it has the flat fan like tail, but the bronze ones have different looking tails, they have like 3 little fins on their tail, so I'm thinking they're not swordtails. Like I said, I think maybe they came in the scooped up bag of water from the pet shop. The pet shop had 2 or 3 varieties of fish in the same tank that got along together so maybe there was fry in their tank already when I bought the swordtail adults & they may well be some sort of molly. I just don't know I'm guessing!! Now I just want to know
1. what type of fish I have
2. what sex they are - or how & when I can tell the sex so I don't get a whole pile of unplanned babies.
3. Do swordtails & mollys breed together or only with their own kind? I can keep 2 tanks going so can separate males & females. I know they can breed at 3 months & females can give birth every month.
4. Can you keep several males together or do they fight?

 

[Tony30gal]

Those look to be baby molly fish! Your post is sort of confusing but I did a little research on google to find this:

“Even though the female Molly is pregnant and going to give birth to numerous babies, other fish and even the parents will feed on them as soon as given the chance.”
source: https://www.molly-fish.com/pregnant.html

 

[Pisces68]

Confused?! What are these babies?

Thanks for your reply. I suppose my post is confusing!? I'm very confused myself, I can't find how to identify these babies, it looks to me I have 1 baby swordtail & 3 of some other type? I'll try to explain a little better, I've edited my original post.

 

[SaraB]

What confuses me is that you only mention swordtails. There are no mentions of mollies anywhere. So I would assume all your babies are swordtails

 

[Tony30gal]

Picture 1 is a molly fish though... right?!

 

[SaraB]

If you didn't have any mollies and the store didn't have mollies with the swordtails then I don't know where the molly fry would have come from. Unless you bought plants that were in a tank that had mollies in it.
Mollies and swordtails can't crossbreed. Platys and swordtails can but it would be a "mutt" not a purebred fish.

 

[Pisces68]

What confuses me is that you only mention swordtails. There are no mentions of mollies anywhere. So I would assume all your babies are swordtails

I originally bought 4 adult female swordtails & at the pet shop, the tank they took them from had other varieties in the same tank mollies & guppies I think. I don’t think any of the 4 I bought were pregnant so I thought maybe the babies were in the tank at the pet shop & when they scooped up the bag of water the babies were in there. I just think the white one in Pic 1 is a different fish from the other bronze ones in Pics 2 & 3, so I don’t see how they could have come from the same female. They don’t look the same shape & the tails are different. I dunno what they are or where they came from. I suppose I’ll just have to wait until they’re a bit bigger to see what they are. My main concern is identifying the males so I don’t get anymore babies I don’t have room for.

 

[SaraB]

It is possible if they were all in the same tank at the store that they scooped up a baby fish. Then yes the first one is definitely a dalmation molly or swordtail. Livebearers take genetic oces from multiple males so you have have different looking fry from each batch.
Honestly the bronze ones kind of look like goldfish.

 

[JaredShope1]

1. what type of fish I have
2. what sex they are - or how & when I can tell the sex so I don't get a whole pile of unplanned babies.
3. Do swordtails & mollys breed together or only with their own kind? I can keep 2 tanks going so can separate males & females. I know they can breed at 3 months & females can give birth every month.
4. Can you keep several males together or do they fight?[/QUOTE]


1.) that looks a lot like a swordtail to me

2.) it’s hard to tell what sex it is without seeing the anal fin clearly. If you could put a pic of that I could tell.

3.) no. Only swordtails and platies can mate, but not swordtails and mollies. Also, your swordtails may have been pregnant when you got them. That happens sometimes.

4.). As you know from my previous threads, I have a lot of mollies and platies and live-bearers in general. The males are sometimes aggressive to each other, but not overly aggressive. As long as the male to female ratio is about 1-4 you should be fine. I have 2 male platies and they are only aggressive occasionally. Honestly you might as well just get all females and 1 male.

 

[JaredShope1]

The other 2 photos (the goldfish looking one) is a molly. From what I can tell

 

[Pisces68]

I know what they all are now!!

Thanks everyone. So the little white one with black spots is a molly, the other babies are definitely all goldfish. My so called adult swordtails are actually mollies too, so I think I just scored a bonus molly fry when I bought the adults. As for the goldfish? Well I bought plants the same day & Im guessing there were eggs in them. Interesting scenario - went to the pet shop asked for swordtails & plants & end up with mollies, a molly fry & number of bonus goldfish fry! ??? On the not so funny side, 2 of my 4 adult mollies died 2 weeks later from velvet disease, it cost me a fortune to medicate my tank, I was also invaded with snails! So I’m never going to that pet shop again! You live & learn hey?!

 

[SaraB]

Sorry to hear about your fish. Are the fry still alive?
I also wouldn't trust that shop after messing up that bad.

 

[Pisces68]

My molly fry has survived & is now in my main tank with my 2 adults. Of the 4 baby goldfish 2 have survived, & are growing fast, one is orange with black tail & fin tips, the other is still silver & black getting darker all over, they’re in their separate tank obviously because they’re not tropical. But at the moment, all is going well, water tests are good & no more sick fish.

 

[SaraB]

Good to hear that you have some survivors. Are you planning on keeping the goldfish? I know they get big but you are raising them from fry so it will be hard to let go.

 

[Pisces68]

Of course! They’re my babies! ���� Thanks for all your advice. ����