Patchspud

Hi All.* I have just put 3 female (2 white and 1 Dalmatian) mollies in a tank with 1 male (black).* I am hoping for pregnancies in the near future!.* I have a well established tank with 3 live plants and an ornament for hiding in.

My questions are:-

- Is there anything else I can do to stimulate breeding other than varying food?

- What would be the ideal temperature to promote breeding?

- Should I leave the male in all the time or remove him when there is an obvious pregnancy?

Any advice on this will be well received.

Thank you in advance

Heather

Stradius011

You should have the temperature 75-85 F. The higher the temperature, the faster the fry get released but they also age faster.

Patchspud

Thanks for the tip. Can you answer the one about the male? I don't know whether to leave him in or take him out when they are pregnant. I have heard that if the females are stressed too much they will abort their pregnancy and I don't want him to be the cause of the stress.

Thanks.

Stradius011

You should remove him when there is an obvious sign of pregnancy because your male will constantly chase them even when they are pregnant which will stress the females. (What a long sentence!) Good Luck on Breeding your mollies!!!

ChrisRamo

To answer your question of food to stimulate breeding, the best i could advise is freeze dried brine shrimp or anything of the same sort.
As patchspud rightly said try to remove the male if you can, if not put some extra live plants in as this will put more oxygen into the water for the mother an fry but also extra hiding spaces for the fry when born, and in fact for the mother if the male does stay

Nicola

hi there, i have mollies in my tank also. she is getting old now but she has, in total, spat out three lots of tiddlers!! in each pregnancy she has had at least 20 each time. i never seperated her from the male or from any of the other fish and she seemed to be ok. all babies survived too. i fed her on normal flake food and tank conditions were normal. she is still happy and blowing plenty of bubbles!!!!! ahh bless