jendi

I currently have 2 silver mollies (male & female). If I get another female, but say it's a black molly, will the black female and the silver male mate? and what color will the babies be? or will they be marble/dalmatian mollies? sorry if this was a dumb question

TFA101

imnot sure. you mightnot want to try this as it may lead to deformities in the species

Richard

First up, no question asked in Fishlore is dumb.. so never hesitate to ask when in doubt.

Now as far as your Mollies go, it's always recommended that you try to have at least three females to one male, so that pregnant females aren't continuously stressed by the male.. all species of Mollies breed safely, but deformities will start to occur if breeding takes place between any fry you keep over time.. so if you want to breed and keep a health stock of Mollies like we do, ever so often you may want to add a new female to alleviate inbreeding problems.

sirdarksol

Two to one is usually what I recommend, but three to one (or more) is better.

Mollies will interbreed fine (they're all from the same wild stock), as Richard said. Also, as Richard said, there will be a problem of bad mutations due to inbreeding, so if you breed your mollies, you should try to continually change out some of the stock.
In the case you suggested, you'll likely end up with a few silver, a few black, a few dalmations, and probably a cremesicle or yellow or some other odd color. Nearly every molly has a touch of "other color" DNA in it, since it's nearly impossible to breed them true unless you dedicate a tank to a single color for many years. All it takes is a few minutes in a tank with cremesicles, and a platinum female could be loaded with orange fry that she could drop anytime in the next several months, perhaps even right into your dedicated platinum tank.


Oh, and (also, like Richard said), there aren't dumb questions.

Huh, so chalk my post up to say "Richard's right"

Karina C.

I had 3 female dalmation mollies and 1 male black mollie, he matted with all of them fine. The 2 got pregnant and had babies however.The only problem is that when the 2 females had their babies i did not take them out quick enough they were giving birth when i saw them and did not want to bother the mommy so i left her in. then the male mollie pestered them too much after baby births. Recomended resting times for mommys after giving birth is 48 hours. Please don't make the same mistake i made and leave her in the tank. My 2 female dalmation mollies died. I only have one left and I am keeping a good eye on her so i can take her out right before birth. If you need to know what to look for to know when she is ready for birth let me know ok and i can tell you.

Good luck with your breeding.

Fish Addict

Is this for your current tank? It is pretty fully stocked, so I am not sure if you would want to put in another fish, especially a livebearer, since you will have lots of babies..

jendi

thanks everyone! I posted this when I only had 2 mollies in the tank. I was too antsy and went and bought more fish before anyone replied, so to be safe I just got another silver female. But at least I know this for the future! I plan on upgrading tanks soon

girlzz2

I'm looking for a picture of a male or female...as I cannot tell the difference. I hear about the fins...but without seeing it I can't be sure.

I have 2 mollies..1 dalmation and 1 gold dust...

I had 2 gold dust but shortly after birth one died. I currently have 4 fry (doing well..) 1 is a dalmation and the other 3 are gold...with black specks..

Tia!