caitlynn21

I have a male black molly and he is the only male I have with another seven young different female molly's. They are only a few months old. My male molly keeps sticking his nose in a few of the females behinds. Does this mean that he is going to mate with them or already has mated? Also how old do they have to be in order to mate. I am concerned bacause they are still kinda young. Should I remove the male or are they ok? thank you.

mlinden84

Congratulations! You will soon have a lot more mollies!
I'm not sure if they are old enough, but if they aren't, they will be soon. Do any of them have fat bellies?
You probably don't need to remove the male... he's got 7 females to chase around, so as long as he isn't constantly chasing 1 of them they should be ok.

Dark_Rider2k3

speaking of this, does anyone know how long it takes for them to have babies? Like.. I've had my mollies together for 2 weeks, and am just wondering how long it usually takes.. i have a male with 2 females haha.. and well i know they will eventually give me fry, but when? lol

edit:

okay WOW.. I just went upstairs to check on my fish after posting this, and I saw my male doing the same thing.

So.. babies? XD..

I am soooo glad I only got 3 mollies to start the tank off with and not 6.. I can keep the molly babies and just sell the rest on Aquabid

Fishies-for-me

Depending on temperature livebearers drop fry every 4 - 6 weeks or so. When the male is bumping the females watch his fin on his belly...he will twist this fin up very fast and poke it at the female. It may not even look like he has touched her with it but he has and he has just mated with the female... Make sure there are lots of well planted hiding spots in the tank and enjoy your fry....good luck.

caitlynn21

Once they have mated will he continue to bother that one that he just mated with or will he just move on to the next female?

ShaynaB

For Mollies, it takes 3 to 4 weeks for babies to appear. I believe your male will probably bug all the girls in the tank... Equal opportunity males! haha

Enjoy your fry! I had molly fry for a while and they were the cutest darn things! They eat a lot though, so be prepared! Piggy fish!

Welcome to FishLore, by the way!

Dark_Rider2k3

so what do you recommend feeding? I know you can feed them crushed flakes, but anything else? and also, do you feed them like.. 3 times a day or something?... oh and should i worry about the other fish "stealing" their food?

So many ?'s LOL.. but this is my first time having fry so please bear with me..

ShaynaB

I fed my fry a product called First Bites. It can be found in stores like Petco or Petsmart. If you don't want to do that, crush up the flakes as small as you possibly can.

I separated the fry from the parents until they were old enough not to fit into mouths, so feeding wasn't a problem for a while. Umm, I did however leave a few fry. I just put a bit of the First Bites in the tank at the same time as larger flake food for the parents and they usually ignored the smaller stuff!

I fed the fry twice a day, some do more though... I never had time to do more than twice a day. It seemed fine. Make sure you have enough room for the fry!! They grow really fast!

Have fun with it!

Dark_Rider2k3

thanks a lot!

I def. have enough room (it's a 55gal), and the advice on feeding the fry the same i feed the adults will work out great. If I can get away with feeding twice a day then I'll do that.. I'm so busy in the afternoon/evenings that I may have to.

Sorry for hijacking the thread btw.

caitlynn21

Its fine, I dont mind. I am learning to so your questions are also helping me learn to. Thanks

Dark_Rider2k3

awesome. Your topic helped me learn as well so I guess we both got awesome help

heartsongsinger

I was just reading this and I found it helpful too. They are good questions. My mollie just gave birth today around 1pm. And I've got two more that will soon be (if not already)