FishStix

I have 11 balloon molly fry in my tank that were born about 8 weeks ago. Their mother is black and white speckled. I was wondering if anyone knows how old the babies might be before we can tell if they will be speckled or stay solid in color. Some are whitish, some are blackish and some are a brownish color but we can't see any speckles yet. We need to find them new homes soon and I want to keep one or two hopefully speckled ones!

Momma Speckle:

Bad Wolf

is that a fry or an adult?

there is a chance they will change color, mine did slightly but nearly all my fry were born marbled. how big are your babies now? and how big is their tank they are living in?

FishStix

The photo is the adult mom of the babies. They are about 1/2" and are currently in the 35 gallon tank with the rest of my fish (I only have one tank).

Bad Wolf

that's good, how do you tell if a balloon molly is prego?

Jonah

Usually by the time they reach about 8 weeks old you will have a fair idea of what their eventual colours will be.

Just as an aside I have never seen a Dalmation Baloon Molly like yours before. So I presume that mum is a hybrid between a Dalmation and a Balloon molly so you will have many potential variations in final colouring on the fish.

FishStix

Thanks Jonah for the info.

Bad Wolf - I'm new at this so i don't know all the signs - plus she had these babies the next day after I got her. I just set up the tank and she was among the first fish I've bought for it. I will say though that my other balloon molly female just had a batch of her own and she got REALLY big in the belly. I guess its hard to tell with a balloon molly but it was sort of obvious on her. The tummy got a boxy shape as well. Also, I notice the male molly stopped bothering her - though he didn't waste any time after she had the babies to start that up again!

My tank runeth over with molly babies!

mrsbutterfly79

My white balloon Molly just had her fry yesterday. She had 22 of them, and I knew to put her in the breeder box the day before she had them, because she looked like she was going to explode. Also the hole where the fry comes out got really big.