Breeding Mollies

[weirdsteve]

hi. i just want to know if you can give me some information on breeding mollies please

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

hi. i just want to know if you can give me some information on breeding mollies please

Ok, ok, you don't need to "shout", we can read.

Firstly, how many gallons is your tank plus its dimensions (length, width, height)? How long has the tank been set up for and what fish do you have in it and how many as well as their sizes? What is your average tank cleaning regime like (water changes, clean substrate/filter etc) and how do you go about it exactly and how often?

The first thing to find out is whether your tank is suitable for mollys or not.

 

[weirdsteve]

12 gallon tank
length: 60cm x 30cm width 40cm depth
cleaning every: 2 weeks
filter: Sponge filter
fish: 6 neon tetras 40mm and 2 mollies (appox) 60mm and 1 clown loach (appox) 65mm
set-up for: 3 weeks

 

[theotheragentm]

Before we get to the Mollies, your tankmates pose a problem. Tetras can be fin nippers, but I've seen it less in Neon Tetras than with other Tetras. Your Clown Loach does not belong in that tank. Clown Loaches get up to 12" in length, and even at their smaller sizes, they make a big amount of bioload. (They are celebrated poopers.) On top of being individually large, they prefer to be in groups of at least four.

Mollies require very little to breed, and the same requirements should be used for breeding as just for just plain housing them. Water at about 74F and clean. Mollies are quite susceptible to nitrate levels, so keeping water clean is important. I assume you have your cycle set up having run your tank for three weeks. Assuming the tank is not heavily planted, I would change out 25-35% of the water weekly with light gravel vaccuuming. I wouldn't concern yourself with the pH level so much as fish are able to adapt pretty well to different pH levels as long as they're not too far to one end. You'll have more problems with a swinging pH than a pH that isn't exactly right on the spot.

Really, by providing a good living condition for your Mollies, you will provide a good breeding condition for them too. Good luck.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

12 gallon tank
length: 60cm x 30cm width 40cm depth
cleaning every: 2 weeks
filter: Sponge filter
fish: 6 neon tetras 40mm and 2 mollies (appox) 60mm and 1 clown loach (appox) 65mm
set-up for: 3 weeks

I would advise having at least 2-3females per male, in a tank such as yours i would have 3 females and 1 male. Your tank is actually larger than what you may think it is;

Dimensions 60 x 30 x 40cm/24" x 12" x 16
Surface area 0.18 sqm/1.94 sq ft/ inches sq in
Volume 72 l./16 gal. (19.02 US gal.)
Probable volume 65 l./14 gal. (17 US gal.)

The clown loach will outgrow the tank given time (although they do grow slowly, they can grow to 12inches+).
You need to do water changes on a more regular basis, ideally you should do a 30-60% water change once a week (and clean the substrate once a week), but in a new tank set up such as yours i would also advise getting some accurate test kits for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates as your tank will still be cycling at 3 weeks young (to learn more on cycling and how the water quality in your tank works, see http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099 for more info) and test the water quality to find out the exact state of the water quality and stage in the tanks cycle.

To breed mollys, its pretty easy- provide clean water quality, a good varied diet and some nice densely planted areas in the tank. Make sure you have enough females for your male though as male mollys have very high sex drives and can sometimes over-harrass the females if there's not enough. The females will get pregnant pretty easily, and their pregnancy usually last for around 1-2months on average, and can give birth to over 30fry in a single go. Fry will take around a year until they are mature/large enough to rehome (or sell).

The only issue with keeping mollys is that there are many varieties of mollys, some of which are more brackish or freshwater than others, and mollys which are very brackish may suffer a lot of health problems if kept in freshwater. The problem with using salt with mollys is that not all fish are very tolerant of salt, many types of catfish and loaches or fish which come from the amazon basin are not very tolerant of salt at all, so keeping the neons and the clown loach with the mollys could become an issue if the mollys turn out to be one of the more brackish varieties of mollys.
To see/learn more on using salt with mollys and other fish, see this article;

http/www.fishforums.net/Mollies-Need-Salt-t137887.html


Small numbers of fry can be raised in a breeding net for a short period of time, but personally i would strongly advise investing in a separate tank for raising the fry in of around 5gallons or more as it will take quite a long time to raise fry, and ultimately they will grow stronger, healthier and faster if given a tank of their own of a decent size to be raised in .

 

[weirdsteve]

well... thats where your wrong about of few things. One its a heavy planted tank. 2 i check the pH levels weekly