Fish Breed?

[Chriss121]

Hi
Can anyone confirm that this is a Dalmation Mollie.. if not what breed is it.


We have just started 3 outdoor ponds and have stocked from a local retailer. We have been told we have Mollies, Guppies and basic Goldfish as these should be easy fish to keep to start with.

These are our first ponds, and we envisage adding further varieties in the future eventually dedicating one pond for Koi.

Apologies for the picture quality

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Yes the fish in the picture is a female dalmation molly.

What country do you live in?
Mollies will not survive outdoors in the northern half of the US or in the UK. If you live in a warm climate they should be fine.

 

[Chriss121]

Hi, We live in Thailand, climates not a worry, making sure we have shaded areas of the ponds is a priority. Many households have small outdoor fish ponds or small fish species in large planters, it's a good luck thing here.
We also have Guppies, Goldfish and Platies (I think) all mixed together. The intention is to learn and add other varieties as we move forward, the ultimate goal is a Koi pond....

 

[Colin_T]

You don't want to mix goldfish with other fish. Either keep livebearers or goldfish but not both in the same pond.

Make sure your pond has an overflow with a screen on it. The rain can fill ponds up and wash fish out of them.

 

[Chriss121]

You don't want to mix goldfish with other fish. Either keep livebearers or goldfish but not both in the same pond.

Make sure your pond has an overflow with a screen on it. The rain can fill ponds up and wash fish out of them.

OK TY for the info. The goldfish are very junior at the moment, I'll look at moving them elsewhere. I must add though they do seem to keep to themselves, don't seem to interact or go close with the others.
We do have covered overflow on all 3 ponds. It's dry season now so no problem.

 

[Chriss121]

New actions stared today.
This morning I've noticed that not only the troublesome male but a couple of other males of different species are bumping or, for want of a better term, headbutting her in the area of her vent. This is forcing her to sit on the bottom where the males try to dig into the ground to get to her vent area.... Normal or problematic?
Maybe as this is all new to me I'm reading far too much into it and should let them get on with it..?

 

[Colin_T]

Male livebearers are a pain in the ass and irritate the hell out of the females with their constant harassment. I prefer to keep livebearers in single sex tanks/ ponds with only males or only females. If you have a large pond then you can have males & females but make sure there are at least 10 females for each male.

In the wild livebearers live in large groups consisting of about 20-50+ females and a few males hang around the back of the group and try to breed with the females. If you don't have enough females the males can harass the females to death.

Female livebearers can carry up to 6 sperm packets from previous matings and they use 1 sperm packet for each batch of eggs. This allows females to fertilise eggs for up to 6 months after breeding with a male. During that 6 month period you do not need males in the pond with them.

If the females are being picked on and harassed, move the males into another pond and make sure the female has lots of plants to hide in. If you have to move the female, do not lift her out of water if she is pregnant because this can cause her to go into a premature labour and the babies die. If you have to move a pregnant female, carefully scoop her up in a net but keep her in the water. Put a bucket in the pond and fill it with water and move the bucket under the net. Lift the bucket of water up so the female and the net are in the bucket of water.

 

[Chriss121]

Finally took your advice and moved the troublesome male out. That did the trick, 2 days later she's given birth. 18 fry (there may be more, pretty hard to count) hanging out together.... Happy days.
The Guppy new borns have done well on their own should I treat the Mollies the same and is it safe now to add the male again.

 

[Colin_T]

Leave the male out for at least 2 weeks so the female can recover.

All baby livebearers can be treated the same way. Feed them lots of small foods and have lots of plants for them to hide in. If possible move the babies into their own tank/ pond to grow up.

 

[Chriss121]

TY. I'll leave the male out. There's plenty of plants in the pond. They seem to be mixing well with the junior Guppies. Think I'll leave them there for now.

 

[Chriss121]

It has now become too difficult to count the new borns. A guess would be close on 50. They all seem OK, keeping in quite a tight little group around a healthy plant. But I guess you guys have all seen this before...

 

[platinumguppy]

It has now become too difficult to count the new borns. A guess would be close on 50. They all seem OK, keeping in quite a tight little group around a healthy plant. But I guess you guys have all seen this before...

Congrats