Mixing Mollies

[morgan]

Hi, I am thinking of getting some orange coloured Mollies to make the tank a bit more colourful. Is it ok to mix orange coloured (don't know what they're called) with Dalmation Mollies. I have a bad ratio of male to female as I did not buy the fish, they were all born in the tank. Would the fry be ok or deformed? If it's a bad idea to mix them I will get some Platies instead. Thanks.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Mixing mollys is fine but you still need to get the gender ratios right(3females per male), you should rehome some of your mollys if they are all related, its not good to let them inbreed with other as it drastically increases the chances of deformed or weak fry with bad imune systems. Mollys can end up requiring some large tanks as the average size of mollys is 3-4inches long, somtimes bigger somtimes smaller, and they are active fish.
How many mollys do you have and what are their gender ratios? How many gallons is your tank and what is its total stocking?

 

[morgan]

Hi, thanks for reply. I have ten Mollies, five females and five males which is not good at all. They are all related. They are in a 300litre (65UKgals, I think). They are in with a Common Pleco (11"), 10 Cardinal Tetras, some tiny Mollie fry and a Golden Apple Snail. The largest ones are about 2 1/2 to 3 " and the smaller ones are about 1 1/2". Sounds like I might have to rehome some. Luckily my lfs will take them (for free!). If I rehome about 3 males and get some new females would that be ok?

 

[AdrianB]

Lovely size tank you have! If you had 2 or 3 males and 7 or so females then that would be fine if you want breeding. If not rehome all the males and get just keep females thats what I'm doing now as I cant be doing with the breeding especially as my LFS don't take them and they really aren't healthy when they are related.

 

[morgan]

Hi, it is a nice tank. It was my Xmas present, I only had it for the Pleco. I am off to gaze at it when I have finished here! I have fry at the moment. I like my present fish but I would like to add some colour but I don't want any "exotic" fish which are not hardy. I find the Mollies I have to be very hardy.

 

[Fish_n_Frys]

They won't usually mate... the fry would be fine.

 

[morgan]

Oh, so there won't be any crossbreeds? I think I will rehome 3 male Mollies and get a few female orange ones. Thanks. They are enjoying being in their new tank, they were in a 20gallon before.

 

[Annastasia]

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing, but any Molly will mate with any Molly. Balloon, Sailfin, Lyre-tail, Black, White...doesn't matter. And no, the fry shouldn't have any problems, as long as they aren't too inbred. Like brothers mating with sisters for many generations. If they aren't related, they'll be perfectly fine.

 

[morgan]

They're cousins! So they should be ok. Thanks for the replies I like to check before I get anything. I have about 6 fry at the moment. They must have been born just after I moved the fish, I don't think that many could have got scooped up from the old tank. They have real plants in this tank so they should be able to hide more easily. I took the real plants out of the old tank because snails were wrecking them. I soaked the new plants for a week but unfortunately one or two snails got scooped up while we were catching the pleco. And that's another story!