Mollies And Swordtails Not Breeding

[kporteo]

Hi,
I have a male swordtail and 3 female swordtails and a male molly and 2 female mollies - from what I heard, there should be no problems breeding these fish and if anything I should have a problems stopping them breeding. Ive had them for approx 4 months now and have no signs of pregnancy in any fish - any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

My water stats are ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 40ish. Temp is 26 and they are fed one of either flakes, bloodworms or algae wafers every other day.

K

 

[roadmaster]

Hi,
I have a male swordtail and 3 female swordtails and a male molly and 2 female mollies - from what I heard, there should be no problems breeding these fish and if anything I should have a problems stopping them breeding. Ive had them for approx 4 months now and have no signs of pregnancy in any fish - any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

My water stats are ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 40ish. Temp is 26 and they are fed one of either flakes, bloodworms or algae wafers every other day.

K

Do the females ever look pregnant? Could be they are having young, and eating them if there are no floating plant's or live plant's for fry to hide from them.
These fish have no motherly instinct's and will eat the fry.Tetra's could possibly also do the same.

 

[OldMan47]

I am going to guess that you do not have heavy fry cover in your tank. A gestation period for a molly or a swordtail is only about a month so chances are pretty good that you have had some drops in your tank. I keep lots of tanks with swordtails but only see fry if I actively watch the females and separate them as their time approaches. Stop restricting their food so much. I find that an excess of food encourages most fish to breed since they have a food source their fry can rely on. Mollies are fairly gentle with their fry as long as they are well fed as this picture shows. the picture was taken the day of the drop.

What I mean by dense cover is a large clump of java moss or an equivalent other plant. This is a single clump of java moss in one of my tanks. I never need take any precautions in that tank to get plenty of fry.

 

[kporteo]

Heres the largest Ive seen my molly since ive got her - and I sit and watch the tank a lot!! Surely as for the swordtails - theyve been slim forever!!
Think il increase my feeding, i cut it down as I had snails but Ive got a few assasin snails and theyve helped.



K

ps, I have quite a bit of plant coverage, see my tank in the TOTM gallery.

 

[roadmaster]

Heres the largest Ive seen my molly since ive got her - and I sit and watch the tank a lot!! Surely as for the swordtails - theyve been slim forever!!
Think il increase my feeding, i cut it down as I had snails but Ive got a few assasin snails and theyve helped.

View attachment 63210

K

ps, I have quite a bit of plant coverage, see my tank in the TOTM gallery.

Fish in photo looks like possibly a male.

 

[OldMan47]

Your silver colored female is well along and could drop fry any day now.

 

[roadmaster]

Your silver colored female is well along and could drop fry any day now.

Old Man,, I too think it is indeed a female but was confused by that just in front of anal fin. Almost looks like fish is sporting male features?

 

[OldMan47]

That is a folded ventral fin, visible on the close side of the body. The anal fin is the one that has a distinct shape for a male vs. a female. There is a complete anatomy picture here with the fins named.

 

[kporteo]

Thanks for the advice, fingers crossed she'l drop soon, my mate is currently fishless cycling his tank for when theyre old enough to be shifted!
K