our fish are having babies!!!

[vicki1982]

we bought 2 swordtails a few months ago and a couple of weeks ago one died but since then the other one had a baby and two weeks later had another one. where are they coming from?!! is it normal that shes had them two weeks apart. weve also got a black molly in the tank, is it possible that he fertilised her eggs, ive heard that, that can happen. the babies seem to be doing really well.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Livebearers can store sperm from the males, they only need contact with a male once to have lots of batches of babies.

 

[dwarfgourami]

On the other hand, mollies and swordtails can not breed together as they are not the same family. Swordtails and platies, yes, mollies and guppies, yes, mollies and swordtails, no.

Livebearers can store sperm from the males, they only need contact with a male once to have lots of batches of babies.

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[Ddraig Goch]

Swordtails and Mollies are both livebearers, which means they give birth to live fish not eggs.
As stated above female livebearers can store sperm packets from males to fertilize several batches of eggs (possibly up to 7). She will then give birth to several fry (baby fish) from 10-80 maybe every 4-6 weeks.

My guess is that she gave birth a while ago and up until now the fry have been hiding in the tank to survive as they will get eaten by any fish with a large enough mouth, including the parent fish.

If you're looking for more information on breeding these fish have a look at the Livebearers topic.

Good luck.