Question on Dalmation Mollly babies

[Bizzy]

Hello all! Completely new here, but not a complete stranger to fish.

I'm in a bit of a quandary at the moment. Last week I purchased a new fish tank and some fish for my son's 6th birthday. Of course I will be doing most of the care, but my son sure does enjoy watching them swim around.

The first fish I decided to introduce were 4 guppies and 2 female Dalmatian Mollies and 2 male black mollies. One of the guppy females appeared to be pregnant when I purchased her and one of the female Dalmatian mollies was for sure pregnant as she was quite plump. It has been probably 10 years since I last dabbled with fish, but black mollies were always a favorite of mine.

I placed mommy molly in an automatic circulating hatchery which flushes the babies through a tube and into a separate tank 2 days ago and at some point in time last night she gave birth. The fry are completely white with no black at all. I haven't been able to count them as of yet, but there are quite a few. Does anyone know if it is normal for a Dalmatian molly to have all white babies?

In regards to the birth. I was not around when she had them and there was one that was, let's just say, half the fry he should have been. (Bad mommy!) But there were also several (3 or 4) round blob things that appeared to have 2 eyes but no body form at all. Are these still births of some sort? What would cause this?

The last question I have is in regards breeding. Do black molly males breed with Dalmatian molly females? Since I've only dealt with black mollies I have no clues if they "cross breed" so to speak or not. While the black molly has always been a favorite of mine, the Dalmatian molly is so unique in its appearance so it will soon be on my "most favorite list".

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. I'm really looking forward to learning more (as quickly as I can). Take care all and have a great night!

~Biz

 

[guppy97]

Dalmation mollies are white at birth and 1 or 2 months later it starts to show it's true colours. they'll eventually have spots on them. any type of mollies will mate with each other but the out come will be very interesting. that's what's great about mixing the mollies, you can say it's like a science project. good luck on raising them all. make sure your frys don't attack each other like mine does.

 

[snowrat2004]

like guppie97 said dalmations are white and the will get spots later, the black ones will be dark, if not completly black.

also, just a quick question, how big is the tank? did you cycle it before adding the fish, or are you cycling it now? the questions dont really have anything to do with the color of the fry, but the info might help with any additional advis we can give you.

 

[Bizzy]

also, just a quick question, how big is the tank? did you cycle it before adding the fish, or are you cycling it now? the questions dont really have anything to do with the color of the fry, but the info might help with any additional advis we can give you.

Thanks for the info. I guess they're like the dogs are with their spots. It's going to be fun watching them grow up.

Right now I have only a 15 gallon tank. It really isn't that big, especially now. I do intend on buying a 29 gallon (or larger) soon. I forgot how much I really like dealing with livebearers.

Snowrat, I really don't know what the term cycling means ) (shame on me). When I bought the tank I prepared the water (added the Start right they gave me) and they told me to let it be for 24 hours before adding any fish. We actually didn't add these fish for 3 days after the tank was originally set up with water and filtration.

My tank and accessory info:

15 gallon capacity
Elite 801 air pump which is connected to an air curtain bar 14" in length (and the nursery now on low bubble)
Whisper power filter (the size they suggested for the tank)
Various plants (not real)
Heater and thermometer
Standard hood and lighting

Just the basic stuff really, nothing fancy. I also keep tabs on the pH, Carbonate, Hardness, Nitrite, Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide with the Tetretest kit I bought. Sorry I can't be more helpful with my answer, but I'll learn.

 

[haaris]

the spots will come much earlier my d mollie's
fry are 6 days old and i can make out thier spots
and 5 of the fry are completely black.
and black and dalmation mollies are the same breed
they can breed togethar

 

[Bizzy]

I did a search because I felt rather ignorant about the cycling thing and am currently reading this post. Some of it I have down pat, but I have a lot to learn. Thanks all for the prompt replies. I'm still curious about the blob things with eyes (?) though.

 

[snowrat2004]

dont worry about it, we all have to learn somehow. dont hesitate to ask us if you have any problems or want advise. thats what we are here for

 

[spanky_pp_]

couldnt the babies be white, if the female matted with a white male!? the white of the male would cancel out the black spots of the female...!
Im not to sure.

 

[pondfreak4365]

hi Bizzy,
I would guess that the blob things were deformed fry. I have several crosses with silver sailfins, black and dalmation mollies, and the fry range from silver to dalmation to black and I have a couple that are gray with really well defined scales, kinda like Texas Cichlids!

 

[Bizzy]

hi Bizzy,
I would guess that the blob things were deformed fry.

Yup, this is what I'm thinking as well. Being as I just got momma fish I really don't know what the history on her is, nor did I measure anything from the water she came in so I don't know if her previous environment caused this or not. With her late stage of pregnancy I would certainly think it had nothing to do with the conditions she is in now.

After all my readings I see that I made a LOT of mistakes with my new tank. I hope I can correct them before any of the fish suffer. I've cut back on their food until I can get some live plants in there this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed for them.

Here's a very small pic I took of two of the 4 "blobs" that were in the nursery after I cleaned it out.

 

[pondfreak4365]

I'm sure there is a more scientific way to say this, but that's why fish have so many fry. Many are just not viable, those pics are undeveloped fry...you can see the eyes and yolk sacs.

 

[Bizzy]

Yes, I suppose it is a good thing that they have so many.

Just to keep everyone updated, the little mollies are growing slowly but surely and a couple have begun to get their spots. There are a LOT of them in there, or at least it seems that way to me.

Feeding the babies and keeping them healthy has been fairly easy compared to the catastrophe they were born into (non-cycled tank). But that also is being remedied as I type. I got lots of very helpful information from mostly this site. I have purchased plants, I was unable to get any gravel as "they weren't allowed to do that"...buggar! I think I just didn't ask nice enough. I'll try another fish store tomorrow. The levels of ammonia are still a bit high according to what I read. I've been doing 1/3 water changes daily to help keep the levels down and feeding once daily for the adults, 3 times for the babies. The readings this afternoon were:

Ammonia: @1.5 mg/l (was at 3.0....please don't thrash me... ) )
Nitrite is at .3 mg/l
pH is between 8.0 & 8.5
GH is at 7° dH
KH at 4° dH

Hopefully I can pull this one off without having any fatalities. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[haaris]

if your getting grvel get the smallest ones and make
sure thier same sizes or else the fry ca get stuck
bet ween the gravel