Question: My "Dalmation" Black Mollie had about 30 babies last week!

[Rowdyboy]

Okay, here's the story. I have a 30 gallon aquarium that was empty. We bought 4 Dalmation mollies (1 boy, 3 girls). Three of them died. My partner named the survivor "Fishie Baby" (does he have a killer imagination or what?) Well, week later, he notices lots of little "thingees" swimming around. Sure enough, Fishy Baby has given birth to 30-35 "babettes".

Its a week later. I'm feeding them the same stuff I feed their mama and they're big enough to eat it. So far, Big Mama hasn't eaten any of her offspring that I've seen.

What should I do? I'm feeding more often cause, hell, they're babies...I don't want hungry baby fish. The tank is clean, with a good bubble wand working.

Will most of them live? Should I feed them anything special? If they mature, will they make more "babettes" and appear on Jerry Springer as incestuous mollies?

Any help you can give is appreciated. I've never experienced an aquarium "live-birth" before. They're much bigger than last week and appear healthy and competitive. Suggestions?

[Lucky Luciano]

1. wow - that is cool

You probably should consult a more fish oriented website. I don't have to tell you what happens if you give the fish too much food. They will be able to tell you how much food to give and all the other stuff you need to do if some of them are going to live.

[Rowdyboy]

2. Its really wild....

They're greedy little things and they're growing fast. Mama is pretty big for a molly herself. I have no idea what to do but, hell, this is DU. SOMEONE here will have been through the exact same thing and can tell me what to do. Its happened over and over. This is a really diverse community. If you have a question, SOMEONE will try to answer it. Sort of like the worlds largest reference library.

[Crunchy Frog]

3. You must be a very proud gandpa!

I don't know anything about fish, but if they're growing rapidly it probably means you're doing something right.

You should be able to find some message boards or Yahoo groups that concern fish husbandry. I'm sure there's lots of them.

And yes, when they grow up, they almost certainly will make more little mollies and then you would have to have them all on Jerry Springer.

[Rowdyboy]

6. Well, the original 4 mollies probably were less than $8 so I'm really

not worried. Hell, its fun just to watch them grow. I really think at this point most of them will make it. They're about half as long as a dime and VERY visable.

[fortyfeetunder]

4. You're 71 short of 101 Dalmations (mollies)!

Those little buggers like to eat. How's the mama? She's survived the whole ordeal, right?

[Rowdyboy]

5. She's fat as a pig and thriving.....Obviously, she loves being in the

bosom of her 30 or so children!

[Crunchy Frog]

7. If she's fat as a pig

she may be about to give you 30 more.:o

[Rowdyboy]

8. Please Dear God NOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Fishy Baby and 35 youngun's are about all I need to handle. Mollys must have a long gestation period. She was alone for months before giving birth.

[ladjf]

9. Mollies are able to spawn more than once from a single

insemination. (guppies and swords also - viviparous)

Mollies require a slightly brackish water chemistry and are largely vegetarian. Any good aquarium shop will carry food especially for live bearers such as mollies.

Have fun!

[Rowdyboy]

13. Thanks! That is exactly the kind of information I was hoping for...

Mama and babies are all still thriving, babies are growing right before my eyes!

[ladjf]

14. Mollies are a bit more difficult to keep long term because of

the brackish water and special dietary needs. They are beautiful fish.

[purr]

10. I dont know about freshwater/brackish tanks, but in a saltwater

tank I think they eat baby brine shrimp. I've been waiting for my 2 clarkii clowns to spawn and no luck as of yet. Had them almost a year and I dont think they have - BUT - the female will guard the back of this one rock every month very religously. Ever get nailed by a clownfish? IT HURTS!!!! :)

I get a lot of my info from www.reefcentral.com . There might be a brackish group on there that would be able to help you.

[Tsiyu]

11. Congratulations!

Nice spawn! :toast:

The only thing I've heard about baby fish is to give them some tall plants to hide in if there are other fish who would view them as a snack.

What a cool thing to witness...:hi:

[Atlas Mugged]

12. I'm so happy......

...that someone else is going through the same thing!

Actually, I've had hundreds of Dalmatian Mollies for years. And it all started with a pair. I'm not sure if I can call them "Dalmatian" anymore, since there's all sorts of variations now, including some solid black ones with an orange strip across the dorsal fin.

I have a 75 gallon tank, and it's very, VERY heavily planted, which is the main reason I have it since I'm into plants. I had a beautiful pair of Black Veil Angelfish, but they finally died after 7 years. The Angels kept the Mollie population down, somewhat, and now it's a Mollie orgy free-for-all. We tried to catch some of them (well, MOST of them) and take them to the pet store, but that was something of a joke. Tried for hours and caught 8, destroying the tank in the process. Now we just feed them, do the maintenance, and argue about the next great fishing expedition. I love Mollies, really (they're such "happy" fish) but I'd like to add some color. I'm getting tired of black and green.

[catzies]

15. Mollies. platys and fancy-tailed guppies were my favorite fish

Mickey Mouse platy



2004 award-winning leopard guppy



Congratulations on your spawn!