Questions about mollies/platies

[imma24]

I went to 2 LFS's tonight to pick up a few female guppies to go with my 2 males (tequilla sunrise). While neither store had any in stock, I also looked at the platys & mollies - they were very pretty but I wondered why the males & females weren't separated by sex like guppies.

The guy told me that these fish don't breed very easily which is why they are kept together. I suspect they just don't breed in a fish store - lol.

If I can't get my hands on some guppies, I was interested in getting colorful platys or mollies - I saw red dwarf mollies - 1 male & 3 females but now I'm concerned there wont' be babies.

What are everyone's experiences with these fish? They will be going into a 5gal QT 1st for 2 weeks and then into my 46 gal community tank. Thanks!

[ScottishFish]

Mollies don't breed easy?? O dear, bad advice from an lfs.

I have mollies the now, 1m 3f, they all take it in turns being pregnant, always at least one with a belly full of babies. I think 850r even breeds mollies as feeders. They aren't as crazily prolific as guppies, still prolific though.

:22:

[Goes to 11!]

What are everyone's experiences with these fish? They will be going into a 5gal QT 1st for 2 weeks and then into my 46 gal community tank. Thanks!
Andrea, If you want some, I have dozens of fry and can send you some [ALL you want and all that I can catch lol].
Mine are almost all speckled and either Lyretail or Sailfin depending on which dad they had :-D


Mollies don't breed easy?? O dear, bad advice from an lfs. [<---Indeed]
I think 850r even breeds mollies as feeders. :22:
:hmm3grin2orange: True - But they breed themselves, It has little to do with me. I never bother to remove the fry to save them from the adults or anything, I just let the smart/strong survive to be fed to my oscar later.

[ekfishlover2011]

Mine are always pregnant. I just think that they seem more inclined to eat their children than guppies are IME.

[TheVoldevader]

Your LFS is totally off! They're prolific breeders. Aren't most livebearers? I've also read that platies can breed with guppies ... don't take my word for it though, never seen it myself :shrug:

[imma24]

But then why else would they keep both sexes in a tank unless store conditions inhibit breeding?
850R please see the PM I sent you

[TheVoldevader]

My local fish stores don't seperate by sex - the guppies are all thrown together, as are the platies and mollies, usually all in the same tank. No clue why yours seperates some and not others.

[ekfishlover2011]

Well, in a way, the store conditions do inhibit breeding for the mollies and platies. When a female is ready to give birth, every other fish in that tank notices, and they are all ready to eat the babies. So when she has the babies, they are eaten so fast you never even see any. In an at home environment, there is a higher chance of survival, because there is cover in the form of dense plants and ornaments. Smart ones can hide here and not get eaten and grow to a safe size. In the store there is a tank empty of hiding places and full of hungry mouths. Therefore no babies.

My store does same thing as yours. With guppies, IME, the other fish are much less interested in eating the babies, so if they had them all together they could all start breeding and then babies would be everywhere, since there are no other breeds of hungry fish there in the tank to eat them. So to prevent this they separate guppies, but dont have to worry about it with the mollies and platies.

[manicbaby]

my mollies have been pregnant since i got them. had babies in my tank 2 days after getting them and at this moment all three of them look like they are about to drop more fry.

i wouldn't worry about them not breeding, i would just worry about them eating the young if you wanted to raise them.

[Goes to 11!]

But then why else would they keep both sexes in a tank unless store conditions inhibit breeding?
850R please see the PM I sent you
Pm replied to. :22:

I get the feeling that those decisions are not made by someone on the floor of the fish dept [Read: Corporate directive] and there's any number of reasons possible...

Laziness possibly, or it could be a space issue and they are not real concerned about selling on carrying fish amongst others...

The big box store near me separates by gender but the two LFS do not. In fact, I got my initial 6 mollys for one dollar [total] as fry from my LFS and he has sales like that often to get rid of his excess livebearers. I have to saY THAT buck has gone a long long way :hmm3grin2orange: .

[leaveittoweaver]

The reason the store I work for doesn't seperate them is basically because they sell so fast that they rarely end up actually giving birth in the store. Sometimes they do but my store just lets them fend for themselves, we don't seperate the babies.

I don't think most stores train their employees how to sex fish, but pretty much everyone in the store I work for knows how to sex Mollies, Guppies, and Platys.