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I started off with two little molly fry last weekend. I just found five more. They are considerably smaller than the first two.

Is there a chance that they could be from the same mother? I was under the impression that they had many babies a month or so apart, but thought it may be plausible for her to have a few at a time over a shorter period of time.

stuey07,

Are they smaller than your other fry now or smaller then when you found the other two? If the first case is true then it would most likely be because they had to hide in the tank for a few days to avoid being eaten while your catch got good food from you (I assume).

To my knowledge (limited to platies) livebearers have their babies within the day and not over a span of multiple days. The only exception I could think of would be if there is some form of miscarriage involved where the later ones are abnormal. But I have not heard of this so far.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

They are quite a bit smaller than the original two. Also, there seems to be much more color varation between them.

I keep finding more; I'm up to nine at the moment.

How many female mollies are in this tank? Color variation is not a confirmation, because of the fact that female mollies can drop several color types and even in shapes.

ronn

i had someone tell me once that the pregnant molly mom will drop all her baby fry in a span of about 9 hours.

And i have also found that some of my molly fry are larger than the others from the same batch, i think this is partially because some of the fry have a chance to mature faster than the other fry before being dropped, meaning some are still being fed of eggsacks and some get more food than others. it is possible that even thought drastic in size, they are from the same batch..
BUT, it is also possible they could be from another female, or possibly even the same female just a month before, seeing as how mollies drop ever 28-32 days.




hope this helps,
Chelle

*Chelle*
_______________________________________________
I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...

There are three females in the tank. Two of them are balloon mollies. I am trying to determine what the chances are that some of them may be balloons

i dont think its even possible to determine what color combinations and breed they will be, because she could have fry from many different fathers, they hold sperm for up the three months from other possible mates, so trying to determine early on, might be a hard task.

not to mention its all in the genetics, the female could be mixed with something else as well.

*Chelle*
_______________________________________________
I love the fishes cuz they're SOOO delicious...