# Unsure what my fry are - sounds terrible I know!



## melissasroja (Sep 20, 2010)

Hi there. Im new here (this is my 1st post actually) and am wondering if anyone can help me identify my fry. I know this is probably an unusual question but honestly I cannot tell. My tank contains the following:

Fancy Guppy: 3 male & 3 female of all colors
Dalmatian Molly: 1 male & 1 female
Platy: 1 Mickey Mouse female & 1 Sunburst male
Danio: 2 Zebra & 1 Pearl

So here is my issue. The tank has been established for a while now with just the danios. Over the last 2-3 weeks Ive added in the guppies, mollies and platies. They all get along wonderfully and seem quite happy. The females all look as though they could be pregnant. Large black gravid spots on the guppies for sure and the molly and platy have decent sized bellies. Not massive but they are far from thin. On friday I came home from a trip to the vet with my dog and there were some babies in the tank. I do have a breeder but decided to wait and see what would happen with the babies and if they would survive on their own with the adults. Saturday morning I could only find 1 baby so I decided to take the adults out and move the 1 baby to the breeder tank. In doing this I ended up finding not 1 but 6 babies which made me quite happy. They sure can hide! So here I have these 6 babies in a breeder tank but I honestly cannot tell who the mama is! I do have a few pics which I will attach here but they arent of the best quality. My first assumption was they were guppies but none of the guppies seem to have lost their huge gravid spot. The platy and the molly dont look any different either. The babies are all very clearish in color. No white or black or orange. It doesnt really matter to me what they are but I would like to know so I can know which of my females to keep watching so that next time I can hopefully move her to the breeder tank ahead of time. Thanks.

Melissa


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## PaulLamb (Nov 15, 2009)

Hard to tell from the pictures (it is always difficult to get a good quality picture at such a small scale), but my first impression is they look like mollies. The large dark eyes especially make me think they are not guppies (most guppy color varieties don't have dark eyes). I can't say for sure they are not platties (I've never kept platties myself, so someone else here may recognize them as such) You'll be able to tell better in a couple of weeks as they develop, though.


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## emzamy (Jul 18, 2010)

Hi-i am new to fish keeping but my Platy had fry a week ago and they look the same as your pictures! I could be wrong though as these are the first fry i have had so i have nothing to compare them to! 

Emma


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## Black Orchid (Sep 24, 2010)

Hi there and congrats on the new little ones. I am an avid keeper of dalmation mollies and have had a lot of babies. The pics are too small and too blurry to really be able to tell what they are. Give it a few weeks and you should be able to make out who had what.


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## melissasroja (Sep 20, 2010)

Ok thank you all for the replies. As I said before it doesnt really matter what they are I was just wondering so I know which females to be watching. I guess Ill watch them all as Ive been doing! lol. I have a lot of people (friends and family) who are waiting for babies to add to their own tanks. Some want only mollies. Others only platies. And others only guppies. So Im getting tons of "Are they my babies?" questions. Hate to break it to em but as cute as they are and being my first set they are MY babies!


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## Black Orchid (Sep 24, 2010)

With all those live bearers you have you shall have plenty for all before long. I have have had hundreds of mollies. I enjoy raising them but then sending them off to their new home is not always easy not knowing if they will be well taken care of but there is just no way I could keep them all. I typically sell them to the fish stores in my area for a small store credit.


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## melissasroja (Sep 20, 2010)

Im not sure if my fish stores would take them. The plan is to only have a few batches and then Im going to split them into a female tank and a male tank. Then if we start losing fish I can always put a female and a male together and get another batch of babies. I also have African Dwarf Frogs and I may put a few in with them. It would have to be males only though because if a female happens to have babies the frogs will most definitely eat them.


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## Black Orchid (Sep 24, 2010)

I know that the Petcos and Petsmarts won't take fish - who would want to give their fish to them anyway??? I have found several fish stores that I use for getting rid of the fish. I started out with 5 female mollies and one male. Like I noted above, I have had hundreds. I have lost some along the way - never really sure why. I know mollies like marine salt so my main tank with the females get the tank all to themself with some occasional salt. Sometimes, when I have so many babies, once they are no longer tiny I will divy them up to other tanks. Right now I am in a slow time for babies and am thankful for the break. I was going to post some pics but am not able to find where to attach them???


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## Black Orchid (Sep 24, 2010)

Here we go. Check out some of the many batches of mollies I have had.


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## SkylarrRyann (Jan 11, 2009)

I just wanted to let you know that you have some nice looking mollies there! You're doing a great job!


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## melissasroja (Sep 20, 2010)

Thank you! Ill post up some new pics tomorrow when they turn 2 weeks old. Im still not sure if they are guppies, mollies or platies but they seem to be doing quite well. They eat like pigs! lol. I almost think I see a touch of white on them which would make sense if they are mollies since mine are dalmatian's but then I look again and think Im just seeing things lol. Ive moved them out of the plastic breeder and into a net breeder with plants and they seem quite happy. Double the room and swimming all over! So far my others havent had any fry. I have one guppy I think is about 23 days so she should be dropping soon. Another is way bigger than her but so far nothing. Ill probably leave the majority of those babies in the main tank and see what happens and pull out a few to keep safe. I could honestly just sit and watch the little ones swim around all day


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