Found a baby fish

[quagmire]

Just found a baby fish in my filter pad. The fish was about a 1/4 inch and black. I have a pair of orange percs, a pair of yellow watchmans and a single black molly in the tank. Who's the parent/s? Is it possible for a molly to reproduce without a mate?

 

[bigsink]

Cannot be a molly unless you put it in while pregnant. How about some pics?

 

[oh207]

More than likely its molly. Their babies are at least half an inch long. Can you ID the molly in the tank as a female?

 

[Martini5788]

If it's a female molly, they can hold sperm for up to 8 months. And then decide to impregnate themselves because they just feel like being pregnant. So if you put that Molly in there less than 10 months ago, I would go with Molly fry

 

[quagmire]

Sorry no pictures John. I tossed it back in the display right away. It can't be from the clowns. They have only been in the tank for a couple weeks and were not a mated pair before i got them. They were from two different tanks. I suppose it could be from the gobies. Although i've never noticed any mating behavior. They do live in a cave so maybe i missed it. I have noticed the molly swell up several times in the past few months then look normal again. Thought it was odd especially without a mate. It did pop out a bunch of babies several days after i brought it home from the store. It has been a few months since then and i moved it to a different tank. Hope i find another to examine.

 

[quagmire]

If it's a female molly, they can hold sperm for up to 8 months. And then decide to impregnate themselves because they just feel like being pregnant. So if you put that Molly in there less than 10 months ago, I would go with Molly fry

Disgusting and interesting at the same time. Thanks you for the info.

 

[Martini5788]

Definitely Molly fry then. They actually give birth, vs egg laying, so the fry are fully functioning. But they would definitely have trouble with the flow in a saltwater tank as well as the intense lighting, as they have to stay near the surface to breath.

 

[bigsink]

Cool. Great info martini.

 

[quagmire]

Found another one. Thinking about trying to raise it. Would baby brine shrimp be ok to feed it? See picture

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Looks like a molly to me.
Flake if you have it & they like algae too.

 

[quagmire]

Thanks Vinny. I have some algae flakes. I sprinkled some meaty flake and bbs eggs in there before i posted. It's already picking at something that settled on the bottom. Also tossed in a tiny piece of rubble with algae on it.

 

[Martini5788]

Just crush up the flakes really well. They need to be fed about
6 times a day, which is annoying. So small amount and frequently

 

[quagmire]

Will do. Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Martini5788]

And look for more of them. They hide well. This one might be the lone survivor but I would keep your eye out for more. I have never had a molly that had less than 20 fry.