Mollies PLEASE REPLY !

Question
QUESTION: i have not started breeding fish yet but i have the breeding kit i am just waiting to go to the fish place to buy the females i was just wondering what colors? i have 2 male Mollies (1 black and 1 orange) i might get white females but what colors will the fry be? if the white breeds with the orange will the fry just be orange or white...does a mix of white and orange ever happen?? if you have any pictures that would be great...and how many females would you recommend getting could i get away with one or not?? PLEASE reply thanks xxx

ANSWER: Hi Kim,
 It is actually very hard to predict the colors of the offspring because there are many things that control color in mollies.  If you have two male mollies, I would get at least four females.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your answer x =D

but my orange mollie seems to have black dots over his body i thought it might pass but nothing is changing the dots are small like pepper being put on my fish do you know what this might be and how i can help my fish?? i am getting worried but none of my other fish appear to have the dots. thank you x

ANSWER: Hi Kim,
 There are several possible causes of little black dots. One source is a small parasite called "black spot". These look bad, but eventually go away and cause no harm.  

 Other times, fish get little bruises that look like black dots.  

 There are several other forms of black dots and some of these are little parasites (other than the regular black spot I talked about above).  For those, you will need medications.  Personally, I avoid
giving medications unless you know for sure what it is you are treating.  

 I think your best bet would be to isolate that fish and see what happens.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry about bugging you about this but you know like i was saying about my yellow mollie having black spots all over his body...well i tried separation but now the color seems to be fading on his back fin so instead of being yellow it is now white!!! my two guppies appear to have the same problem but minus the dots there color is going on the back fins!! the behavior seems to be the same i have no idea what this is if you have any answer PLEASE reply i am getting really worried now

Answer
Hi Kim,
 Hmmm... that is a mystery.  Keep in mind that fishes do change color all the time, so it isn't unusual for them to be more or less colorful from one day to the next.  The fact that they are all going white suggests that they are not happy.  Do you have a proper heater, filter and airstone in the tank?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>