i want to breed

Question
hello david. i wonder if you can help me. I am 14 and i just set up my fish tank about a month ago. my black molly was allready pregnant when i bought her and she just had 12 babies. they are all healthy and currently liveing with the mother and two other fish. The two other fish's names are spot, and sparkle. Sparkle is a silver lyretail molly. Spot is a dalmation molly. will the dalmation molly and the black molly mate? How long is the molly's gestation period? How many babies can they have at a time? How do i get them to intentionally mate? please reply, it would help me out alot. Thanks

Answer
Hi Devon: All Molly's can cross breed.  The gestation period for Molly's is from six weeks to six months and that mostly depends on their environment.  Molly's as you may know give birth to live babies and do not lay eggs.  They can have up to 120 babies at a time... so think about it carefully before you wish for a breeding pair of fish.   Set the water temperature to 82 degrees and provide them with plenty of places to hide.  Make sure they have enough to eat but do not over feed them.... those are the three important factors in breeding molly's.... dave