Breeding Mollies

Question
Hi, I have a 10 gallon tank and I was thinking of turning it into a molly species tank. Is there any advice you could give me and I have been doing research and I know to outnumber males 2 to 1 but if I had 2-3 females woudn't it be extremely easy for the tank to get over crowded? Would I be better off just trying to find a pregnant female or females in the pet store and avoid getting males? Thanks for any information.

Answer
Hi Tiffany.  I would say that you probably don't have a good idea to have a molly species tank.  Maybe a guppy tank, but mollies are too big for a 10 gallon tank, especially when they have on upwards of 85 "fry" (babies) at a time.  You would QUICKLY overpopulate the tank, especially considering these fry are NOT real small when born.  Even a guppy tank would be quickly overrun.  Also, the females can store sperm, and even without a male in the tank (mollies, guppies, any livebearers) they can have up to 7 or 8 more loads of babies before they stop having them.  Soooooooooo, you may want to rethink the livebearing tank or have an alternate idea in mind to house the new "babies".  For example in 1 month with platies and mollies, (5 females), I have OVER 210 fry.  Platys are very very small when born, but grow quickly.  So all my fry go in to a 10 gallon tank ALONE for about a month or 2 until they are big enough to separate back to my other tanks and go to the places I donate them to (but this has to be set up prior to having babies!!)  It's a LOT of work.  The other option you have is letting them have the fry naturally in the tank (which I feel the tank is still too small), but the other fish will literally eat the fry.  So there is a lot to think about.  I can't answer the question for your per say, I'm just telling you what/how I handle it.  I donate my babies to a school and a private fish store.

I hope this helps.  Please let me know what you come up with.  I would love to hear about it!!  Good luck!!  ;o)