breeding fancy mollies

Question
I was just wondering if you could tell me how red fancy mollies mate and all the related issues, such as when where how, well you get the idea.  Thank you in advance.

Answer
Dear Joe,
The humble Molly. What an interesting fish to get into breeding with. Mollies are fortunately some of the easiest fish to breed. As you know, they are livebearers which means an  female will carry her young (or fry) inside her until they are well developed enough to be born where she will then drop a brood of a dozen and often more- fry about every month! Males and females can easily be told apart by their bottom or anal fins. In the males, it is pointed and the females, is simply a typical 'fin' shape like a tiny fan.

Mollies like all livebearers, need little provocation to mate and have fry. All they need is good water conditions.
Firstly, Mollies do best in larger aquariums for their general health and well-being. A 29 gallon is a very good size but a 15 gallon can be sufficient.
Secondly, good water quality is of the innermost importance. Mollies must have no ammonia, nitrite and low nitrate in their aquarium at all times. Good water that is changed frequently is very beneficial to their health.
*~Changing 20% of the aquarium water every day does wonders for the mature fish and fry grow much faster.
~*Warm water is also important for mollie health. They cannot tolerate cool water very well. As long as you have a good heater, there will be little trouble to keeping your mollie aquarium at around 78-82F for them to be at their best.
~*Some mollies do better with aquarium salt added. But many times, generations of mollies are born and raised without any salt at all. The best thing to do in this situation is ask the fish shop if their mollies are kept in salty or "brackish" water. You'll want to try to duplicate what the mollies are already accostumed to.
*~ Last but certainly not least, a good diet is important for the good health of mollies. Include as much variety as you can, in the form of a good high quality staple flake, supplemented with frozen foods like brine shrimp and other live frozen foods. And include plenty of vegetable matter as well. Spirulina flakes and algae tablets are excellent. Some mollies may even eat Zuchinni or blanched lettuce. Frozen but thawed out green peas are excellent also.

Well, i've pretty much covered the basics of breeding mollies. Oftentimes, female mollies are almost always pregnant already before you even bring them home. Because male livebearers of any sort can be especially vigorous in their breeding tendancies--often stressing females out. It's best to keep about twice as many females as there are males to spread out the males high activity.

As for the actual mating. It's very simple. The male mollies modified bottom fin can be directed forword and with a quick dash upward underneath the female, he mates with her. It's very quick and many times the males miss--ahem...their target. But before you know it there will certainly be a batch of baby mollies one way or another.
Mollies will mate anywhere, anytime. Whenever a male gets a chance to be near a female and she will allow.

Well, if I've missed anything, be sure to let me know.
I really hope this helps!

Best wishes to you and your Mollies!
Karen~