But please make sure your LFS (local fish store) takes guppy fries or molly fries. You wouldn't want to euthanize them all.... Also ask if you can get store credit. Call, if you drive there and they don't take it... what a shame.

Please buy fish that are active, have an appetite (if you put your and over the top, that means they want food), and erect fins. Don't buy guppies/mollies that are lying on the ground and with all their fins clamped on their body. Try to refrain buying fish with dead fish in the same tanks. If you can't avoid it, buy the healthiest, prettiest (to you) fish you can.

Seriously breeding

Creating new strains... making traits stand out

You'll need 3 tanks.

1. The main tank. With the fish you have, at least 10 gallons. Preferably higher... you can have other fishies too!

2. Male grow-out tank. 20 gallons

3. Female grow-out tank. 20 gallons

For the grow-out tanks, no gravel needed.

It's alright to mix the guppy and molly fries as they won't kill or eat each other. Filters in the grow-out tanks would be sponge filters. Small, efficient, easy to maintain and don't suck up fry. Regular filters like HOB (hang on back) would be alright for the main, your preference.

Just making them make babies

Ok, this is simple. 1 tank, the main tank is needed and the babies are born in the regular tank. Just provide hiding places, lots. The filter intake tube might suck up fry so put an unused sponge on the intake tube. It might lessen the flow of the water, but at least you'll have a place where bacteria colonizes.

Female and Male Distinguishing

Females grow larger than males, 2.5 inches while males grow around 1.5 inches, another guideline. Of course, only for guppies.

This is a male guppy. Can you see the gonopodium there? It is a modified anal fin used to transfer sperm into the female.

A female guppy. Can you see that there is no gonopodium? Also, females are less colorful than their male counterparts. In place of the gonopodium, there is the flag-shaped anal fin. This female guppy is pregnant and will be used for reference.

Same thing applies to ALL livebearers, like swordtails, platies, and mollies.

How long and how many babies?

Depends on species.

Mollies - Takes about 8-10 weeks and make 100-150 fry at a time.

Guppies - Takes about 4-6 weeks and make 30-70 fry at a time.

How to tell if the female is pregnant

Ok, here is where the picture comes back.

Can you see the blue-ish dark spot right of the anal fin and left of the silver torso? That is called the gravid spot and approves pregnancy. You can also tell that the belly is extremely larger than normal. Although it is harder on balloon mollies, there is still a considerable difference. Of course, if you look at the fish everyday, then you can't tell that easy. That's where pictures come in handy. Take a few "before" pictures and compare them with the pregnant guppy to make sure...

The best way to find the gravid spot is... look from behind into the butt. On the sides of the vent (butt) the blue-ish dark spot should be there.

Will the male stress my female a lot?

If it's for purposes like making a pure strain, then you have your reasons. It will more than having two females to bother, but there is a reason. Many breeders do that so don't worry. Or, you can choose two females with the traits you want and one male with the traits as well. Then, you won't have to worry about too much stress being exhibited by the male to just one female.

Will the female be acting funny during pregnancy?

There is one notable behavior. The female will hide in one spot or hover. Only when you feed it then does it move. It's alright and happens to fish. It usually happens right before birth and some fish might not behave like such.

What do I do when they're giving birth? (Credit to Nikita on second paragraph!)

First, find out AS SOON AS POSSIBLE if the female is pregnant. That'll give us more time.

If you are using the serious breeding technique, wait 3 weeks before moving the guppy into the grow out tank. For mollies, wait 6-7 weeks.

If you're using the just make have babies, you could either: Use the breeding traps Nikita talked about or just let them give birth in hiding. But somehow provide water flow through the traps. You absolutely don't want stagnant water, it'll kill fry. Also, the hole(s) the fry fall through are too small for the mother to get the fry. It seems as if guppy fry tastes good to fish... just sad... but that's how fish just are. We can't change it.

Do I need to condition the fish to make them breed?

No. Livebearers breed in just about any water that doesn't go to extremes like extreme acidity or alkanality. If you really want them to breed, try feeding them bloodworms and other meaty foods. Also feed more vegetable matter more than meaty foods. Surprisingly, mollies eat more vegetable matter like algae and decaying plants more than meat like worms and water fleas. So to condition mollies, feed them algae wafers and flakes made for omnivores.

Do the fish need certain parameters?

No, but they do like hard, slightly alkaline water. That means, a dGH of 10 or higher (not too high) and a pH of 7.0-8.0. If your water isn't like this in the beginning, DON'T TRY CHANGING IT! It'll just mess up your water stability and stress -- possible kill -- your fish. Breeding will also not occur, just the opposite you want.

Will they breed immediately?

Nearly all the time, yes. But of course the male MIGHT not like the female, so unless you're crazy about having those traits, having two females to choose is better, as long as they have the traits.

The male likes both of them, should I remove one?

No need to. Then he likes both and both are pregnant; why not?

The babies came out but they don't look like the daddy at all, what happened?

Two things happened. 1. The traits the male has are all recessive and female has dominant traits or 2. the female got herself pregnant by the sperm stored in her oviduct. Now 1 won't really happen a lot, but 2 might. You see, livebearers store the sperm by the male and can still use it to reproduce even after 6 months from the last mate. This is what happens:

First, at the store, the female and male mate. The female gives birth. You buy the female. The female gets herself pregnant and here is the scenario.

You might have to wait a long time, half a year, but I recommend buying from places where the females are seperate and the males don't jump over. But it's alright if you're not serious about breeding.

But if they are female guppies that look ugly... no wonder, males are MUCH prettier.

What do I feed them? (Credit to Nikita!!!!)

Nauplii. Powdered flakes. Hard boiled egg yolk mashed threw a net. Baby brine shrimp.

Those are just a few ideas. Hard boiled egg yolk if you're not too crazy. Powdered flakes if you are just fine with it, babies readily take flakes. Nauplii if you're enthusiastic. I just use powedered flakes or Hikari First Bites. They float on the surface and fall slowly. Don't overfeed or you'll fowl the water and kill fry.

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

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If life gives you lemons, squeeze them into people's eyes and run away!

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First off, you have to make sure you have a boy and a girl.  Elementary birds and bees stuff. ;)  Guppies and mollies are both livebearing fish, which means that the male fertilizes the eggs internally and the female carries them until they hatch.  The fry are then born live. 

To sex livebearers, look at the anal fin.  That's the bottom fin closest to the tail.  In a female livebearer, it will be fan-shaped.  The male, however,  uses his anal fin as a reproductive organ called a gonopodium, so it's narrow and rod-shaped.  In addition, male guppies are often brilliantly colored while the females are rather dull in contrast.  And also, female livebearers tend to be heavier-bodied than the males.

I wouldn't try to breed the guppies and the mollies in the same tank.  Mollies are larger than guppies, and may hassle the smaller fish, and they may attempt to eat each other's young.  It is best to separate the species that you are trying to breed.

One male livebearer can service several females if you're trying for a larger batch of fry.  If you just want to enjoy the breeding for your own sake, you should be fine with just a pair.

I believe it's fine to spawn both species in a 10-gallon aquarium.  Someone should back me up on that, though.  Make sure the tank is cycled and ready to house fish, and that the water is scrupulously clean to avoid bacteria or poor water quality killing your fry.  I would not attempt to breed your fish and raise their young in anything smaller than 10 gallons,  because moving the babies is a bad idea and you want something big enough for them to grow to a manageable size in.

All the parent fish need to be conditioned before breeding.  That means that you get them as  healthy as possible before allowing them to spawn, for a better, healthier batch of young.  So don't breed sick or stressed fish.  For about a week prior to spawning, feed the parents a generous diet of nutritious live foods - bloodworms, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, etc.  You can either buy these things alive from some stores, or purchase them frozen and thaw portions as needed.  These foods are better for conditioning breeding pairs than normal fish food, so you'll get healthier parents that are more willing to spawn and that make strong, healthy babies.

Your fish should mate readily.  It's possible to leave the male with the female until she begins to show signs of pregnancy, but eventually he'll need to be removed because he will eat the young if given a chance.

After a while, you will be able to tell  if your female livebearer is pregnant.  Above her anal fin, you'll be able to see a small dark patch.  This is her gravid patch, where the babies are developing.  It will grow as she gets closer to delivery. 

When her delivery time draws near (someone will have to back me up on the actual time frame; it's been a while since livebearer breeding for  me), you will need to place the female in a breeding trap.  This is a plastic container or netting that usually hooks over the side of the tank.  The notion behind the breeding trap is simple; the female gives birth and the young swim through the small holes that the mother cannot pass through.  This prevents her from eating her young, which unfortunately she will readily do.  After delivery, she will need to be removed along with the breeding trap. 

You may want to provide plants in the fry tank to give the young some shelter.  If it's a serious undertaking that you're planning here, it may be best for you to not use substrate and leave the tank bottom bare; it's easier to remove waste and uneaten food that way and prevents newborn fry from falling between the small rocks.

Livebearer fry can be fed on baby brine shrimp, also called nauplii.  You can raise these yourself; brine shrimp eggs come dried and hatching them is fun and easy.  You can also feed powdered fry food, but live food is better for them and not as messy.  Do not overfeed or the tank will foul and you'll lose babies that way.

You'll need to cover the filter intake tube with a mesh too fine for fry to slip through, or use something like a sponge filter that doesn't allow fry to be sucked inside.  Young fish are not strong enough to avoid the pull of a filter and will easily be drawn into the uptake and killed.

There are a lot more details, and I'm sure other people are going to fill in the gaps in my info.  Hopefully you'll get a nice, complete picture to work with.  Definitely throw out any questions you have; we'll answer them and hopefullly your breeding project will be a success.  :)

If life gives you lemons, squeeze them into people's eyes and run away!

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