Why does my fish keep having babies?

Question

In the past month and a half one of our fish has had more than 60 babies on 2 separate occasions. First of all it has no mate and seems to have live birth. I thought that fish had to lay eggs. It is a grey and black spotted molly I think. Have had an aquarium for more than 15 years and have never seen this happen. Can anyone solve this mystery?

Update:

Does that mean that even though there is no other molly's in the tank that they can just breed with whatever other kinds of fish that are in the aquarium.

PeeTee · Accepted Answer

Mollies and Guppies carry sperm packets from one insemination for as many a six months. This accounts for the seeming "virgin" births". So at least for a while your fish will continue the population explosion.

baymast13 · Answer

She was likely pregnant when you got her. They are live-bearers, meaning they give birth to live fry rather than laying eggs. Some fish are egg-layers, and some are live-bearers. Egg-layers cannot reproduce unless there is a male present to fertilize the eggs when they are laid. Live-bearers mate and the female goes through pregnancy and birth, similar to mammals. 
I am not an expert on Mollies, but they are from the same family as Guppies. Guppies (and possibly Mollies) can store sperm and have several pregnancies before they "run out." Rest assured, she will eventually run out without any males to replenish the supply. Cross-breeding with other fish from the same family (Poeciliidae, which includes Guppies, Platies, and Swordtails, to name a few) is possible, but not common. The fry are sterile, and often defective, so this should be avoided. They cannot breed with "whatever other kinds of fish that are in the aquarium," just fish that are from the same family.
Hope this helps!

Unknown · Answer

Cause fish like mollies,guppies,platys give birth to live fry 

Fish like goldfish and betta's give birth to eggs and hatch

You can't stop a fish from having fry get rid of the male or female then if you don't want them too.

? · Answer

Mollies are like guppies and they breed like crazy! Theres a chance your molly mated in the petshop and shes been pregnant all this time

Isabella · Answer

this happened to me you can't stop it my creamsicle mollies like that to:) but your dalmation mollies breed alot more than others if you have another fish in there they are able to change gender so he might have become a she to mate with the he. By the way mollies are live bearerrs to egg layers please go to my website and go to my blog for more info

ifishcare.weebly.com

eeeeek!!! · Answer

Meiosis glitches can happen in guppies, but result in only 1 or 2 babies.

Azedenkae · Answer

Adding on to what PeeTee said, once the sperms are gone she can mate with one of her own boys and give birth to more young.

John · Answer

they answered your questions i just wanted to say your gonna need a bigger tank XD it does not hurt to have more fishes but dont be mean and kill them >:|

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Why does my fish keep having babies?

8 Answers