Fish behavior confusing me? Any help?

My molly has been pregnant for atleast around a month and a week( this is when I saw a black spot in her belly, so just been keeping track since then) I have been keeping a close eye on her behavior and its been 2 weeks shes sending mix signals, sometimes she does kinda hide in the white rock other days she swimming freely and openly. Alot of nights shes close to the heater and is swimming in place and going back and forth then she like shakes/wiggles her body I've seen a few videos of contractions and they look pretty much like that. Her behavior both night and day change back and forth for 2 weeks now so is she close to birthing the fry or is she still not near? Cause she hasnt really lost her appetite but alot of the other symptoms have been there

She does look squared off. Most of the time, it's a signal that she's close. But being a molly, she "can" even get bigger before she's due. So, that's always tricky with mollies.

emeraldking said:

She does look squared off. Most of the time, it's a signal that she's close. But being a molly, she "can" even get bigger before she's due. So, that's always tricky with mollies.

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Same with guppies too. I had a female that was "ready to pop" 2 weeks before she actually did. Sometimes they get big, stay big for a bit, then give birth.

Tacocat said:

Same with guppies too. I had a female that was "ready to pop" 2 weeks before she actually did. Sometimes they get big, stay big for a bit, then give birth.

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Thanks! Yeah I was just wondering cause there is alot of info about mollies but then at the same time its very broad and only certain things get more of a specification! I was thinking maybe she dorsnt feel safe and is holding on to them or absorbing them…but couldnt find anything relating to that! Its just you gotta ask here and hopefully someone whos been in that certain situation will give you better insight! I have another molly that changes alot in size I get they get bloated sometimes with over feeding and stuff but the other 4 mollys do not change that drastically in size. So im wondering if shes actually pregnant cause for a good amount of time she stuck to her her size then at a point it altered alot. Shes a gold dust so Idk how to confirm if she is i also read they can go for 60 days of pregnancy

My grandmother always said when the apple is ripe, it’ll fall to the ground. Or was it a pear?

Happilyretired said:

My grandmother always said when the apple is ripe, it’ll fall to the ground. Or was it a pear?

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Really? I thought they floated up to the sky? I reached out for help incase someone could say shes under stress and holding on to the babies or this type of molly has a longer pregnancy time…im new to this and want to know if im doing something wrong because I enjoy this and want to properly care for them! Forgive me for trying to ask a question where questions can be asked.

Make sure you have lots of plants in the tank for the female to hide in while giving birth, and for the babies to hide in. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a great plant for livebearers and can be grown on the surface or planted in the substrate.

The fish could be full of intestinal worms. If she hasn't given birth in another month, then deworm them. Section 3 of the following link has information on deworming fish.

Colin_T said:

Make sure you have lots of plants in the tank for the female to hide in while giving birth, and for the babies to hide in. Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a great plant for livebearers and can be grown on the surface or planted in the substrate.

The fish could be full of intestinal worms. If she hasn't given birth in another month, then deworm them. Section 3 of the following link has information on deworming fish.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

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Thank you very much! I will keep an eye out for that!

Chebruno said:

then she like shakes/wiggles her body

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If your water is too soft (less than 250ppm GH), mollies can suffer mineral deficiency and shake/wiggle. It is known as the shimmies. Check the GH is high enough so that we can rule this out.

Naughts said:

If your water is too soft (less than 250ppm GH), mollies can suffer mineral deficiency and shake/wiggle. It is known as the shimmies. Check the GH is high enough so that we can rule this out.

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I just got new test strips and dont exactly know how to read them, but I have read about this and I think I can rule it out because 1- My other test strips I had last couple times I checked it it was right within the range it should be 2- shes the only fosh that shows this, every other molly seems to be doing well and show no shaking or anything that would make me think they have a parasite/disease

Could you post a pic of your test result - the strip plus the guide? Usually they don't go high enough to show the range that mollies need. They say 'ok' but this is not specific enough to know if it is meeting a specific fish species' requirements - mollies need quite an extreme hard water range,
If you check your water suppliers website they may have a water quality report which shows the GH of your water,
The fact that other mollies seem ok may just mean that the deficiency has not yet effected them.
Hopefully the fish is just pregnant but you need to know for sure that the water is suitable to care for the fish properly long term.