Is My Balloon Molly Pregnant?

[vandrez]

Hey Guys...

I only just bought a pair of balloon mollies and the shopkeeper says they are both female. However the black one is rounder than the orange one.
I think she is pregnant and have kept the mollies away from the other fish in a seperate tank.

The orange molly always seem to be sniffing the black ones rear. Anyway am posting some pics of the black one.
Do let me know if she is pregnant and if she is, then should she be kept all alone untill the fry is ready?

Thanks

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Looks very much like it.... She's about to deliver within the next 2 days....

 

[fry_forever!]

She sure looks pregnant! You said that the other one was "sniffing her rear end"? Are you sure that's not a male? Males normally do that to "persuade" the female to mate with them.

Good luck!

 

[vandrez]

She sure looks pregnant! You said that the other one was "sniffing her rear end"? Are you sure that's not a male? Males normally do that to "persuade" the female to mate with them.

Good luck!

Thank You

Ive kept her all alone alone now in a seperate tank waiting for her to pop!

 

[LauraFrog]

Good luck! Gotta say she looks pretty darn pregnant in those photos.
Male livebearers often swim around with their noses glued to the backsides of the females... if you get a clear, side on photo of the orange one we can tell you if it's male or female. If you look at the black one (which is definitely female) there are three fins on the belly. Two are 'paired' (the ventral fins). Behind them, there is one called the anal fin. In the female, like the black one, it is fan-shaped. In a male, it is shaped like a rod and used to internally fertilise the female.

 

[jappy1984]

ConGratz in advance ^^

 

[vandrez]

ConGratz in advance ^^

Hey Guys... She delivered today...around 25 fry!! I guess 2-3 didnt make it. But still its pretty exciting!!

Should I leave her with her babies or seperate them? Also How do i look after the babies? How many times a day should i feed them?

 

[OldMan47]

A lot depends on the female if you have them in a separate birth tank. Some females are fine left with their fry but not all of them are. The fry should be fed at least 2 or 3 times a day a very small amount. They will probably not eat much the first day as they absorb the last of their egg sac. The only must have food is a few flakes of the same food that you feed the adults but ground up fine between your finger tips. It is nice to add in live baby brine shrimp and maybe some live or frozen daphnia. With the mollies, don't leave out the vegetable protein content either. The fry will need frequent water changes because you will be feeding them enough that it will take lots of changes to keep the water clean.

 

[vandrez]

Thank you for the advice

Here is a pic of the lil ones a few hours after birth. So very tiny!

 

[OldMan47]

It looks to me like those can be kept with the female. She seems to be ignoring them as you would want. That makes any manipulations much less urgent. You might want to give her a few days to recover before putting her back in the big tank.

 

[vandrez]

It looks to me like those can be kept with the female. She seems to be ignoring them as you would want. That makes any manipulations much less urgent. You might want to give her a few days to recover before putting her back in the big tank.

I have some sad news. I woke up this morning to find the mother dead in the tank with the other adult fish. Why do you suppose this happened? Was it ue to the fact she delivered earlier or was too tired or the water change???

 

[OldMan47]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I don't have the first hand knowledge and my personal observations that I would use to try to understand it in my own tank.
How are the fry doing? Are they still OK?

 

[vandrez]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I don't have the first hand knowledge and my personal observations that I would use to try to understand it in my own tank.
How are the fry doing? Are they still OK?

The fry seems to be ok. I just changed the water. Hope this wont trigger any loss of fry.

 

[jappy1984]

Up till date, my fry's are all 6 day's and 4 day's old and i have only lose like 3 frys... maybe due to inmature birth or likewise water ph and so... but the rest of my fry's now seems active keep swimming along the side of the tank as if they are trying to run away haha....

Btw, nice fry's u have there!! Good luck with the rest of them...

Cheers,
Jappy

 

[tropigod]

Am sorry for ur loss... but she sure gave u a much harder job to do.. now its ur turn to be a mother to her babies... ... and yea.. ur giving me some ofcourse....