Is My Dalmation Molly Pregnant?

[AnnemarieJ]

I've just noticed my dalmation Molly is really bloated/fat and I want to know for sure if she's pregnant? I had a black Molly that had babies before and thy all died and I'd rally like to prevent this from happening again. I'm trying to get a picture up for her ASAP! I think this is it my picture of her as she is now... Is she pregnant??

 

[fluttermoth]

She is pregnant, but probably has a day or two left yet.
 
Make sure you have plenty of hiding places in the tank and, as long as your tank is big enough and the water is good (fry are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrite), you shouldn't have any problems growing some fry on

 

[AnnemarieJ]

Thanks! So maybe I should seperate her in a few days?? I have lots of live plants in my tank that should be sufficient hiding places but last time mommy and my other fish still killed all the fry. There's a little furry stuff growing on my plants lately too. Is it just algae? Also as I'm new to this I have another question. Do Mollies eat other mollies when they die? I got a new one a few weeks back and he just disappeared?? Died and then eaten I presume?

 

[fluttermoth]

Sorry, I'm going to ask you loads of questions now!
 
How big is your tank, and exactly what fish are in it?
 
What colour is the fluffy stuff on your plants?
 
All fish will eat dead fish.

 

[AnnemarieJ]

It's a 50 ltr tank and I have all mollies in it at the moment. The fluffy stuff is really dark green and growing on the outsides of all the leaves and on the bark too.

 

[fluttermoth]

The fluffy stuff sounds like black bush/beard algae (BBA). I think it's usually caused by excess light and/or poor flow in the tank.

TBH, in a 50l tank, you're not going to have room to raise many fry properly; they need space to grow

How many mollies do you have?

 

[AnnemarieJ]

I have 6 and was planning to raise maybe 5 babies??? I don't have the light on In my tank that much only at night and turn it off when I go to bed... Would the tank hold 5 more??? The guy in the store said it would but I need more opinion..

 

[fluttermoth]

Six mollies is completely stocking your tank, if not a bit overstocked

As time goes by, you'll probably find a few fry survive anyway; don't forget each female can have 40 or 50 fry, every month!

 

[AnnemarieJ]

Apologies earlier I said 50 Litres.. Correction.. our tank is 64 litres.

 

[fluttermoth]

Doesn't make a lot of difference...

Mollies should really be in a tank of at least 100l, as they ought to get quite big; three or four inches.

It's not ideal, but your tank will be okay for the six you have, as long as you make sure water changes are large and often enough.

 

[AnnemarieJ]

Find it annoying as I spoke to A lot of people before getting the tank and the fish I have in it now and if I had known it would be too small for as little as 7 or 8 fish I would have got a larger one. From looking at it they have lots of room and I would have thought I could easily fit a few more in. I do a 20% water change every week and so far my fish are happy and doing well
Do I need to change the water more often ?
Would you think I need to do a water change more often?

 

[fluttermoth]

Well, you could certainly have more than 7 or 8 fish in a tank of that size, but they'd have to be fish that are smaller than mollies!
 
What are the nitrate levels in your tank compared to what's in your tap water?

 

[AnnemarieJ]

I don't really know this. I know you must think I'm totally clueless but I have the water nutraliser and we add that to the water before we put it in... 2 of my mollies are small and have been since I got them and some are biggish like almost 3 inches. We were advised to do a 20% change every week I know I could do a smaller amount more regularly if needed??

 

[fluttermoth]

We all had to start somewhere, and it is hard to know whether the advice you're given is good or bad when you're new to the hobby!
 
I would advise you to get a decent  set of test kits; that's liquid or tablet based, not the paper dip strip kind. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are the important ones. Many shops will test your water for you, but if you do that, you must get them to write the actual numbers down for you; all too often they say, "it's fine', or " a little high" which isn't much help!
 
Personally, I do 50%, once a week on all my tanks, but your nitrate levels dictate how often and how big your water changes need to be. There are other reasons for doing water changes, apart from keeping the nitrate down, but that is a useful indicator.
 
I wouldn't do smaller water changes; either larger ones or more often

 

[AnnemarieJ]

Thank you so much!!' I might try what I'm doing at the moment but twice a week instead. I do feel my tank isn't as clean as it was but mainly cos my nano shrimp died. I must get another pretty soon. The plants are thriving however and I have stopped using the fertiliser as I had to cut some of them they got so big. So I think overall it's probably not bad. I've only had the tank since March so still get mic learning.
Very much*