Is my molly pregnant?

[misshedge]

Hi, I've recently noticed that my dalmation molly looks bigger and her gravid spot is getting darker... I've never had babies before! I know what to do, but I'm just not sure if she's pregnant. I'll attach pictures:

 

[fluttermoth]

It's fairly safe to assume that all female livebearers are pregnant, all the time.

The good news is, you don't need to do anything special. Just make sure the water is good, with plenty of water changes, and add lots of hiding places, if you want some fry to survive.

 

[misshedge]

Thank you for the advice! It turns out that she was pregnant after all, either that or I had neon tetra eggs somewhere.. I couldn't identify the fry. I only saw one in the tank, floating by a rock (it was alive) but one of my neon tetras turned toward it and I haven't seen it since.. not sure if he ate it or it went into hiding. Hopefully at least one survives, but I haven't seen any more.

 

[fluttermoth]

The fry won't have been a neon tetra; they're actually very hard to breed and the eggs won't hatch in a normal community tank, even if they spawned in there.

I can't imagine a neon being big enough to eat a molly fry. If they have been eaten it was probably the mother, unless you have any other kinds of fish in the tank. Livebearer mothers often eat their own fry; I've seen one turn around and eat a fry literally moments after it was born. They're not that bright, and don't recognise their own offspring.

She'll probably have more, anyway. Most livebearers, including mollies, can store packets of sperm, so they can continue getting pregnant, even if there are no males present.