Molly breeding

[Alien Anna]

OK, so now I've got the fattest female in my 5 gal hospital tank with a sponge filter going, plus a mature filter inset from my Fluval 2 (just the foam stuff, not the suck-and-blow bit). The tank has no gravel so I hope this is going to be OK. I've also got a plastic plant in there (pink! ) and a flower pot from her home tank (thought it might be a little piece of home), plus a couple of little rocks. Catching her was hell so I hope she isn't so stressed out she loses the fry. I've given her her favourite - an algae wafer.

What do I do next? Just wait? What can I do to avoid her eating her own fry, or don't they do that? She looks kind of lonely, or am I anthropamorphising?

I removed her because the guppies were sniffing around her rear end and I thought maybe they were trying to eat her fry. She produced some really weird stringy poop too, although I don't know if that's connected.

I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea when she got pregnant, and I'm not entirely sure she is pregnant (except she's fat and has a dark patch on her belly). Do they continue to look pregnant a while after dropping fry? She's looking really spooked and skittish at the moment - darting around the tank in a worried way. I hope I've done the right thing

Cycling tanks I've got down to a fine art. Breeding fish is another matter entirely.

 

[AllusiveLife]

Hmm, If you know what a USA nickle was My guppy was a little bit bigger than that, and she just had about 60-80 guppies... I thought it was impossible I also thought the fat thing was going to die and I feed it too much... You see tons of the babies and it's driving me crazy... "160" gallon... Scary huh, yeah I thought so to. you're doing excellent just make sure when she's done take her out. If she eat's a couple that's ok she might but she probably won't eat any... Keep her by herself and watch her... What I would do cause I couldn't find my breeding equipment, I would get this plastuc square thing and I placed her in there and when I saw her drop the babies "this is my mollie" I would wait for 4-5 to drop and they would come out curved and then they would straighten out and I would place them in the tank, she had alot but it was a pretty good batch... I hope everything will go ok, you did say you had plants I think... Just make sure their is enough places to hide in... Goodjob though

 

[GURLY]

you did good bye putting her into a tank if she feels safe shell drop easy i hadnt moved mine and wondered why she wasnt droping then i finally moved her it seemed that she had a prolonged her pregnancy till she was safe and away from other fish cause she droped that night. hey remember your tense shes tense just rlax ohh gravel is a very bad thing cause some fry get caught under it mabey try some more plants the fry like to hide. and dont think thats were it ends she will have about 3 more batches each about 30 days apart because they store sperm take the mom out after she deliver cause she WILL INDEED EAT THEM!!!!!!! good luck give me an update dont be afraid to e-mail me either if you have any more questions such as questions about fry and such good luck


Gurly

 

[pondfreak4365]

hi Alien Anna,
Did your molly drop her fry yet?


Oops, just saw your other post. My mollies never stop eating, giving birth or not.