Noveice With A Pregnant Mollie

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Hiya, I only took up fish keeping a few weeks ago, and introduced some mollies into the tank at the weekend, the woman at the petshop said one of them was pregnant, annoyingly she didn't make tell me anything else about it so i just assumed that she'd just have them in the tank and thats that. I got hiome and looked into with the help of google and realised the fry would get eaten! so I went and got a bredding trap, now the problem is, when do I put her in it!?

She is spending a lot of time hovering around behind a plant next to the filter and thermometer and her belly is massive compared to the other balloon mollies I have, but I dont want to put her in too soon incase it streses her! So are there any other signs that she might be about to drop?

I've tried to get a couple of pics of her, kinda as best i could. I read on the guppy thread about a while spot by her anal fin? but I dont really know what I'm looking for so hoped someone here could see!

Thanks in advance

 

[LauraFrog]

I'm seeing the white dot, but some of my platies show this all the time even when halfway through a pregnancy or less. She looks enormous and the behavior you are describing is 'im-about-to-bust' behavior so I'd be inclined to put her in now IF the trap is large enough. If it's very small, try to wait as long as possible. If you can wait until you see fry before you move the mum.

If you really want to breed livebearers, you are going to need more tanks eventually because if you were to raise even a quarter of this female's brood to maturity your tank would probably be overstocked. What I use for brooding females is a 4 gallon plastic container with a heater, sponge filter and some fake plants. The whole setup cost me less than $30 and some of the equipment (the spare filter and heater) I would not recommend any aquarist be without in case something fails and it isn't possible to replace it within a few hours.

Anyway, whenever you want to put her in now, if the trap is at least three times her length you should be okay. Feed the other fish at the other end of the tank then turn the lights off to reduce stress.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I'm seeing the white dot, but some of my platies show this all the time even when halfway through a pregnancy or less. She looks enormous and the behavior you are describing is 'im-about-to-bust' behavior so I'd be inclined to put her in now IF the trap is large enough. If it's very small, try to wait as long as possible. If you can wait until you see fry before you move the mum.

If you really want to breed livebearers, you are going to need more tanks eventually because if you were to raise even a quarter of this female's brood to maturity your tank would probably be overstocked. What I use for brooding females is a 4 gallon plastic container with a heater, sponge filter and some fake plants. The whole setup cost me less than $30 and some of the equipment (the spare filter and heater) I would not recommend any aquarist be without in case something fails and it isn't possible to replace it within a few hours.

Anyway, whenever you want to put her in now, if the trap is at least three times her length you should be okay. Feed the other fish at the other end of the tank then turn the lights off to reduce stress.

Thanks for your reply, I've managed to get her in there, she looks quite happy at the mo, I got a twin trap and took the middle partition out so she has all of it to move around in, I'll keep an eye on her and let her out again if she gets stressed.

looks like I will have to get another tank.. breeding wasn't my initial intention, but the lady at the pet shop was insistant on giving me pregnant fish and a mix of males/females even tho I made it clear I only had a 50L tank! I'd better get learning about this fish stuff rather quick! lol

I bought some white mollies at the same time also, and one of them who didn't even look fat dropped 10 fry the night we put her in the tank! I've managed to find 3 of them and get them in the bottom of the trap but the ret of them got stuck in my internal filter

 

[OldMan47]

One of the best things that I have found about mollies is that they don't hunt down the fry to eat them the way some livebearers do. The practical side of that is that, if you keep them well fed, mollies can be kept with only other mollies and reproduce with very little loss of fry. The fry need something to hide in but the breeding trap is not really needed to get some survivors from each drop of fry. If you have lots of other types of fish, forget he relative safety of breeding mollies.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Thanks old man, the only other fish I have in the tank are some really tiny neon tetras (who aren't much bigger than the fry lol) and a couple of sucker things, catfish I think?

Update on the pregnant one, she's on her 3rd day with the white spot visible, but still nothing. How long does it usuallytake after the white spot shows up? Could something be delaying her?

 

[twilight_angel]

had she delivered already...

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I dont know, I only got her at the weekend.

 

[twilight_angel]

sorry but i only few things about balloon mollies...

i deal more with the normal mollies...

i think she will deliver within this week...

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Thanks twilight angel

 

[twilight_angel]

kindly post the picture of your babies if they come...

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Yes I will do

 

[5teady_2012]

there is a diffrence between the borthing tube opening and the white dot your describing..

When a livebearer is ready to drop, the white dot displays like a dark ring aroun the inner edge (basically like a new hole appearing)

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Hmm.. this is all a bit confusing for my little brain lol!

 

[5teady_2012]

If this helps, this my balloons just before they dropped..

CLICK HERE

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Thansk for that... their bellies look loooads bigger than mine!!