Possible short fin molly pregnancy?

[Whittlefnerd]

Hello,

I am new to this site and just looking for a bit of advice. I was given 4 mollies as a friend was moving abroad and they have been happy in my 130ltr tank. All is well but. I think one may be pregnant. It took me all my time trying to work out if she was female so I am really not sure, I can't see any eyes or any dark areas. I've attached a photo but not very clear as I didn't want to startle her.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

The fish in the picture looks like a pregnant female.

To sex livebearers like mollies, guppies, swordtails & platies you look at the anal (bottom) fin. In males the anal fin is long and thin, whereas females have a fan or triangular shaped anal fin.

If you want to post pics of your other mollies we can sex them for you too

 

[Whittlefnerd]

Thank you for replying!

So now we know she is expecting is there any thing I need to do. I've never had a pregnant fish. At the minute I've put her in a 25ltr well planted with a mesh in the corner for hiding.. I normally use the tank for treating sick fish.

How do I know when she is ready to give birth? I'm a little worried.

 

[fluttermoth]

You don't need to anything special; livebearers generally give birth very easily.

All you need do is provide plenty of good, clean water, high quality food (but not too much; pregnant fish do not need extra food as a pregnant mammal would) and plenty of hiding places for the fry (fine leaved, live plants are best, as they provide a good source of microscopic foods for the fry as well as cover).

Livebearers are best left in the main tank; certainly a 25l tank is not really big enough for an adult molly, nor will it be big enough for the fry to grow properly.

 

[Whittlefnerd]

No problem I can put her back in the main tank, like I said wasn't sure what to do so I thought segregating her was best but that's the other tank I have. I didn't want all the fry to be my others fishes dinner

 

[mikey11]

I didn't want all the fry to be my others fishes dinner

chances are most of them will be, unless you have LOTS of plants, and i mean 80% of the tank covered in plants,

live bearers are notorious for eating their own fry within seconds of birth,

 

[Colin_T]

If you have a spare 25 litre tank with an established filter and live plants in, then that would make an ideal tank for her to give birth and for the fry during the first month of their life. The fish is a lyretail molly (Poecilia sphenops) and the smaller of the 2 species commonly encountered in pet shops. The bigger species is the sailfin molly (Poecilia velifera). After the female has given birth you can move her back into the main tank.

Alternatively you can leave her in the main tank with lots of plants (especially floating plants like Water Sprite), and she will give birth there and hopefully the fry will be able to get to the plants and hide. Then you can use a small plastic container to scoop them out and put them in the smaller tank to grow up a bit.

In my experience, if the adults are well fed and the tank has lots of plants in, they don't normally eat their own young.

*NB* when handling pregnant livebearers try to use a plastic container rather than a fish net. Use a net to guide the fish into a plastic container in the aquarium and lift the fish out in the container of water. This reduces the chance of the embryo sack inside the female, rupturing, and the female going into premature labour. Same deal if you have to move a female after she has given birth, try to use a plastic container to move them for the first week after they have given birth.

----------------------------
If you look around at pet shops you might be able to find a microworm culture and some dry brineshrimp eggs. The eggs can be hatched in salt water and the nauplii (baby shrimp) fed to the baby mollies. Microworms live in a plastic container and get fed oatmeal (porridge) and yeast and also make a good food for the baby mollies.

 

[Whittlefnerd]

Thanks a lot for the advice it's time a like this I hate being a fish noob haha!

I have her in 25ltr tank now filter and heater and well planted with caves and mixed stones etc she's happy I think..i know it's to small for her long time but that's all I have on short notice!

I will get some more plants and put them in the big tank and move her if i need to I just didn't want to stress her out.

It's my first time with pregnant fish as all mine are males. Silly question but will she breed with any fish or just the mollies?

 

[Colin_T]

only mollies

 

[Whittlefnerd]

Well my Molly had 10 fry this morning! All doing well in there own tank, mum's back in the main tank. So happy

 

[Whittlefnerd]

Is this another pregnant Molly!? My orange one has just had 14 fry!

 

[Colin_T]

The black lyretail molly appears to be pregnant.

 

[Whittlefnerd]

Oh no. My spare tank has the fry in already if I put her in will she not eat them? I don't have another tank. I've removed the boy too hoping it wouldn't keep happening.

 

[seangee]

I know this sounds harsh but I would just have some plants in the tank and let nature take its course. Mollies are prolific breeders. They also store sperm for later use so will keep producing long after you remove the males, up to 60 fry at a time. Unless you have masses of tank space and somewhere to get rid off the offspring you will very soon have a housing crisis.

That is what I did when I used to keep livebearers. Some still survived and I had to make periodic trips down to the local fish shop with buckets of fish to be re-homed.