Pregnant Gold Dust Molly?

[Brad G]

Hi all, I was wondering if you would think my Gold dust Molly is pregnant or not. I got her a couple weeks ago and I do have a single Dalmatian Molly that is always trying to get with the females. She also has a white spot where I’d guess Cloaca would be. Here are some photos of her.

 

[carligraceee]

I actually went through the same thing! It does look like your molly is pregnant. The first time I went through this I wasn't able to identify if I was correct or not and I left her in the tank. A few weeks after she looked like she lost some weight, I found four baby fry just swimming around the rock and I saved them while cleaning the tank. Since fish normally give birth to far more fish than that, I assume that we lost some to the hungry males and possibly down the drain (I know so sad). This happened a second time and I separated my other mommy from the two other mollies. She got severely depressed and died about a week and half after I separated her. I know this probably isn't the right advice according to the books but I would recommend getting some toys or plants that float at the top of your tank and then allowing the momma to give birth in the tank. The babies will swim up and hide as much as possible and they will grow there until they are ready to be apart of the tank. You can also take them out once you spot them and feed them shrimp pellets that are crushed down (you can ask the pet store and google too). But try not to take her out of the tank, i know it's tempting an google will tell you too but my momma died because of it so I recommend letting nature take it's course and then saving the babies you can with either plants and toys that float or taking them out as soon as you see them.

Good luck and message me if you need anything else!

 

[Brad G]

I actually went through the same thing! It does look like your molly is pregnant. The first time I went through this I wasn't able to identify if I was correct or not and I left her in the tank. A few weeks after she looked like she lost some weight, I found four baby fry just swimming around the rock and I saved them while cleaning the tank. Since fish normally give birth to far more fish than that, I assume that we lost some to the hungry males and possibly down the drain (I know so sad). This happened a second time and I separated my other mommy from the two other mollies. She got severely depressed and died about a week and half after I separated her. I know this probably isn't the right advice according to the books but I would recommend getting some toys or plants that float at the top of your tank and then allowing the momma to give birth in the tank. The babies will swim up and hide as much as possible and they will grow there until they are ready to be apart of the tank. You can also take them out once you spot them and feed them shrimp pellets that are crushed down (you can ask the pet store and google too). But try not to take her out of the tank, i know it's tempting an google will tell you too but my momma died because of it so I recommend letting nature take it's course and then saving the babies you can with either plants and toys that float or taking them out as soon as you see them.

Good luck and message me if you need anything else!

Thanks for the advice! I actually have a feeder ring that should be here tomorrow so I can get my duckweed to grow. It’s been floating around like crazy because I have a HOB filter. I might try and get some water lettuce to give a little more cover. I also a water sprite I just put in the tank to help with cover for babies. Well I guess we will see here in a few weeks. I’ll post on her if I find some babies in the tank.

 

[emeraldking]

Well, she does look pregnant...
I love the scales how they reflect...

 

[carligraceee]

Thanks for the advice! I actually have a feeder ring that should be here tomorrow so I can get my duckweed to grow. It’s been floating around like crazy because I have a HOB filter. I might try and get some water lettuce to give a little more cover. I also a water sprite I just put in the tank to help with cover for babies. Well I guess we will see here in a few weeks. I’ll post on her if I find some babies in the tank.

Sounds perfect! Good luck, as I found out too late that she had babies. Make sure to keep a close eye on her.

An update: My three fry were doing fine and then on of them died. I looked closely and found he had a severely bent spine almost in the shape of a krill. I have one more fry that has a slight s shape to him but the other one is fine.
I read on it and he might not survive, if you see this in more than one of your fry, feed them to the bigger fish OR wait and see how it pans out because it could just be a small birth defect.

Let me know how it goes and I am here for any questions. But google helps too!