Hi everyone nice forum you have here, lots of good info. I am Chrissy and I am new here.

I have a question about one of the mollies my son bought yesterday. Its very fat and looks square at the bottom but I am not sure if its a balloon molly (read about them tonight) or if its a female and pregnant. Some of the mollies we have I can tell by the fin if is male or female but this one I am having a hard time telling.

The thing is its acting strange every now and then it seems to stop swimming and wiggles like its shivering. Like when we shake from being cold. The temp of the water in the take is in the green. Does anyone seen a fish do this before? Can anyone tell me why its doing that?

Thanks

If she very fat she could be pregnant.
Its more bloating that you have to worry about.
Is she swimming in place as that can be the shimmies.

I agree with wilder. I sound like shimmies,
how big is the tank?
what kind of fish are in it?
How old is the tank?

how big is the tank? 30 gal

what kind of fish are in it?
we just started added fish last week, 2 shrimp, 4 neons, 4 mollies and a sucker fish where added last weekend. Friday my son bought more 2 bala sharks, 2 more mollies (the including the fat mollie) and a tadpole.

How old is the tank? almost 2 months

It only swims in place when its shivering. I google the shimmies and read up on it thanks It does not seem to be shivering today and swiming around normal.

The fish store said it was a male but it does not have the anal fin like the other males. Sometimes the fin is opened up like the females other times its closed and looks almost like the male fin. I am thinking maybe since its so fat that is why I am having trouble with this one fish telling if its male or female. And maybe the fish store guy made a mistake when he took a fast look to see if it was male or female.

It might be a balloon molly but the belly is square off at the bottom there is no dark spot of her.

We are very new at this so I have been doing lots of reading to learn. This site has been very helpful lots of good info here. I also read about the gala sharks and realized that our tank is to small for them the fish store guy told my son that they needed a 20 + gal tank. From what I read here they need a huge 75 + gal tank.

Did you cycle the tank before adding fish? I suggest you pick up a liquid test kit if you don't have one already. test your tank for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph. Post the results up on here.

Yes the bala will get huge, so you really need to take it back to the store, I am also guessing the tadpole isn't tropical and probably shouldn't be in your tank either. also what does the sucker fish look like?

This post has been edited by Mikaila31: Jan 19 2008, 08:38 PM

I am back sorry it took so long for me to reply my daughter had been sick and keeping me busy.

Anyway it was an ammonia problem and has since been solved. My son brought a sample of the water to the fish shop. We need to get a master testing kit, right now the kit my son has only test ph.

I told my son about what I read about the sharks so he won't be getting anymore. My son told me that the fish store owner told him that when they get bigger and outgrow the tank he would take them back for store credit but I don't agree with it.

He lost the sharks, sucker fish and the tadpole during the ammonia problem.

Today the molly had babies what a time my son had trying to catch them. She had 14 fry but one was eaten and one died so we have 12 now. We have them in a baby net. But they seem to be staying near the bottom of the net and don't swim around much is that normal for newborn fry?

Also a friend of mine gave me a 55gal tank its 48 inch long I have no idea what I am going to put in it yet. Its not even set up yet but I am hoping I can get some good advice on what to put in it and how to care for this new 55 gal tank. I don't want to end up getting wrong fish or losing any like my son did. So I am hoping I can get lots of help from here I plan on not buying any fish until I get advise from here.

This post has been edited by ChrissyC: Feb 5 2008, 07:55 AM