A quick reference for people new to regular mollies, not balloons. I keep my mollies in tap water with no salt added. the water has a pH of about 7.8 and is quite hard so I see no need to add anything to it for them.
There are lots of people who don't really understand what we mean by squared off and who spend all of their time trying to see color in their fish's gravid spots so I put this together for people to use the pictures for comparison. To me the shape of the abdomen is everything when it comes to judging progress. I have a peaceful female molly so I left her with her fry. That way you have her to compare to the fry and when people ask how big will my fry be at xxx days, again you can compare the female to her fry. This set of pictures follows her from the date the fry were born until the next drop. In her case that was 6 weeks so you also see 6 weeks of new fry growth. Lets get started.
Day 1, the fry were born while I was at work. Mama is very small compared to before the birth but is still healthy and rounded. The fry are almost a cm long because they are molly fry, not the much smaller guppy or platy fry.
One week, the fry are growing nicely and mom is feeding well. Unfortunately I was focused on a good fry picture so the female is not as clear.
10 days, the female is still heavy and still not squared much at all. You can see her gradual drop from her gill area to the bottom of her abdomen and the still gradual rise from her abdomen back up to her anal fin. The fry are still growing nicely and are starting to have enough of the creamsicle body color to start to cover the dark spots they were born with.
No combination pictures from day 18 so we do separates. The female is still not squared off much but is getting a bit bigger.
The fry are still making progress covering their dark splotches of color from the dalamatian male parent. They are starting to look like miniature copies of the female and less like a formless fry.
Day 24 and the female is at a stage where we often get questions about "Is my molly ready to put into a breeding trap". At this point she still had over 2 weeks to go but the picture was taken shortly after feeding and she is quite large. She has also started to square off a little but is far from ready to drop her fry. The abdomen drops down rather smartly from her gills but still rises gradually to her anal fin.
Day 27 and picture not taken right after feeding. The female is not as large as in the last picture but she is 3 days closer to delivering. The fry have almost completely lost their dark spots now and are still growing nicely. They are now about 1.5 cm or a little more.
Day 33 and the female is starting to become quite large and squaring up nicely. At this stage people are often asking "Will my molly ever deliver, she has been enormous for a month". She is well squared up near her gills but still has a gradual rise from the back of her abdomen to her anal fin. This pictuire was taken close enough to examine the anal fins of the fry. Still all looking like females and it is almost 5 weeks since they were born.
Day 38 and mom is getting close. At this stage I can no longer tell at a glance that she is not ready to deliver. She is actually 4 days from her next drop but I was examining her daily to make sure I didn't miss her next drop. The fry still all look like females but there is no way that 30 fry are all females.
Day 41 and unknown to me this is my last picture before her next delivery. This girl is fully squared up and has a very sharp drop from her gills to the bottom of her abdomen and again a sharp rise from her abdomen to behind her anal fin. If you ask me at this stage, I will be saying things like "she could start her drop any time now".
Day 42 and this girl is no longer expecting. Another drop while I was at work but we have now gone full cycle. The question about a female carrying sperm packets has also been answered, the only males in the tank this whole time were the male fry. Today, I can spot some that I think are males but this picture was taken 7 weeks ago on the new fry's birthday.
Here are the new fry with a few out of focus older fry in the foreground. It looks to me like the older fry are about double the size of the new ones and are a much better solid color than the new ones. The older fry are still twice the size of the new ones today but the new ones are a larger size now.
They are now slightly over 3 months old and share a 55 gallon grow out tank with some juvenile angels and a few juvenile bristlenose plecs. All get along together just fine when they are young like that. Even the 7 week old fry are doing fine with angels that have a body size of over an inch and an overall size of over 3 inches.
There are lots of people who don't really understand what we mean by squared off and who spend all of their time trying to see color in their fish's gravid spots so I put this together for people to use the pictures for comparison. To me the shape of the abdomen is everything when it comes to judging progress. I have a peaceful female molly so I left her with her fry. That way you have her to compare to the fry and when people ask how big will my fry be at xxx days, again you can compare the female to her fry. This set of pictures follows her from the date the fry were born until the next drop. In her case that was 6 weeks so you also see 6 weeks of new fry growth. Lets get started.
Day 1, the fry were born while I was at work. Mama is very small compared to before the birth but is still healthy and rounded. The fry are almost a cm long because they are molly fry, not the much smaller guppy or platy fry.
One week, the fry are growing nicely and mom is feeding well. Unfortunately I was focused on a good fry picture so the female is not as clear.
10 days, the female is still heavy and still not squared much at all. You can see her gradual drop from her gill area to the bottom of her abdomen and the still gradual rise from her abdomen back up to her anal fin. The fry are still growing nicely and are starting to have enough of the creamsicle body color to start to cover the dark spots they were born with.
No combination pictures from day 18 so we do separates. The female is still not squared off much but is getting a bit bigger.
The fry are still making progress covering their dark splotches of color from the dalamatian male parent. They are starting to look like miniature copies of the female and less like a formless fry.
Day 24 and the female is at a stage where we often get questions about "Is my molly ready to put into a breeding trap". At this point she still had over 2 weeks to go but the picture was taken shortly after feeding and she is quite large. She has also started to square off a little but is far from ready to drop her fry. The abdomen drops down rather smartly from her gills but still rises gradually to her anal fin.
Day 27 and picture not taken right after feeding. The female is not as large as in the last picture but she is 3 days closer to delivering. The fry have almost completely lost their dark spots now and are still growing nicely. They are now about 1.5 cm or a little more.
Day 33 and the female is starting to become quite large and squaring up nicely. At this stage people are often asking "Will my molly ever deliver, she has been enormous for a month". She is well squared up near her gills but still has a gradual rise from the back of her abdomen to her anal fin. This pictuire was taken close enough to examine the anal fins of the fry. Still all looking like females and it is almost 5 weeks since they were born.
Day 38 and mom is getting close. At this stage I can no longer tell at a glance that she is not ready to deliver. She is actually 4 days from her next drop but I was examining her daily to make sure I didn't miss her next drop. The fry still all look like females but there is no way that 30 fry are all females.
Day 41 and unknown to me this is my last picture before her next delivery. This girl is fully squared up and has a very sharp drop from her gills to the bottom of her abdomen and again a sharp rise from her abdomen to behind her anal fin. If you ask me at this stage, I will be saying things like "she could start her drop any time now".
Day 42 and this girl is no longer expecting. Another drop while I was at work but we have now gone full cycle. The question about a female carrying sperm packets has also been answered, the only males in the tank this whole time were the male fry. Today, I can spot some that I think are males but this picture was taken 7 weeks ago on the new fry's birthday.
Here are the new fry with a few out of focus older fry in the foreground. It looks to me like the older fry are about double the size of the new ones and are a much better solid color than the new ones. The older fry are still twice the size of the new ones today but the new ones are a larger size now.
They are now slightly over 3 months old and share a 55 gallon grow out tank with some juvenile angels and a few juvenile bristlenose plecs. All get along together just fine when they are young like that. Even the 7 week old fry are doing fine with angels that have a body size of over an inch and an overall size of over 3 inches.
Was just wondering, fry are supposed to be fed 4-6 times a day, but since the fry are with their mum, how often do you feed them? After reading your entry, I decided to let my one month old fry roam free in my tank, and so far the mollies (it's a molly-only tank) haven't tried to eat them thankfully! They're now being fed 2-3 times a day but 2 of my mollies are due in a week or less so I was just wondering how to go about feeding the new fry. I would love to have them roam the tank instead of being cooped up in a breeding trap 
