Any Ideas?

[Amavi]

Hello,

I have been following these forums since I went tropical with my aquarium and finally decided to register. I bought two female mollies from a well known UK company and they gave birth within 2 days of arriving in my tank. Luckily I had a breeding net already in place, however, I only managed to save 16 of the babies from both females as one gave birth in the actual net (we were fortunate enough to actually catch her in the act) and the other female gave birth over night and we subsequently lost the babies.

I also have a dalmatian molly that we have had for about 2 or 3 weeks and she is forever hiding and fleeing from the male when he comes near (this has been going on for 5 days now) I am apprehensive of putting her in the net until I know she is ready as she seems pretty stressed all the time so last night I decided to split all the plants up so there is more places for her to go. She seems pretty antisocial to all the fish in the tank so I just don't know when to move her. I cannot get a decent photograph of her at the moment!

The two female Platies are definitely pregnant and one looks about ready to pop which I have attached a photograph of to see what you think. She does seem to hide amongst the plants but is happy to have others with her and the behaviour is not out of character. Here is a couple of images of her:

I have a fish pregnant chart that I have filled out so I know when they are next ready to give birth and none are off their food (including the mollies who gave birth).

Seen as I have 16 babies in the breeding net it is a large one would the new babies be OK in the same net? I had to place two plastic lids underneath the actual net as when the first batch were born the Danios pulled one baby half way through and ate it alive! I was not impressed!

Advice would be appreciated

 

[FishLover4+1]

i dont have much experience but i think you should get a separate small tank for your fry. how big is the net??? you can buy a starter tank in pets at home (uk) for only £15 but you would probably need something to cover the filter to save your little fry from getting sucked in. one of my platys was pregnant and i put her in a smallish breeding net but she didnt give birth for a few days so i took her out and put the net over the filter... two days later i had one little fry!!! (i think the rest must have been eaten ) oops i sound like an advert
there is a pinned thread on how to tell if your livebearer is ready to give birth in this section so you could try looking at that.

 

[Neptune54]

When her stomach looks kind of square, that's when you need to be on alert. Fry will come soon after that.

 

[This Old Spouse]

You'd really be best off getting a separate tank with something like cabomba so the fry can take cover. I found I could put the pregnant female in the fry tank, she'd deliver the babies then I could put her back in the main tank when she was done.

 

[Amavi]

The breeding net I have got is one of those double ones which is great and large. Unfortunately I do not have the space or the equipment to set up a fry tank, although I would love to.

No sign of babies just yet

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome Amavi.
It looks like you are working with a nice big net so you should be able to leave the fry in it until the next drop forces you to release them into the main tank area. By then, in about 4 weeks, they should be big enough to survive in the main tank.