Balloon Mollies Going To Birth Soon?

[AlisaDawn1979]

Ok.....so here is the scoop. I got a 100 gallon tank.... set it up...cycled it.... went yesterday and bought 16 assorted Balloon Mollies. I have a few that look as though they are going to pop any second....however it is so hard to tell, and I am new to Mollies, had Guppies before. So I took some pictures in hopes someone could tell me. I want to keep the babies, and have 1 breeder trap...however do not want to put any in it until I know for sure so it does not stress, and unsure what one I would even place in there. So any help and advice is appreated.

Here is the Tank.....

Molly 1

Molly 2

Molly 3

 

[helterskelter]

So this is a new tank thats just been cycled?
First thing to say is you should not add 16 fish all at once.

You should only add 4-6 fish every 10-14 days this is to stop ammonia becoming a problem.
Mollies are very susceptible to toxins and ammonia is a big killer of them.

Pic one is very fat and looks very close to giving birth
How ever balloon's are deformed fish and very difficult to tell when their close due to the squat body shape.
Mollies will eat fry but given enough space and hideing places they tend to do very well at suriving. Balloons breed true so your also get balloon fry.

 

[AlisaDawn1979]

Another thing, all the other fish, mostly males are chasing the 3 around and eatting things off their rear end, and then what looks like tring to mate. I went ahead and placed one in a small birthing net cause she was just getting wore out. Why are the other fish doing this?

Also......the guy at the pet store is the one that told me to get that many.... he said cause the size of my tank I would need more.

 

[helterskelter]

Yes the tank had hold more fish but if you add them all at once the ammonia load will be large thats all, hopefully if it's been cycled well the bacteria will be able to cope with it.

How long has the tank been up and running?

As for the fish eating from the rear end,they will do something called double digestion "Eat fish poo" this alows them to get as much goodness from their foods a possible. As in nature most of the foods are not that great and takes a lot get extract as much as possible.

 

[AlisaDawn1979]

The tank has been up now for about 3 months. Just added fish in this weekend. The levels and all are still very good. Just really concerned about the 3 above mollies. I am now tring to alternate them in the irthing tank....they are just getting harrased, and when they start to swim drunk and wobbly I take the one out of the birthing tank, and place it in there. I have hidding area, but they do not go in there. I have a well established 10 gallon, but there are wild guppies in there and they are very aggressive, so do not think it would be smart to place any in there. I am going to get larger, and more more breeding nets tonight if possiable, but not sure if I will be able to. What can i do in the mean time?

 

[helterskelter]

Well dearly you should have more females to males this reduces the stress caused from harassing males as they have spread over several females. this will help.

You say birthing tank, is it a trap sort of thing in the tank or a separate tank, if separate I'll put all the females in there. The best thing though is to keep them in there for a short a time as possible.

I'll not put them in with guppies as the guppies will be more stressed than the mollies.

 

[5teady_2012]

Balloon mollies is harder than normal livebearers to tell when they are due to drop, although the light orange and white one is pretty close imo.

Same princaple as others, look for the back end to drop as far as the front, balloon mollies when not far on hva e a rapid drop at thier back end.

you should have 1 male to every 2-3 females to reduce stress and harrasment.

mollies fry survive better than others due to thier size when born and adults dont eat them as much cos the fry are big and strong enough to get to cover, althoughthey can still be eaten.

 

[ckulahci]

my balloon molly starts to seem like she is having hard time to stabilize its buoyancy a few days before she's going to drop. She swims always head-up tail-down at an angle of 30-45 degrees just as if she is climbing up a slope but she goes level. And when she does nothing she simply descents.