Black Molly Pregnancy

[Charlie06]

Hi there

Our black molly gave birth nearly 2 weeks ago, she had 12 fry all with egg still attached and died.

The thing is that her belly was still big after she gave birth (our guppies all went down) and has continued to grow slowly. I know they could be pregnant straight away but could it be that she gave birth to some fry prematurely and she hasn't gone full term yet? Could she still be pregnant with the original batch? We are just trying to work out the approximate due date so we can keep an eye on her.

Just another quicky, we have yellow/gold mollies. Well we think they are mollies, the shape is the same, the fins are the same, the eyes are the same, they are a yellowy goldy colour with black patches towards the back and tail, also one is all yellow with a darker yellow stripes faintly seen. Are these mollies? If yes could they be a cross breed or an actual breed? Sorry our camera is too slow at taking photos so can't post a photo just a blurred mass.

Any help appreciated.

 

[helterskelter]

well it sound like they are mollies and yes all mollies will cross breed giving you al sorts from the fry.

Usualy when a livebearer aborts they abort all the eggs and fry. They do not alway's go down in size by much. but i would think at about 4 weeks you'll be expecting more fry.

 

[jordan1231]

well it sound like they are mollies and yes all mollies will cross breed giving you al sorts from the fry.

Usualy when a livebearer aborts they abort all the eggs and fry. They do not alway's go down in size by much. but i would think at about 4 weeks you'll be expecting more fry.

Sounds like you have 24k gold mollies. I have this kind and they are all gold with different speckles of black all over them. Also I have had a molly give birth to 3 babies prematue and went on to have 25 more babies in about 3 days afterwards. Mine also had the egg sac attached and died shortly after birth.

 

[Charlie06]

Thanks for your replies.

Our Molly had the babies 2 weeks this Sunday. All yest she was hiding at the top of the tank in some plants, gulping alot. I thought maybe she was in labour but I think she was a little constipated! She is still hovering near the top, not as active but is eating, playing, chasing off our little male platy (he's a little horny devil going after all females!!). She does have a big belly. I always check before they eat as this gives me a better idea of natural belly and not just stuffed their faces with food belly, if you get my drift. I will keep an eye on her today.

Thanks again

 

[Charlie06]

Good news.
Our other Black molly has given birth to 11 fry, our first molly babies. Some are black and the others are patchy black and silver. 3 died and we had one egg, but after our other molly lost all hers (and finished them off by scoffing them) we are all very happy. They did seem to have the same problem, eggs sacks still attached and obviously the strongest have survived. We are waiting for our new fry tank to get settled in so any baby fry will have a nice big tank, but for the next few days we are keeping them in the breeding tank in the main tank.
Her belly has gone down alot so I suspect she has had her batch......until next time. I'm just glad mummy molly is ok, it gets very worrying when there's a problem with the fry, will mum survive? Well she is swimming and eating fine, so I feel much better.
The Molly this post was originally about has still got a big belly, so anytime in the next week she should give birth. I just hope she will be ok.

 

[helterskelter]

LOL just goe's to show.

I've usualy found that they passed most or all the eggs or fry if something happens.

How ever you got your babies now and I'm sure that mum will be fine, the fry should eat crushed flake food, but I'll alwasy say you should start fry off with live foods, and mum would do well as well from them.

Best id newly hatched brine shrimp, but the eaiest to get would be daphina for them.

Helter

 

[Charlie06]

Cheers Helter

Now if I was still living in the UK I would be onto the live foods, unfortunately we live in Bulgaria and the choice is not big. No live food. Our pet shop man has said he can get frozen food but not sure if this is any good. In the meantime we have a large selection of dried food, all crushed so I am hoping this will be ok. We try to do the best we can for our fish. The Bulgarians are bigger on the fishing side so lots of choice of bait there. I'm sure they will get better with choices for our little fishes in the future.................. I hope

 

[helterskelter]

frozen foods a re fine, black mosquito and blood worm are fine, but only for fish an inch long or so.

Daphine frozen may be ok for smaller fish.