Is My Balloon Molly Pregnant? Urgent.

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JessicaHHS

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Some people may not see this as an emergency but it is quite urgent, I have a female balloon molly, another different type of male molly and an angel fish all together in a tank, they've been getting on fine for the months they've been together but all of a sudden my female balloon molly has at least 2 black dots on her belly behind her fins, also she now hides a lot in rocks and decorations I have in the tank and she does a little kind of 'shimmy' when she swims, I say this is urgent because I have had molly fry before but didn't realise and they were quickly killed, eaten and spread disease throughout my tank, I want to be ready with a breeders box (if necessary) just in case they are eaten by the other fish and especially my angel fish, thanks for reading this and please can you get back to me on this subject! :) ..I'm sorry for the quality of the pictures, not a good camera and I couldn't get my female to hold still! image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
not a very clear pic im affraid , if she is getting ready for babies and is shimmering already maybe shes had some , i had a platty give birth last week ., no indication at all , only found 5 babies , which i got still now :) have a watch about ya tank see if u can see any , mine were hanging nr plants (fake)
 
Sorry if i come across as harsh but you should really refrain from posting topics such as this in the emergency section, it may cause someone who's fish are extremely ill to go unnoticed because they are pushed down the list.
Either way, if you searched in the forum or an internet search engine i am sure you will find plenty of useful guides on how to tell if your fish is pregnant.
 
As Tuxyu mentioned this might be best of in the livebearers section where those members often deal with this kind of thing, so I'll move it over for you :)
 
When a female livebearer starts hiding, it's often an indication of impending birth, especially if the male is hanging around as well.

When I kept mollies, they often used to swim with a shimmy, males and females, it didn't seem to be related to being pregnant.
 
The black dots sound like the fry inside.

Hiding and altered swimming can be very normal with added roundness from being pregnant.

Fry don't spread disease, poor water conditions do or fish that become sickly/injured because of the birth process.

If you are worried about the survival of your fry you could partition your tank or if you have a second cycled tank move your molly into that.
 
Thanks for the help, also as I've never properly bred fish before, I'm not sure when I should move her into a breeders box, I'm researching what she should like look when she is about to give birth, but I can't check as she hides a lot in a pot decoration I have and I don't want to disturb her if she's moved to be isolated, do you have any idea? Thanks again :)
 
The only way to tell if she's near to giving birth is to have a look at her belly. When she's a day or two away from having the fry, her tummy will take on a very distinctive box-like shape.

Most people don't recommend breeder boxes. They're far too small and can stress the mother out, and they're not big enough for the fry to grow properly. Your best bet is to add a big bunch of fine leaved plant for the fry to hide in, and leave both mother and fry in the main tank.
 

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