Is My Molly Pregnant?

[Dawnsfish]

I cannot decide if my molly is pregnant or just fat. She seems to be this size forever now until today and her stomach seems more squared off which a I understand it, is a sign of birth is coming soon... Any advice?

 

[KrystaK]

Yep, you got yourself a mother to be.
Expect fry in the next 12-24 hours,
If you want her to be less stressed, I recommend turning off the light and leaving the room, that way everything in the tank is more relaxed. If you want to save any of the fry either put her in a breeding trap or wake up tomorrow and have a net at the ready to scoop up any fry that survived the night,

 

[the_lock_man]

Any advice? Yes, let nature takes its course. She will have the fry. She will then eat most, if not, all of them. Any tankmates will eat a few as well. Therefore, you don't have to find homes for them.

 

[mrcobrajet]

Get a bunch of hornwort plant to float in your tank and you fry will survive!  It's like a big bush that the fry can hide it.  As my fry did and survived... And I have a lot of bigger fish in the same tank.

 

[Dawnsfish]

Still no babies.... Watching her as close as we can!

 

[Dawnsfish]

We have babies!!!! Looks like 5 of them made it! Can wait to see what the end up looking like, the only male we have in the tank is a red platy.

 

[mrcobrajet]

COOL!!!  And remember that Platies can have multiple births... As mine did...

 

[the_lock_man]

COOL!!!  And remember that Platies can have multiple births... As mine did...

 
 
And indeed, so can mollies. They can store sperm packets for up to 6 months since their last encounter with a male.

 

[Dawnsfish]

We pruchased this particular molly pregnant on accident. I didnt know any better at the time. And after the first group of babies, she began to get fat again. After researching our fish (admitting my mistake in not doing the research first), I realized we had one male and the rest females. Well except our three glass catfish, I have no idea if they are male or female but as I understand they trend not to breed in captivity.

 

[Dawnsfish]

I have done some more reading and now understand what you mean about carrying sperm. However I will not be sharing that information with my daughter just yet as she is sooo exciyed that her fish had babies (her's is what we thought was the daddy). Shes 10 so I dont see any harm in letting her think that for now.

 

[the_lock_man]

Platies and mollies can't interbreed (in spite of what the male platy might be thinking to himself!). If you have no male mollies in the tank, then after the six months is up, you won't have any more fry. Do you have female platies?
 
EDIT Just spotted your other post, and it does look like you have a female platy as well. So, she'll be having fry every 4-6 weeks from now to eternity.

 

[Dawnsfish]

Quick update: we have 9 babies in total. They are now doing quite well in our ten gallon tank.

Yes, we have one female platy and she is pregnant now. We do have a two male mollies from the first set of fry from mommy but I didnt think they were old enough to start breeding. But those two males are now constantly chasing mommy. The baby looks a lot bigger in this photo than he actually is. I believe they are around a month old. (And yes I realize that this photo is a female but I could not get a clear shot of the males)

 

[the_lock_man]

You really need to start making enquiries of local fish shops to see if any of them are willing to take your fry. Otherwise, your filter will soon be overloaded.

 

[Dawnsfish]

Actually I checked on that yesterday. They cannot offer me any money for them but the will take them and adopt them out. That made my kids very happy to know they would go to new little kids. My brother is also taking a few to start up his own tank for his children. He is starting his tank up now and will only be taking two females.

My main tank is 40 gallons. We have three male platies, one female platy, one algie eater, three ghost shrimp, three glass catfish, six female mollies (5 of them around a month old I believe), two male mollies (same birth as the females) in this tank.
In the ten gallon tank we have the nine new fry from the molly.
Am I already in trouble?

 

[the_lock_man]

Adopt them out?

Sell them, I think they mean. Still, better than having an overloaded filter.
 
As you stand, you sound fine, depends on the algae eater.