Molly Breeding

[random919]

I have just got 3 mollies. 1 male black, 1 female silver(may already be pregnant but not sure) and 1 female dalmation molly. They are the only ones in my 70L tank. When can you tell that they are pregnant? How long are they prenant for? Does anyone have any tips on keeping the fry alive and generlly breeding the fish?
Hope you can help
Random919

 

[Judgejudy]

Ive heard that it takes up to 4 weeks to finish the pregnancy. You can tell when there pregnant because there fat ( fatter ) and they develope black spots near the back fins but thats after 2-3 weeks if you want nearly all the fry to survive you can set up a breeding tank about 5 gallons or a breeding net ( that you can buy at pet or fish shops ) if you only want 1 or 2 fry keep them in the same tank but with plants. Hope i helped

 

[Scales9]

There is an amazing thread in the pinned topics all about pregnancy including photos of what shape and size you fish will be at the different stages of pregnancy, labour and keeping fry. Mollies are pregnant for 4-6 weeks and as I have found out the females in pet stores are almost always pregnant. A breeding net is a good way to save fry But you have to be quite the expert ( or at least I have never quite managed the timing) to get the female in the net at the right time, still even if you miscalculate the timing you can always catch the fry when you see them and put them in the net. There are people on this forum who are brilliant and very experienced with this topic that can give you an idea of when your female will drop fry if you can get a nice clear photo of her. Hope this helps a little.

 

[Cazgar]

Livebearers usually drop every 4/5weeks.
When they're almost ready to drop they take on a boxy shape & you will notice a small White dot around their anal area, this is the birthing tube.
Most livebearers bought from Lfs are already pregnant.
Some people use breeding traps to save the fry, but if your tank is well planted a lot will survive as they're very good at hiding.
If you want to save lots of fry you'll need a separate tank to grow them on, & also somewhere to home them when they're big enough.
A lot of Lfs won't take them

 

[5teady_2012]

Check out my link in my signautre, this will give you most of all you need to know.

 

[OldMan47]

I will disagree with Cazgar only slightly here. The most commonly available livebearers do indeed drop their fry around 4 weeks after they are inseminated. On the other hand, the goodeid group are far more likely to drop their fry around 8 weeks after an insemination. Since that is the main group in my tanks, the 8 weeks is what I am often looking for.
Mollies fall under the "common" label here and will often drop fry about 4 weeks after contact with a male. Slight time variations can result from things like water temperature. Care for newly born mollies is simple as can be. Crush up a bit of the food you are using for the adults and feed that powder to the fry. They will survive and thrive on it.

 

[5teady_2012]

Livebearers usually drop every 4/5weeks.
When they're almost ready to drop they take on a boxy shape & you will notice a small White dot around their anal area, this is the birthing tube.
Most livebearers bought from Lfs are already pregnant.
Some people use breeding traps to save the fry, but if your tank is well planted a lot will survive as they're very good at hiding.
If you want to save lots of fry you'll need a separate tank to grow them on, & also somewhere to home them when they're big enough.
A lot of Lfs won't take them

just want to add a little something here that is always misunderstood.
The white dot around thier anal area is not what to look for, its actually the inner part of the tube to pay attention to, a slight ring will appear on the inner part and this is when the birthing tube has opened, the white dot just swells more when this appears.
I will edit my pinned thread on knowing when your livebearer will drop its fry and update the info on the birthing tube for future views.

Regards

Wayne