Molly giving birth

[Woody]

My kids just called my office to tell me that one of my dalmation mollies is giving birth (2 so far) in the breeding box. I've searched previous posts for lots of useful information, but still can't find out how many fry to expect. Reading between the lines, it sounds like 8 or 9 would be normal.

Any estimates on what I should expect?

 

[JoKeR]

Well mollys could have from 2-60!!!!!!!!!!!!!! an average molly gives around 20-30 fry sometimes even 15. It mostly depends how bis she is.

 

[Woody]

It doesn't seem to have gone well. It has been a couple of hours now and she appears to have had only two fry and both have died. Any idea how long it takes them to have the whole batch? I don't want to let her out of the breeder before she's done.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Hi Woody,
Fellow Alaskan here. 55galdude has the right numbers for you. Only thing that I have to add is that some of my females will abort or reabsorb their young just from the stress of being in the breeder net. Maybe this is what has happened, Let us know what happens.

ALASKA

 

[amazingbioloboydp]

I got about 40 hehe

 

[Woody]

Well, it looks like I have one survivor (for now). She had about 10 fry that I'm aware of. I found most of them trapped in the grate that was supposed to let them drop to the bottom of the breeder. I don't know if she killed them or it was something else. I returned the two-day-old breeder to my lfs already and complained about the too-narrow slots. The guy who sold it to me tried to sound shocked and said other customers have no problems. (Yeah, right, pal. My molly had freakishly large fry, I'm sure.)

Anyway, I swapped it for a simple net-box type breeder. I'm going to take an old plastic plant and weight it at the bottom to provide some protection for the fry and hope for some more babies in a few weeks.

 

[Carolinesugar]

hiya, well, im pleased that u managed to save 1 of the fry!!!!!

u will have to keep us posted as to how it survives.

im sure that if hes a fighter (which he sounds as hes the only 1 that made it) he will keep fighting, and wont give up!

gud luck, and i hope the kids werent 2 upset that the large majority of the fry died

 

[Woody]

Well, it was quite the little adventure last night. After exchanging the plastic box breeder for a simple net version, my wife persuaded me to move the molly into it, even though I was convinced she was done giving birth. It had been hours since the first few fry were born. When I went to remove her from the breeder before I went to bed, I found that she had produced about 25 more fry but most appeared to have been stillborn. I'm speculating here, but they were at the bottom with their tails curled around them as if they never straightened out and tried to swim. Final result: We have three survivors still swimming and looking good this morning.