Pregnant Balloon Mollies

[Queen Bee]

I bought some balloon mollies earlier this week. Picked the real fat ones. Thought they were so cute. Didn't know they were ready to drop fry. Watching tv, saw the one molly begin to have fry. Only managed to get one out of the tank. Other fish were eating them before I could catch them.

Bought a net breeder, and noticed the guppies chasing the black molly. Put her in the breeder and after 1 hour I had a fry. After doing some research, I now know that the white spot she had was an indicator that she was ready to give birth. She went into the net at 4:00 pm yesterday and now at 9:00 am today, I have a total of 4 fry. Is she finished having fry? How long will she take to give birth to all the fry?

I want to release her back into the tank so she will not eat what fry I have, but don't want to do it too early and miss saving more fry from being eatten in the main tank.

 

[OldMan47]

I have never kept the balloon mollies, its a personal thing, but in general mollies will complete a fry drop in a few hours time. There are often as many as 40 fry from a mature molly but, as said, I have no experience with the balloon type.