Pregnant Black Mollie

[Aquafreak]

Hi, I have a black mollie that I bought and it turns out she was pregnant. I am wondering if you can tell behaviour if they are about to have their fry? I have her in a breeding trap, and she was really active, but the past 2 days she has been very calm. Resting alot, she is "squared off" but I have a hard time seeing her back end......all I can tell is that her white spot is quite big. Is she due to have her babies soon? Or is she sick? I am worried.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Aquafreak. I can't tell from what you have posted here how your female is doing. They always act strange when confined to a breeder and it causes them significant stress in the bargain. What other fish are in the tank with her? Depending on tank mates and the available cover, she might be better off just swimming freely in the tank. I removed this fish from her community tank and she gave birth to the fry you see 27 days ago. She is starting to get squared off again but will probably not give birth for several days yet. When she does, I intend to mark the date so that I can determine what her pregnancy cycle is. The shortest possible for a molly is about 4 weeks, could happen tomorrow, but they often go longer as they don't usually start the next pregnancy the very day after a drop. More typical would be a 5 to 6 week timing between drops. What is consistent is the time for a particular female.
Today

The day of her last drop

The change to her shape in the last 3 1/2 weeks is obvious to me, as is the size of her fry.

 

[Aquafreak]

Welcome to the forum Aquafreak. I can't tell from what you have posted here how your female is doing. They always act strange when confined to a breeder and it causes them significant stress in the bargain. What other fish are in the tank with her? Depending on tank mates and the available cover, she might be better off just swimming freely in the tank. I removed this fish from her community tank and she gave birth to the fry you see 27 days ago. She is starting to get squared off again but will probably not give birth for several days yet. When she does, I intend to mark the date so that I can determine what her pregnancy cycle is. The shortest possible for a molly is about 4 weeks, could happen tomorrow, but they often go longer as they don't usually start the next pregnancy the very day after a drop. More typical would be a 5 to 6 week timing between drops. What is consistent is the time for a particular female.
Today

The day of her last drop

The change to her shape in the last 3 1/2 weeks is obvious to me, as is the size of her fry.

Thank you very much. Her other tank mates are 2 male guppies,1 femail palaty, and 2 femail mollie(white) I dont think i have enough cover for the fry though, that is why I had moved her to a breeding trap.

Welcome to the forum Aquafreak. I can't tell from what you have posted here how your female is doing. They always act strange when confined to a breeder and it causes them significant stress in the bargain. What other fish are in the tank with her? Depending on tank mates and the available cover, she might be better off just swimming freely in the tank. I removed this fish from her community tank and she gave birth to the fry you see 27 days ago. She is starting to get squared off again but will probably not give birth for several days yet. When she does, I intend to mark the date so that I can determine what her pregnancy cycle is. The shortest possible for a molly is about 4 weeks, could happen tomorrow, but they often go longer as they don't usually start the next pregnancy the very day after a drop. More typical would be a 5 to 6 week timing between drops. What is consistent is the time for a particular female.
Today

The day of her last drop

The change to her shape in the last 3 1/2 weeks is obvious to me, as is the size of her fry.

Thank you very much. Her other tank mates are 2 male guppies,1 femail palaty, and 2 femail mollie(white) I dont think i have enough cover for the fry though, that is why I had moved her to a breeding trap. She also seems to be pooping more, and the colour is going kind of clear.