Pregnant Mollies....?

[Cookie147]

Hi, only signed on today and read quite a bit, but I was hoping for some clarification on Silver Molly pregnancies. I'm practically a novice when it comes to owning tropical fish, having only started 2 months ago.

The first fish we bought when our tank was ready was 3 Silver Mollies. A week later one of the mollies gave birth to quite a lot of babies. Sadly they all died, and the same molly is now looking rather fat again. I presume that soon there will be fry swimming around the tank.

This time I would like to be prepared. So, my question to anyone who could help is, how can I tell when the birth of the babies is imminent?

A also think that one of our Platy's could also be pregnant, but not sure if it's just got a big belly...!

Any help would be greatful....

 

[OldMan47]

All platies have a larger look to their belly than mollies. They are just a different shaped fish than a molly so by comparison they may seem pregnant even if they are not. The platies will look definitely swollen when viewed from above shortly before giving birth. The molly will get a very squarish looking belly shape shortly before giving birth and her birth will be about 5 or 6 weeks after the last one.
If your water quality is good, you should not be losing mollies to much except predation. Mollies and platies will both try to eat fry so the fry either need dense plantings for a hiding place or need to be moved to a cycled tank with no adults in it. Molly fry are usually quite large when they are born and they grow quickly. I presently have a batch of molly fry that I had to save from their mother, because I wanted to keep them, by removing her to another tank. In a week they have grown large enough to survive with a platy and in another week or two will be big enough for me to put their mother back into the tank.