Pregnant Mollies?

[phoenix2081]

Hi I bought 4 mollies. I believe 2 are male and 2 are female as 2 have what appears to be a tube pointing to their tail fin, which apparently from reading is the penis. The other 2 just have a small fin.

The 2 with the small fins and which I think may be female (I am not 100% sure on sex as I have only been in the fish game for about 3 months) are getting massive stomachs of late. The clear yellow one just looks like it could pop. Do I need to get a hatchery ready, as I have no funds or space for a breeding tank, or have I mis read the situation.

The tank will have alot of wood and more plants in soon for young fry to hide in if neccessary.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Fishy friend2]

If it a definite female that has recently been placed with a male. Then yes. It is pregnant. It has a while till it drops though

 

[soybean]

If you don't want to set up a breeding tank there is literally nothing you have to do, your fish will handle it all themselves. Females will just continually drop fry, probably about once a month on average, and if you want to give the fry a chance then add bushy plants and moss, otherwise just let nature take its course.

Please don't put the females in one of those little plastic boxes to give birth in. They're stressful and unnatural for her, with her instincts being to find a hidden place among plants, etc.

For future reference the males pointy bit is not technically a penis, is called a gonopodium and is a modified anal fin.

 

[phoenix2081]

hmm just to save confusion this one was in another topic area and I tried to delete it but I couldnt find where. Seems an admin moved it.

Maybe that is what they are doing now as they are hiding within plants and have only came out for food then back to with in the plants. I bought a large breeding trap with the plan of putting her in once she was giving birth to the fry. If it is too small and or stressful I will just put it in the cupboard and not use it.

It would also appear the males are sticking close by is this normal?

I also apologise for my lack of not using the proper term. My bad.

 

[Cazgar]

The males will harass the female when she's close to dropping, fry make tasty snacks & they will mate with her as soon as they can.
To stop them harassing one female too much, you should really have 1 male to 2/3 females, but that will mean you end up with loads of fry.
If you haven't room to house the excess fry, then maybe rehome the females & just keep males

 

[OldMan47]

Males will always follow females, it is just what males do. If you want to be certain about your fish, read through the pinned topic on gender identification at the top of this section. It has a description and pictures to help you understand how to spot any female livebearer, even the goodeids that never do get a gonopodium. Unless you specialize in livebearers, you will not likely ever see a goodeid, they just don't sell them in pet shops. The goodeids reproduce too slowly to be economical for large fish farms to breed them.

 

[phoenix2081]

I know I have 2 males 2 females. I didnt know that when I started lol.