Pregnant Molly Not Giving Birth

[Doug62]

Hi all,
I was given 3 mollies(2 female, 1 male) to add to my 20 gallon tank with Guppies in. I was told that it was suspected that one of the females was already pregnant as she looked a little plumpish. Anyway, since then she has grown and definatly looks pregnant and having read up i expected her to give birth around 6 weeks after aquiring her. However, it has now been just over 8 weeks and she still hasnt given birth. My LFS recomended that i put her in a breeding net as she may not want to release the babies were the other Mollies are (particularly the male who tends to follow her around with his head against her underside). I tried putting her in the breeding net last night, only putting her in when it was dark but today there are still no babies. I am worried that the breeding net will be too stressful for her but i'm also worried that she hasnt released her babies. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Doug

 

[sweetp544]

Some fish dont like breeder nets at all. My guppy i cant even move her at all or she aborts her babies. Most of my mollies go about 4-5 weeks between batches. She might not feel comfortable. Sometimes a water change helps along with a bit of salt and also increasing the temp slightly. You might try getting a divider for the tank instead of actually moving her to a breeding trap. Then she would be alone and maybe more comfortable. Another note is that my mollies dont like giving birth during the day, it is always late at night or very early in the morning so if your going to try the water change and such i would do it more towards the evening. Good luck!!!!

 

[Doug62]

Thanks Livebearer,
I did a water change yesterday actually, and also added a piece of bogwood to provide a more secluded area (altho a have plants and a 'cave' that i made from slate these hadnt worked. Anyway, ive removed her from the net and she has gone straight under the bog wood and seems to be staying there with her back end inside the secluded bit. Hopefully this might be the prompt she needs. Ive bought some marine salt and am just waiting for my hydrometer toarrive so hopefully i can start adding salt in the next few days. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed!!
Cheers
Doug

 

[sweetp544]

Well hopefully that will make her more comfortable so she will drop the fry. Make sure you look all around when she does drop them. They dont seem to swim too much when first dropped unless you are trying to catch them. And they are fast!!! Just when you think you have all of them 10-15 mins later you find more that were hiding under gravel or where ever. Also it may take her a few hours to completely drop all of the fry she does have inside. So when you see the first bunch that doesnt mean a few hours later there wont be more. Anyway good luck they are tons of fun!!! Let me know if you need any more advice on the fry!


Jenn