Pregnant Molly

[T-bear951]

i have recently bought a cremsicle lyretail molly and i know she is pregnant, but im not sure when to put her into the breeder... how do i know when she is about to give birth?

 

[Gilli]

The gestation period of a Molly is 24-48 days and is usually dependent upon the temperature of the water. She will have a dark mark in the front of her anal fin called the gravid spot and it becomes quite noticeable as she approaches giving birth, and she will be very large with a kind of square look to her belly .If she is ready to release she will isolate herself, and sometimes you will notice the appearance of a small white tube which is her birthing tube.

1st broods are small of about 15 offspring. Broods increase in number with each successive brood to number up to 150 per brood as the female grows larger. The larger the female, the larger the number of young ones that she will have born. Once mated the female can also store sperm. Females kept alone after being bred once, will continue to have successive broods of offspring. Utilizing the sperm stored in her ovarian tubes, she may give birth six to nine times in her life. Each successive brood will be even larger than the previous one.

 

[UKSPEED]

Don't put her in a breeder box if that's what you're referring too. Very stressful and better to leave things to nature. Then you can scoop up any survivors. If you keep them all each time you'll be over run in no time!

 

[5teady_2012]

First check out my link on everything you will ned to know about when your livebearer will drop its fry, its located in this froum and is stickied.
or just click here to go to it

Breeding traps are fine to use in my opinion ands i have been using them for well over 15 years.
if used correctly the fish will be fine, never leave a fish in a trap for more than 48 hours, always have the lights out in the tank whilst the fish is in, cover the tank if in a well lit room, feed her a little food when putting her in, and most important "dont be cheap, buy the BIGGEST breeding trap"

IMPORTANT
(Most people catch the fish with net then put them in the trap..

its best to just use net to persuade her to move towards the trap then scoop her in with the trap (put trap underwater below her), this way no handling at all has to be done.)

if nothing after 48 hours release her, then dont try again til a few days later, if it has its fry within these few days then its unfortunate and you will have to try to find any fry that have survived and net them in the trap.

Look for signs of her ready to give birth (all explained in the link i gave you)

Another which many people favour, is to heavily plant your tank so the fry have hiding places, this is also a good way to save fry.

can you upload some photos of your molly to here? if possible from a side view, and over head view?

Regards
Wayne