What happens?

[Stacey269]

What happens when pregnant mollies abort or absorb their fry? Based on responses I've gotten about what happened to my molly because she was too stressed out, it was suggested that she absorbed or aborted the fry? If she aborted, wouldn't I have seen something in the water somewhere? If she absorbed them, what happens? do they really absorb 20 or more fry that big? Does she get sick for a few days, listless, not eat, or what? What would be the signs? I'm hoping she delivers some babies in another month or so. What are the chances? I'm leaving her alone this time.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You'd definitely see dead fry or eggs unless they were eaten. As for absorption, I'm not too sure...

 

[guppymonkey]

If she aborted them they would be stillborn and dead fry would possibly be on the bottom (unless some fish ate the dead fry). If she absorbed them its hard to see any signs. She would probably be listless and not moving much because of the stress she was under.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Your possibly talking about a reply I gave you earlier. Yeah for aborted fry, unless she/others ate them you should see dead, undeveloped fry. In the case of absorbition, she may be a little stressed, off appetite etc. Yeah, where do they go when this happens? Heaven knows but it happens in many lifeforms (rabbits, horses - can you imagine that?, pigs, fish, even birds) Usually brought on by stress, undesirable food availability, or something wrong with the developing young. I've got two momma fish that consistantly fail to deliver/loose all color/quit eating, when I try to place them in the breeder net. Leave them alone and they deliver big batches! Then I hustle like crazy to net the fry before it's snack time in the tank. Hope I didn't confuse you earlier... What was the final tally? Zero or one? Best of luck...

ALASKA

 

[Stacey269]

Thanks for the replies. She must have absorbed most of them. Now, which is about 3 weeks later, just yesterday, I noticed some undeveloped fry on the bottom in some places. Today, they were all gone, so I'm assuming they got eaten, most likely by my tetras since they didn't eat today at feeding time when they are always the first out of hiding to devour food. I'm also assuming this is a different batch that got aborted yesterday, unless they were still in there from last month? Anyway, will she continue to have problems now or will she be able to deliver in the future? She and her male companion are the prettiest deep black sailfin mollies I've ever seen (comparing to what I keep seeing at the pet stores) and I'm really hoping for these two to have some offspring to keep the great genes going.