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When working out if your Molly fish is pregnant, it can become Stressful and worrying. This quick guide should ease these feelings, explaining the first signs of pregnancy and what you need to do. Also helping you make those important decisions which need are made along the way. Many people panic and think their fish are dying as they are unsure with what’s going on but you won’t be this person no more. Once you've worked out the early signs and things to be done, it should become an enjoyable experience.
There are a few common things which you need to keep an eye out for:
- Swelling of the belly
- Shyness
- Over eating
These 3 things together will tell you that your fish is pregnant. With Mollies being live bearers there'll give birth to live young. Deciding if you’re going to create a breeding tank or using a breeding net is an essential decision. This need to be thought about when you discover your molly is pregnant.
You can keep your Molly in the main aquarium and leave nature to take place but you will lose at least half of your fry. To increase their chances you can place extra plants, rocks or even bogwood inside. This will give them places to hide away to stop being eaten.
Breeding tank
If you choose a breeding tank, this needs to be set up ready to go. Just like another aquarium, you will only need the essentials inside such as:
- A heater
- Sponge Filter even biological if you can
- A small bit of decor
You can add extra decor giving more places for the mother and eventually baby fry to hide. Remember the fry will grow up in this tank. It could be a couple of months before there ready to move into the main aquarium. You want to transfer your mother molly over as soon as you realise her becoming pregnant, too much stress can cause her to abort. So be careful, I normally catch her in a beaker rather than using a net. This will decrease the stress involved with transferring fish. As soon as she's given birth you want to remove her back to the community as she will eat her fry.
Breeding net
Having a breeding net can save setting up another tank but you could lose fry. With breeding nets they often don't get enough water flow through, which can cause death. So you will need to place it close to your inlet achieving a nice steady flow. Adding in a moss ball will give the fry places to hide also something to eat in those first few days. When your fry start to grow they need somewhere to go and my opinion placing them in the main tank from a breeding net is too soon.
Of course, this is just a brief insight into pregnant molly fish. There is plenty more information to help you along the way. Breeding mollies is fun and rewarding but remember that they breed quickly so before long you may find that you're over run with them.
Thank you, I do try my best. Their life's are in the hands of the owner so you need to do the best for them.
one question though, you said move her out as soon as she gives birth..I lost one mother after she gave birth because I put her back in and the males harrassed her when she just wanted to rest. Is it not better to give her a day or two to recover before sticking her back in the main tank? If there are some places to hide she won't get to eat many of her young, especially as she doesn't eat for a few hours after giving birth
That's very true you can leave her in there but I have found she always eats the fry when I have. I spouse maybe adding in more places for them to hide would help. With my main aquarium though I've got many places for her to hide along with my female numbers out ranking the males by a lot. So I don't tend to have an issue with the males harrasing one particular female too much. Good point though Dom thank you for pointing it out.
Used to do the same with guppies. It is a natural wonder why these fish eat their young. I know guppies do the same thing. Great article! I used to have an aquarium myself. They take some care, but they pay off in tranquility and the calming effect they have.
I don't quite understand why they eat them either but that's nature. It will always amaze me. You can't put words on the feeling you have after your baby fry have grown up. All that hard work is towards seeing your little fry grow up to be healthy adults. Its defiantly something you need to experience.
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