how do you tell if your pet molly fish is pregnant?

Question

I would like to know how to tell. How easliy do they breed? I believe I have 2 females and 1 male. If they are babies how are they taken care of?
~Thanks for all your help
~Animal hugger~

Answer 1

If you have a male and a female together, then you have a pregnant female... that's how easy they are to breed. The female will get very fat as the babies develop and in lighter colored fish you can see a dark spot at the end of her belly that gets larger and larger as she gets closer to delivering the babies. Baby mollys are very easy to care for and will eat finely crushed flake food from the first day. I would caution you though, adult mollys, including the mom, will eat the babies as fast as they can so she should be confinded to a seperate tank or a breeder net as she comes to the end of her term. Mollys carry babies for an average of 28 days, but that can easily vary by a week in either direction. Hope that helps.

MM

Answer 2

Your female wil get a very large abdomen and look like she is going to pop. Mollies will eat their young so a breeding cup is suggested. When she gets very big you put her in this little cup that hangs on the side of the tank. When her babies are born (called fry) they will sink to the bottom of the cup where there is a second level where the mother and other fish cannot reach the babies. You can feed them until they are older and swimming strong. You also want to have plenty of cover in the tank for the little fish to hide. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Ha! Mine just gave birth yesterday. We just got her on Friday. Not knowing anything about fish, i assumed she was prego by the size of her enormous belly. She probably gave birth to 30 fry. We didn't have a divider so when we saw that the other fish (black skirt tetras) were eating the babies we put a piece of cardboard covered in foil into the tank to divide it. Now there are 25 of them. Problem is that the heater and filter are on the other side of the aquarium so I have to keep the light on for heat and keep using a jar full of water to keep oxygen in it. The lizard guy on here said to use a mason jar and shake some water vigorously and pour the water back in. It should last for a few hours. Good luck if one of yours is pregnant. Problem is that on one web site I read it said fry are mature at 20 days old. So they can get pregnant too. Way too many babies!!!

Answer 4

Mollies, Platies, Guppies and Swordtails all carry their young approximately 28-35 days. Don't go by the gravid spot, go by how big around the female's stomach is. When she gets round underneath and WIDE on the sides and her anal area looks like it is squaring off, she will give birth within 24 hours. Some don't get dark gravid spots so go by what I described above. Once she gives birth, mark your calendar and she will have them again with a good diet and that in 28 to 35 days. It's usually closer to 28 days.