My female molly is huge, square and holding on to her fry. what can i do?

Question

My female molly has been pregnet for over 6 weeks, EASY!
Last time she droped her fry, she did so at 4 weeks. Like most of my mollys .
Is it possible that the fry have died inside my molly and she can not deliver them. Or is she stressed cause i have had her in and out of the breeding net because she looks like she is ready to drop all the time as i want to keep the fry away from my other fish in the tank.
What can i do to help her as she does not look comftable with her self.
I tried inducing her by putting the temp up 2 degrees. This has not worked.
I was going to put her back in the big tank and just let her go till next time. But i am concerned that the fry are dead inside her. and this may kill her as well.
Thanks for any help you can give me. Jasmin

thank you for all your answers it help me ease ,my mind thank you. She is still the same ifshe has not changed in the fortnight i will come back and ask you guys again

Answer 1

i don't particularly like putting he female in the breeding net. It really really stresses them out and can sometimes cause abortions...HOWEVER (don't go into panic mode) when i got my platties, they didn't have 1 single baby for aroudn 3 months...and now they are having a batch around 1nce a month...

what you should do is take her out and turn off the light to let her relax...

if she does die...this may sound very very cruel and disgusting, but some people cut gentaly down the bottom of the fish and put her in a but of water...sometimes the fry are alive..i haven't tried it myself..but some people do that

Answer 2

I would vote for being moved too much leading to stress. That's one of the reasons I don't like to use breeder nets. I just put lots of plants (even fake ones) in the tank, and even let some of them float. This gives the female a sense of security and the fry have plenty of hiding spots where they can keep from being eaten by adults. I've used this type of setup for all the livebearers I've raised, and never have had problems having plenty of fry survive. And I've had females hold onto fry for even longer, so I wouldn't worry in your case yet.

Maybe instead of using the breeder (and depending on the dimensions of your tank), you could use a tank divider with just a few plants for the mom. This would keep the fry away from the other fish, stress the female less than netting her and moving her to a breeding net, and need less work than planting your entire tank.

Answer 3

Okkkkkk!! Rae you are weird! cutting up a fish, cmon! i am a novice fish keeper(an addict) You can keep her at a vase that is big enough with same water. Thats what i did. She had 20 baby fry. 6-8 weeks is what ive heard it takes. Maybe 4 weeks was to soon. Don't worry they will come out sooner or later. Is she still eating??? Starving is a sign of stress or she is about to have the babys soon