Urgent! Pregnant Molly: she ok?

LornaFaire

LornaFaire

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Jan 23, 2008
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Santa Cruz, CA
I have a 7 gallon tank with 3 mollies(2f, 1m) and a swordtail(f) as well as a breeder box full of swordtail fry.

I've been expecting one of my mollies to drop fry any day now. She gets very distressed by being put in a breeding box so I've left her in the community tank. The male molly chases her to no end and shows no interest i n the otehr fish. She seems to get stressed by this and has now started wedging herself into small corners, seemingly to avoid him. I'm worried that this stress will cause her to abort and I was looking forward to her fry as she was my first fish.

Should I remove the male molly from the community tank until she has given birth? could only keep him in a bucket as I have no extra tank, would he survive that?

If I put her in a bucket to keep her separate, would she? I got some advice from a breeder which indicated I should keep her separate in a bucket of slightly salinated water until she drops fry. The salt is supposed to aide with breeding since mollies are originally from areas of brackish conditions. Has anyone heard this before?

Suggestions would be immensely helpful!
Thanks.
 
Your fish are already acclimated to freshwater. Just keep up with water changes and salt won't be necessary.

Your tank is too small. That is part of the problem. Swordtails and Mollies are pretty active swimmers. I would put them in a 20 gallon minimum. That might be part of the reason your female is stressed. She has nowhere to escape to in that small tank. Without getting more room, you're in for problems. There's not a real good way around it other than providing an additional space for her to be in away from the harassment.

The fry are a whole other problem you are about to face. They will overrun your tank with no checks.
 
theotheragentm said:
Your fish are already acclimated to freshwater. Just keep up with water changes and salt won't be necessary.

Your tank is too small. That is part of the problem. Swordtails and Mollies are pretty active swimmers. I would put them in a 20 gallon minimum. That might be part of the reason your female is stressed. She has nowhere to escape to in that small tank. Without getting more room, you're in for problems. There's not a real good way around it other than providing an additional space for her to be in away from the harassment.

The fry are a whole other problem you are about to face. They will overrun your tank with no checks.
Click to expand...

:iagree: Loads of people have had success breeding in pure FW, no need to add any more stress by trying to acclimate her to Brackish. And moving her into a small, unfiltered, most likely not heated bucket would be stressful as well

And that tank is too small I am afraid. Swordtails can get anywhere from 4-5" and mollies are almost as large and more round. Any minor harassment from a male or any other fish is going to become more aggressive in cramped conditions.
 
When I first started in the hobby I got some mollies and I was told they like a little salt in their water so I've never gotten them again. I've never heard about salt helping a female molly drop her fry though.

With livebearers in my experience they do get chased and picked at just before they're ready to drop. I've noticed it with guppies and platies. If you can you should get yourself a 20 gallon tank for the adults and make the 7 gallon your grow out tank. There are some stores that will take the fry once they're at a good size in exchange for store credit.
 
you will probably be better off putting all of the fish in the community tank and using the 7 gallon as a place for the fry. that way, you'll free up the breeder net for the females once they are in the community tank.

also keep in mind that the 7 gallon is not going to be big enough for all of the fry soon. you didnt say how many swordtail fry there were, but you can easily have 50 molly fry after one female gives birth.
 
I currently only have the one 7gal. tank but I'm getting another 10gal this weekend. there really isn't much I can do as far as space goes since I live in a small shared dorm room. I'm giving away lots of the fry once they've gotten a little bigger and I know the pet store nearby buys/trades fish from customers.

I have no space for nor am I allowed to have any more or bigger tanks. I'm already toeing the line by getting anotehr tank and calling it my roommate's. I'm not giving up any of my adult fish, so what can I do under these conditions?
 
No one can stop you from taking care of the fish the way you decide to do. You're an adult, so you make your own decisions.

You are risking stunting the growth of your fish by leaving them in confined spaces. Your Mollies are going to hit 2.5" on average and your Sword will be 3" probably. It doesn't leave a lot of swimming room, but splitting them up is the best thing you can do giving your current situation. I would split up the fish between the two tanks, putting the Swordtail in the smaller tank with the fry and have that fish cull them. Do frequent water changes as the fish get larger.
 
I don't mind them staying small. Actually I'm a little glad they won't outgrow their tank (as long it doesn't hurt them).

I'm really just worried about what to do to make sure my molly drops fry. I have people waiting to adopt her babies.
 
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