baby mollys

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fishfam

Registered Member
Mar 1, 2009
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My family has recently gotten into the fish scene. Each of the kids has their own tank. One has a 10g and is housing 8 baby balloon mollys in a fry net. That tank also has 2 zebrathingys. Another 20g tank has mollys and a swordtail (male). I know that one balloon molly is female and we think the dalmation molly is as well. The balloon molly just joined us yesterday (or the day before....) and gave birth this evening. Most were still in the egg, some were stillborn, and 10 are iffy. We have them in a breeder box (or whatever it is called). Mom is back in the big tank. The other is cleared of the "debris". They are really little and I am thinking the stress of the move caused her to go into early labor.

How can I tell if the dalmation molly is pregnant? She seems to be getting bigger but since this is all new to us...............

The balloon molly that gave birth, will she give birth again in next few days? Or more than likely in a month? I understand they are prolific little buggers!

Thanks!!!
 
They nearly always come pregnant from the store. The balloon molly (for "balloon" read "deformed") has probably given birth early because of the move. They will have multiple pregnancies from a single mating and give birth every 4-6 weeks.
 
yep... they can get knocked up and give birth months later-- multiple times even
 
Its nto uncommon for them to release there eggs or premature fry following a stressful event. I have had them release eggs into the transport bag before. It will probably be a while before she gives birth again. They usually have babies about once a month depending on the enviroment.
 
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the info,
happy to say that there are 7 strong little swimmers and 1 not so strong but hanging on!

This has been a wild ride.
 
The mollies are easily sexed. They are done the same way as most common livebearers. the anal fin, the one right behind where the defecate, is a triangle shape in a female and is longer and thin in a male. I don't happen to have pictures of a molly close up but this little guy is a male of another species.
MaleCloseup.jpg

This is a female of the same species
femaleCloseup.jpg


The typical time between fry drops for a molly is about 6 weeks. The last one I marked down and monitored took exactly 6 weeks between drops.
This is a picture of her the day she gave birth.
MomNEmDay1_976.jpg

This is her picture the day before her next birth.
Mom41_1024.jpg


Ignore the size and color and look at the shape of her belly. The sharp drop from the gills area on the very ready female and the flat bottom to her belly followed by a sharp rise at her anal fin is very different from the comparatively flat belly on her when she has just given birth.
 
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