Pregnant livebearer questions...? (Lots of pictures- You've been warned! :)

[316heartbeats]

Okay so right now I have two pregnant livebearers, a guppy and a molly, in my three-way breeder. Bouth look ready to pop to me, especially the guppy, but as I've only had one fish give birth in my tanks before (a molly), I'm not sure. If anyone could answer some or all of these questions, I would be very appreciative!
Judging by the pictures....
How long (approximately) until theyre ready to pop?
Should either of them be kept in the breeder?
(If you can tell) How many fry should I be expecting?

Thank you!

 

[316heartbeats]

Some additional info-
Neither of them have given birth before while they were in my posession.
I got them a few weeks ago (3ish)
Neither is eating...
The guppy is very calm, while the Molly is very spastic and hyper with short spurts of calming down.

PS sorry for the blurry/sideways pictures... taken on my iPhone :/

 

[316heartbeats]

34 views and no replies? Please help!

 

[cookymonster760]

they look like theyre about a week away from giving birth you can expect as many as 50 fry from each lady and it would help if you put some plants in the breeders box to help calm the molly

 

[316heartbeats]

they look like theyre about a week away from giving birth you can expect as many as 50 fry from each lady and it would help if you put some plants in the breeders box to help calm the molly

Thank you!
Should I keep them in the breeder box for now or should I take them out...?

 

[TheFishBoss97]

I would take them out as either way, the breeder boxes don't work at all IME(over 100 births), as the baby guppies swim out into what(a world of larger fish, so doesn't really help, as they can swim out, it would be better to get a lot of floating plants, and leave the fish in the tank.

 

[axelrod12]

I agree with fishboss, on top of the fry being able to swim out of the breeder trap it also stresses the female before she gives birth and can lead to stillborns. They are better off being left in the main tank as long as there is plenty of cover for the fry to hide from other fish. Java moss works great and I read something recently about a bundle of drinking straws tied together if you need something in a pinch. However this was for CPO babies and I don't know that it'd work great with fish but it is an interesting idea. Another option is transferring the fry to another established tank solely for the fry.

 

[Fishfriend1]

Leave them in the main tank, as they will have more then enough fry to make up for losses. The breeders never worked for me anyway, maybe I just had bad luck, IDK. Mollies will do fine as fry (in fact, it's almost impossible to kill molly fry, I've plopped them in full SW, boom, nothin, they did fine) and guppies are very hardy as well. Some floating plants, lots of cover, and a large tank will allow them to hide with relative ease until they are large enough to get away from the other fish, then you'll see them come back out from hiding. Mollies need cover, so mom is just scared crapless about being in such an empty and bright area. The guppy is okay because guppies are pretty adaptable and don't usually use cover (IME). So just let them both back into the tank. they'll be fine.

 

[Thedudebob]

It all depends. I breed mollies and sometimes it's a pain. i have on right now ready to pop, but she refuses haha.

 

[316heartbeats]

Thanks everyone! I took them both out of the breeder, and I'm planning to get some java moss or something at the store today. I added a few extra fake plants I had in storage for even more coverage, so hopefully there's enough for a few fry to survive. I mostly got the breeder because I have a female betta in the tank, and I'm scared she'll gobble them all up! (Should that be a concern? lol