# Is my Mollie Pregnant?



## crikeyyy (Mar 13, 2010)

Hello people, I have intensionally bred beta fish before, and was sucessful until realising that I needed a tank to filter the water because regardless of changing the water the food keep developing fungus and the fry eventually couldn't survive. ~ But that's for anther time.

A recent surprise is to find an unusually fat molly in my in-laws large tank. I was fairly sure that it would be pregnant because it is easily twice the size of the others, and wobbles when it tries to swim in a straight line (quite cute to watch).
So... Went to the local pet shop an bought a net breeder for it. I decided seeing I knew nothing about mollies I searched online for some good information about anything and everything on Mollies.
I suggest if anyone is interested on the information I found to be very helpful they sould visit this website
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/raising_baby_fish.htm#top2

So, from what I have learnt and on close inspection of the fish in this tank, there are six male balloon mollies and one female that I have put into a net breeder. The males are dalmatian, silver and a really cool orange spoted (unknown) type.
I spent the time to take some pretty cool photos of the fish and want to share them and hopefully have someone reply that indeed the female is pregnant and I have made to right move to separate her from the rest. There are a lot of other kinds of fish in the tank as well, including 3 angel fish and a fairly large gourami that I'm sure would gobble fry instantly.

Here are some photos that I've taken::fish:
First are photos of the female that I've separated with a breeder net from the rest of the tank. And I was hoping someone could verify that she is indeed pregnant?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979&fbid=390082883979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803265&id=621983979&fbid=390084298979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803249&id=621983979&fbid=390082908979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803270&id=621983979&fbid=390085583979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803269&id=621983979&fbid=390085573979
I've also taken some photos of the net breeder in the tank. I was wondering if anyone knew if the Molly could be scared by the angels and other fish into not wanting to bare live fry?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803246&id=621983979&fbid=390082888979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803247&id=621983979&fbid=390082893979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803248&id=621983979&fbid=390082898979
I also took some photos of the male Mollies in the tank...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803262&id=621983979&fbid=390084268979
I was wondering if someone could tell me what kind of molly the orange one below is?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803267&id=621983979&fbid=390084308979
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803263&id=621983979&fbid=390084278979
And finally, I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the dark spotted fish amongst the other fish in the image below was also a Molly? and what type of molly it is? If it is a Molly, then I can say that we have 2 females and 6 males...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4803245&id=621983979#!/photo.php?pid=4803266&id=621983979&fbid=390084303979

Thanks for reading!
Crikeyyy


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Yes, the balloon molly looks pregnant. 
The orange one looks like a Balloon/Creamsicle/Sailfin mix. 
The spotted fish does indeed look like a molly, a Dalmatian. 

And by the way, you should have more females. Male mollies like to have "harems" and two females will not keep them happy for long. You might get some "pestered-to-death-for-sex" incidents if you're not careful.


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## crikeyyy (Mar 13, 2010)

*Response to hXcChic22*

Hi hXcChic22
Thanks for the response. I did read that their should be more female mollies in the tank. I had a good laugh when I counted mostly males. That poor girl has been shared around :-( :fish:
Although it's not my tank, I am enjoying this endeavour and will buy a few more females for the tank. - The only trouble is that I don't know what to do with all the fry once they are done.
Maybe they could be given or sold to a local pet store? I know a few friends that might like to have some.

Also, does anyone know what would be best once the fry have grown too big for the breeder net? ~ Whether I should buy a new tank with a filter to raise them before introducing them with the other fish (with angels and so on)?

Crikeyyy


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Most baby fish will manage ok with larger fish if there are plants (real or fake) for them to hide in. You can probably keep them in the breeder until they are about half an inch and then release them into the tank. 
And yes, sometimes local pet stores (as in, not big box like Petco or Petsmart) will buy fish fry for store credit from you once they reach a certain length. Check around.


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

ok that second pic of your blue molly, it looks like dropsy to me, to be honest. you can see the scales are raised, which does not happen when they are pregnant. I could be wrong, but that is what i noticed when I first looked at the picture. I would take another look at her, and make sure.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2010)

pleco is right. THAT is dropsy! try feeding it peas and see if it helps. epson salts will help as well. 

Good catch Plec.....


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2010)

to feed it peas u need to boil it well, deshell it, mash it a lil and drop it into the tank. remove all excess that hasnt been eaten.


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

whew, im glad someone is agreeing with me.


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