# A few questions...



## TobiDee (Apr 12, 2006)

Hi. I'm new to this, I've only had fish for about six months now, only started breeding a couple months ago. I have three mollies (A female dalmation, a female black, and I have no clue what my male is, sadly) and their fry in one tank, and five male and one female guppy, a small plecko and a plati in the other. I have just a few questions...

My Dalmation molly is massive, and pregnant. She's my main breeding fish; and she hasn't had any problems with her last four batches of fry. She's always been almost exactly a month apart with her deliveries, none of the other fish have eaten any of the fry, and she's about due for another batch. The thing is, she's been acting a bit funny lately, and I'm not sure what to do. She's so big she has a bit of trouble swimming, and she stays realitivly close to the bottom of the tank. She's been rubbing herself against the wall/graval, should I be worried? Or is my fish just weird? Because I could totally just believe she's weird. She likes to rub against my hand when I'm removing/replacing my drift wood.









My black molly is also pregnant; although she rarely gives birth to more then five fry. This doesn't worry me, but she has taken to hiding behind the fake plant I have in my breeding tank. Normally, this mean's that she is about to drop; but it appears that she may be having trouble. She seems stressed for no reason; I've made no changes to the tank, heir diet...why would she be stressed? Could she be having trouble birthing?

My next question is in regards to one of my fry. He was from the first batch, and he has no side fins. He has been doing good, but lately, the other fry have been picking on him, and I'm wondering, should I move him to another tank?

And lastly, I think my guppy may be pregnant, but I've never bred guppies before, and don't know what to look for. I know the most common things are the rounded belly and the gravid spot, but she's fairly dark,and I don't know what the spot looks like. If anyone has a clear picture, I'd be right greatful...

Thanks!
TobiDee


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

Are you shur that the fry has not fins? im surprised that he made it this far with out them......

Im not shur what to tell you about the pregos as im new to this and have the same problem with my mollies.


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## TobiDee (Apr 12, 2006)

Yeah, he has no fins; I made sure of it before I posted. He has what looks like a gap where his fins SHOULD be. Most likely it was a birth defect, I'd imagine...if I can get a pic of him, i'll post it, but it's hard with so many in the tank! ^^;


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Rubbing could be a sign a ich or some other parasite. Yes, she could be having trouble birthing, and there isn't anything you can do. Domestic livebearers can be very inbred and often have birth defects and die in birthing. Many breeders cull (feed to larger fish) fry with visible defects. If your finless one can't compete for food with the others and you want to keep it, you need to give it its own home. Do you salt to your water? Mollies like it and it helps against parasites. 

Whenever I see stress I change water.


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## TobiDee (Apr 12, 2006)

I've changed the water; now she's acting a little bit more like herself. ^^ thanks.

I have salt in the tank, and as far as I can tel there's nothing wrong with her. Although the last two times she was pregnant she rubbed against things as well, could it just be somethign she does when she's pregnant?

And the finless guppie is pretty riley; fights for food and fights back against the other fry. He doesn't seem to be having too much trouble, and I want to keep him, but will the other fry possibly get even more violent with him when their bigger? He's almost twice the size of the other fry, too.


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

I would seperate them since you wont to keep him.


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## nathanaus (Apr 17, 2006)

You can tell a guppy is pregnet when she has a big black dot near the bottom fin.The black dot is the eyes of the fry.When the dot is big and the guppy is fairly fat she is going to give birth.


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

Thats not always the case. My 2 females dont show a gravid spot. I just look to see how big they are.


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