# anyone got a pict of a "square" female molly....



## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

i been doing some research and i want to know how a near ready to birth female molly looks like?

i have 3 females and 1 male,

1 female marble

1 female silver

1 female gold dust

and 1 black male

the marble has been pregnant for a while, and well i cant tell if she is ready, and i try to see if she looks "square" and to see if i can find her gravid spot, but i cant find it....

the gold dust looks pretty bloated, im assuming either ready to bust with babies or just holding lots of eggs....

and the silver looks the thinnest from all the females, but she looks kinda square-ish, but it doesnt look like she is pregnant with fertile eggs, yet, she doesnt look big enough to have been carrying fertile eggs for sometime....

i feed them tubifix worms and flake food.... the temperature is about 78 F, i put in approx. 6 tablespoons of aquarium salt for my 40 gal tank, and there is fair ammount of alkaline for hardness....

i think my marble molly is ready to birth, but i dont want to move her in the breeder net too soon.... and i dont have a sponge filter, and im afraid the shrimp might try to eat a couple of fry, let alone the other mollies might eat the fry.....

so does anyone have a pic of a near birthing molly, a pic of a "square" molly with a noticable gravid spot....

should i make any changes to temp, salt, diet, etc. to promote birth of fry?

when would be the best time to move her into the breeder net?

:help:


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

You will notice that close to when she is ready to give birth the others in the tank will start chasing her around while she is trying to find a quiet spot in the tank. She will start hanging out in one spot not moving much. Then the time is usually close.

Sorry I dont have any pictures.


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

*but the male always bugs her....*

so exactly what other behavior changes will i notice?

cuz i notice my males chase the smallest female, and the other females chase the small one, too, the smallest female is a gold dust molly.....

doesnt anyone have anyother information on how to see if she is near birthing?


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

All i can say is that she should look verry big. A week befor she gives berth she will get bigger in stomack. Have a look at a pregnant silver mollie(myn never get the gravid spot its realy odd):

















Since you have 3F and 1M mollie you will have a lot of fry on your hands in a few weeks. I would sugest if you can to get another tank Just for fry. When they get bigger ( big enough not to be eaten/ sucked up the filter) you can add them to your tank. 

I hope this helpes. any other questions?


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

*ok new stuff added*

i have a 10 gal tank for my fry, and also i got 2 more females.... a silver lyretail and a sunset molly

i think?

ok ok, i know when to tell if a molly is pregnant, i know that much, i want to know is, when she is ready to birth?


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

No one can realy tell its up to her. About once a month they will have fry if they are with males. How big are your mollies? Depending on how big they are they can have diferent amounts of fry. My first batch was about 10 and 7 servived. Right now i have 50 1 week old fry aout of maby 70. They where from diferent sized fish.


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

ok, well where is the gravid spot? cuz i got more then one female about 5, and i know i may not be able to see them all.....

and o also, how do i care for brine shrimp for feediing?


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

You do not have to use the shrimp i did not


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

its just i havent feed my fish any freeze dried or live brine shrimp and i want to try a new type of food for them, see if they like it or what not....

i know some people dont need brine shrimp but i just want to introduce my fishies to a new treat and see how they react to it, and thats why i want to know the basics of keeping shrimp alive as long as possible until they are all eaten.....

i also have blackworms.... but the mollies dont seem to like them, but betta in a different contain loves any thing thats alive.... so i froze the blackworms and see how the like them now....

but yea....

back to the original point of this thread....


does anyone have any pict of a molly thats very near its birthing stage?

with a noticable gravid spot or that looks "square"

and what other types of behavior will show she is ready?

basicly i want to know my que to move her into her breeding net, cuz i do have a 10 gal tank, with a filter but no heater and i will have to see when my friend who works in marineland can get me the heater, so right now, i want to know when i should put her in the breeder net, cuz i dont want to put her into the 10 gal tank with no heater....


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

they one time i put my fish in the breeder net she died. So i would not put her in there. Keep close eye on the tank and you will fined the babys. THe past 2 times that is wat i did. I have never done the shrimp thing but you can buy frozen shrimp for the fish.


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

ok ok, its just i really dont want to be late to notice the fry, i been trying my hardest to find my java moss, to keep them safe, but my local fish store doesnt sell them so i have to stick to ebay....

and i kinda wish i had it now...

so yea...

i just doing the shrimp thing as something different, its really not for the fry just something new, and i would like to know how can keep them alive as long as possible, in turn i might just ending up freezing them....

but thats not the point of this thread, so...

DOES ANYONE HAVE THE PICTS IM ASKING FOR?????

thanks so much....


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

I alredy showed you the pictures! The day after they where taken she had fry. That what they look like.


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

leafgirl115 said:


> I alredy showed you the pictures! The day after they where taken she had fry. That what they look like.


you never said in your last post with the picts, that she gave birth the next day, you just said she was pregnant, and i can already tell that much about my fish.....

i noticed something where, the opening next to the anal fin seems to gotten "bigger", i dunno if my fish was just crapping or what?

but yea, i cant notice any gravid spots on all 5 females....

but they are all pretty big now, and look about ready to burst open with fry.....

i already order some java moss, hoping it will come in time before most of the birthing's, does anyone know of another kind of plant that i can use, and is avalible in the california....

thanks in advance....


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

You can get some fate plants for your tank at the moment so if they have fry they can hide. Try and get one that has pretection for fry like this one(by the rock):


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## DigiDan (Apr 27, 2006)

well, my senses were right, my gold dust molly gave birth to 28 fry, none are still born, but one did get eaten, and the other one is lost in the tank, i turned off the filter to prevent any getting sucked up, and i moved the gold dust molly into the breeder trap after i seen 3 fry, it look like one got eaten by my other molly, and i saw one more in the tank but i lost it in the gravel, now, i have 26, none of them are still born...

wow to think this is my first real litter...

actually the very same gold dust gave birth the day i brought her home, she gave birth in the bag, but they all got eaten my her mate that was also in the bag....

now i have many more new questions:

how many times do i feed the fry? i heard at least 3 a day...

and when do they start eating?

and how long till they double their size?


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

For the first week i try to feed them 5 times a day(when you get up, 2 hours after that, at lunch time, at dinner time and then befor you go to be. After a week i feed them 3 times a day till they are biger. The fry will eat right after they are born. (feed finely crushed flace food that is powder) It all depends how long they take to double there size. How much they eat, water qualitly and geans all afect how fast they will grow.


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