FishQueen55

I have 3 female mollies that are pregnant in my tank, I have them in breeder nets so I don't lose my fish babies. The only problem is I don't know when they are going to go into labor and I don't want to keep them in there for a long time if it isn't their time to pop yet. Can anyone tell me some signs I can look for so I know when she's about to give birth?

KyWildFish

I can tell you putting them in a breeder net might have some bad outcomes. They may get too stressed and abort the pregnancy. They may also eat their babies. I have had tremendous success leaving them in the community to give birth there. I provide plenty of cover and hiding places so the fry can hide away right after birth. I then remove all the decoration and hiding places and CAREFULLY net all the fry using a small net and lots of patience.
As for signs of giving birth they are as follows. The mother will get very boxy looking. If she is a lighter color a gravid (dark) spot will show up by her anal fins. Right before they give birth she will hide around the bottom of the tank and look pretty still and rough. I have never seen them birth in daylight so it will likely happen over night. You will find her swimming happily with the community and looking a lot thinner. That's a good sign there are babies to net.

Some advise on netting
The babies are very small but usually not small enough for a little fish net to work well. They will hide in any crack or crevasse they can including the spaces between some forms of substrate. The first time I netted the fry it took me about 2 hours to safely get all 20 fry I had into the breeder net. The best technique I have found is to slowly move the net under the fry and let them swim or drift toward the open net. Then lightly lift the net up and out. Then you will have to find them in the net, place your finger on the opposite side they are laying and turn the net into the breeder box while simultaneously pushing them forward into the water. The may stick in the netting because they are so small and you can loose them.

Make sure they have cover to hide in, until they feel comfortable with your feedings. I would get some plant based fry food (they come in little zip top packets for like 2 bucks at my LFS) and you can also crush flakes into powder and use that too. Make sure not to over feed, they have little bellies and will eat till they die.

luvlee11

what i advise is if you have another tank (5 to 10 gallon) put them in that and watch for the babies and take them out into the breeders net!

midnightwolf

if you have a seperate tank put the pregnant molly in that and when she gives birth take her out and back to the main tank. doing this will keep her and the fry from being stressed and it is alot easier than finding all the fry and putting them in the breeder net. make sure the seperate tank is cycled first.

luvlee11

Dont put her in the main tank amidiately because it will stress her out, get a breeders net to put the babies in and leave the mom in the seperate tank from the original one. Then after 1 day to let her com down you can put her in the original tank. hope this helps, GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!

NUMB3RS

You could just leave them in the net and maybe they will give birth soon srry couldnt be bigger help!

DAGES

You got some great feedback! the only advice i can offer is that I too have a prolific molly tank, and i kept pulling the preggo's out into a breeder box, but they never would have the babies in the boxes...they would really just freak out...so I just opted to let them deliver on their own...keeping a watchful eye on the fry and scoop them out when i saw them. alot of work, but fun for my kids!
baby batch #1 i only found 7, so i obviously didn't see them right after delivery....but baby batch #2 i caught about 35, and it took me about 2 months to find homes for all of them!! baby batch #3 i decided it was survival of the fittest...and you know what...the big fish now totally ignore the fry...even the tiniest ones...so i think if you just let them stay in their own environment....you may have plenty to look at!
Oh, i did also set up a 5 gallon tank for my fry....which was helpful when i was giving them away..they were healthy but i notice they didn't grow as big as the few stragglers i had left behind in the big tank!