Petey&PattyFan

Ok a little new to this website. Like just joined today. But I got my 2 fish named Petey and Patty (boy and a girl) now I had a feeling Patty was pregnant when we got her, but I wasn't sure. So she isn't very big, but she is getting bigger everyday, now I read something on here that says about 30 days. And I got them about 2-3 weeks ago. And I started to notice her getting bigger about 1, or 1 and a half weeks ago. I have a breeders box, but I'm not sure when to put her in there, or what to expect, or even how long gestation really is.

angelfish220

Welcome!!!!

Yes, if you have a female molly I am willing to bet that it is pregnat. the reason she didnt drop them yet is I find in the stress of moving tanks she decides to hold her young. I find breeder boxes are too small I like using seperate tanks altogether. If that is out of your reach, and you dont plan on selling the babies then you can just get alot of plant cover, plastic or real, and a couple babies usually live.

I noticed that your info said salt water. Really Mollies should be in fresh to brackish, so I would check your aquarium salinity!

Petey&PattyFan

Oh I ment to say freshwater! Whoops! Well it has only been about a week. And my breeders box is VERY small. I will tell my dad about the plants, we do have one plant, and then a few things they can go under. But Petey my male keeps picking on her! I didin't know if that was normal or not. I may take some pictures of them, and show you, if you would like.

angelfish220

Pics are allways fun

Yes, males tend to be a little fiesty with preggys. Hormones or somthing probably. You could always get a tank seperater then divide the tank to give her some relif, and then a place for the babies.

Petey&PattyFan

Yea, we are going to get a new tank this weekend. I can take some pictures and post them on here for you to see.

angelfish220

ooooooohhhhhh MTS already!!! What size ya gettin?

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

goggles

i breed swordtails regularly, since they are livebearers too i expect they work about the same, my fish are kept in the main tank un til any of the females are about a few days or so from giving birth, then i mobe the said female to a seperate tank which is always kept running and planted. then just simply remove the female after birthing,normaly livebearers will birth in the early hours of the morning. you should realy have about 2-3 females to every male though so that just one isn't getting pestered all the time.


i hope this helps you and if you have any other questions on livebearers then feel free to ask.

Petey&PattyFan

goggles that is great help! We are going to get a tank divider, and one more female, but um I had a question. Don't females only give birth to about 2-3 babies at a time?

Petey&PattyFan

angle fish, umm whats MTS? Do you mean like belly size?

angelfish220

MTS is Multiple Tank Syndrome, most people find that it is hard to stop buying tanks once you buy your secound. and by size I was asking how big of a tank are you getting.

I just had a platy that dropped 14 babies, that is a diff. livebearer but I think that drop size is similar

goggles

sorry you were miss-informed, female swordtails can give birth to ALOT, my last birthing was 26,but i have seen a pic on another site where the bloke claims it was one birthing (120 give or take). but his female was a few years old and was an experienced mother.she was also about 5" in size. how big is yours? mine are around 3" so if they are that size ,be prepared for at least 10-16 or so.
don't realy know if mollies are the same but they are a bigger fish so you could end up with quite a few little fry on your hands. i think the genral rule is the same ,most livebearers will drop a few because once they are droped the parents no longer take care of them and will even eat them,so to give them the best chance they have a few.

angelfish220

the platy I have that just dropped, that was her first time.

Petey&PattyFan

My fish are about 2 inches. My male is much bigger. Patty looks like a finger nail compared to him, he was the biggest molly in the tank when I bought him. She has only been pregnant 8 days, and she's pretty big so it will probably be a lot.

goggles

yeah i should be a few. and what you read was rite, it does take around 30 days till birth but if it takes longer don't worry this is still normal.

Petey&PattyFan

Ok, thanks goggles!

Petey&PattyFan

Oh umm I just wanted to know if this was normal. I know that when a fish poops a little cord extends from the behind, and I always thought that thing was black, but Pattys (my pregnant females) was red.

angelfish220

I know what you mean, my honey gouramis is red, but I dont know what that symptom means.