Balloon Molly pregnant??

Hi, I've had my Balloon Molly since the end of December. I want to know if she is pregnant or not. To me she seems like she has a fatter/boxier stomach than when I first had her. If she is pregnant than it would have been from males at the store that I bought them from (I have 3 female balloon mollies).

Also she is white and it looks like the bottom half of her is black on the inside (fry eyes maybe)??

I read that the gestation period for a Balloon Molly is a month so does that mean that she is ready to give birth soon or would she have given birth already if she was pregnant??

Here are some pictures of what she looks like now:





And this is what she looked like when I first got her:





Thanks for reading and helping out, Beth

 

I need a profile shot to be sure, but odds are she is

 

I just took these, the best I could do:

 

And this is what she looked like when I first got her:

 

Probably.

 

She probably is prego...though it's tough to see when she'll pop since you just don't know. There's all sorts of stuff that goes into her dropping her fry. What's the PH, is she stressed, and all that fun stuff.

Out of 20 she drops, there's a 99% chance all will likely be eaten, by her or others. If you see little fry in there, you can scoop them out and put them in another tank and feed them. If you don't have another tank, you might end up losing her.

But have no fear...I'm sure she'll drop more kids in the future.

 

Most likely

 

. If you don't have another tank, you might end up losing her.

.

I am thinking, in so far as I ever do, that the fry might be lost, not the Mom.
If you see a gravid spot, that is an area in the abdomen that stands out, she is very likely preggers, and is up to you whether you wish to keep the fry. Do keep in mind that one mating can result in many pregnancies, so if you wish to breed her type to another, you must wait abit. pregnancies in the absence of males will continue.
I would add that you worry over your
livebearer in much the same manner that in the way I worry over my daughter, as it is far too common to see kids pushing their babies here, in our almost a hamlet-----rick

 

how is her behavior? from what i've read (I have yet to have my own livebearers give birth-that I know of-) their behavior changes as they get further along in the pregnancy.

 

She seems to be picking on the other fish a lot but she doesn't swim by herself, sometimes she is nice and other times she is not.

I can't see a gravid spot, do all pregnant mollies have one??

I bought her already preggers as I only have females so she won't get preggers again (unless she uses the sperm again as they hold it for sometime) I think anyways!!

 

Hello All!
I am new to fish keeping and I can’t tell if my balloon Molly is pregnant or bloated. I have 2 tanks, one of which is a 10 gallon and one is a 3 gallon. I separated her because she was stressed and I noticed her stomach getting larger than my other balloon Molly’s. I have a 10 gallon with 3 balloon Molly’s (2 females, 1 male), 4 zebra danios, and 3 panda corys. Oh and 2 mystery snails. I will attach pics of my female. She is a lot calmer and less aggressive in my 3 gallon. She has on/off eating and swims in one spot for about 15 minutes. She can seem tired and then 10 minutes later have a large burst of energy. TIA!

 

Dropsy, maybe ate something can't pass. But definitely don't look preg

 

Dropsy, maybe ate something can't pass. But definitely don't look preg

Do you have any suggestions that aren’t frozen peas? I tried those and she didn’t eat them.

 

did you say she was with males i n the 10 gallon.

 

did you say she was with males i n the 10 gallon.

Yes, she was in a 10 gallon with 1 regular male Molly and one male balloon Molly

 

did you notice any chasing behavior from the males when she was in there.

 

did you notice any chasing behavior from the males when she was in there.

Yes, all the time. That was about a 2 weeks ago. Sadly he died a few days ago.

 

ok how long has she been this big?

 

It's hard to say if she's pregnant or not without a side pic.

 

It's hard to say if she's pregnant or not without a side pic.

Hope this helps

ok how long has she been this big?

About a week

 

Hope this helps

About a week

Ok I'm gonna say bloated. Did you just wake up one day and she was suddenly this big or was it more gradual?

 

I will also take a pic of our other female balloon Molly as reference

 

is she staying in one spot and is she eating more. and is she hiding more.

 

Ok I'm gonna say bloated. Did you just wake up one day and she was suddenly this big or was it more gradual?

Very gradual

 

It's perfectly reasonable to conclude that she might be heavily pregnant, but my main concern is that she seems to be inflated in the frontal abdomen and not so much towards the back. Pregnancy causes everything to expand with an epicentre in the central-rear abdomen. She also doesn't seem to have any kind of large gravid spot that would suggest she's pregnant, but I am aware that some strains don't have an obvious one.

is she staying in one spot and is she eating more. and is she hiding more.

This.

Very gradual

Ok. So has she been slowly getting bigger since you first got her and it only became so large for you to be concerned in the last week, or did you notice the expansion in the first week?

 

It's perfectly reasonable to conclude that she might be heavily pregnant, but my main concern is that she seems to be inflated in the frontal abdomen and not so much towards the back. Pregnancy causes everything to expand with an epicentre in the central-rear abdomen. She also doesn't seem to have any kind of large gravid spot that would suggest she's pregnant, but I am aware that some strains don't have an obvious one.


This.

Ok. So has she been slowly getting bigger since you first got her and it only became so large for you to be concerned in the last week, or did you notice the expansion in the first week?

I notice it at about the second half of the first week.

is she staying in one spot and is she eating more. and is she hiding more.

Definitely. She likes to hide behind heater and filter as well as plants

 

I notice it at about the second half of the first week.

Definitely. She likes to hide behind heater and filter as well as plants

Any fin clamping (holding fins inwards towards the body) or rubbing on surfaces?

 

Any fin clamping (holding fins inwards towards the body) or rubbing on surfaces?

She likes to run along the side of the tank and hold the 2 fins on her belly in and only let them go if she is swimming up for air.

 

It's perfectly reasonable to conclude that she might be heavily pregnant, but my main concern is that she seems to be inflated in the frontal abdomen and not so much towards the back. Pregnancy causes everything to expand with an epicentre in the central-rear abdomen.

Definitely agree with that, I'm leaning that she's Bloated rather than pregnant since it's more in the location of the central-front abdomen.
As well, pregnant mollies tend to look more boxy, and your molly's abdomen seems more round than boxy.

 

She likes to run along the side of the tank and hold the 2 fins on her belly in and only let them go if she is swimming up for air.

What about the anal and dorsal fins? Does she hold them inwards at all?

This probably should have been asked of you much earlier, but what are your water parameters?

 

ok than that shows signs of pregnancy just watch and see cause a molly is pregnant for 60 days which is 2 months so just watch for fry in that period of time. hope this helps.

 

cause a molly is pregnant for 60 days which is 2 months

Well, 60 days is quite a long time. It's usually closer to 1 month. But I've had swordtails that have taken up to 3 months to give birth from conception so I suppose it's not that uncommon in the larger livebearers.

 

Definitely agree with that, I'm leaning that she's Bloated rather than pregnant since it's more in the location of the central-front abdomen.
As well, pregnant mollies tend to look more boxy, and your molly's abdomen seems more round than boxy.

Thank you, this was all very helpful.

 

Hello All!
I am new to fish keeping and I can’t tell if my balloon Molly is pregnant or bloated. I have 2 tanks, one of which is a 10 gallon and one is a 3 gallon. I separated her because she was stressed and I noticed her stomach getting larger than my other balloon Molly’s. I have a 10 gallon with 3 balloon Molly’s (2 females, 1 male), 4 zebra danios, and 3 panda corys. Oh and 2 mystery snails. I will attach pics of my female. She is a lot calmer and less aggressive in my 3 gallon. She has on/off eating and swims in one spot for about 15 minutes. She can seem tired and then 10 minutes later have a large burst of energy. TIA!

Pregnant over fed or dropsy

 

Well, she could be overfed (in a group of fish, there are always one or more that will eat more than the others), pregnant or even an issue with the swim bladder. Having an issue with the swim bladder doesn't always cause swim problems. For that depends when the swim bladder grows how it will exceed. If it's dropsy, the scales should have an open position as in a pine cone. If it's not, you can rule dropsy out.
The problem with balloon mollies, balloon platies and balloon guppies is that it's hard to tell wether they're pregnant or not. Balloon versions won't all square off because of the cropped bodyshape. So, let a non squared off bodyshape not be a specific reference in this case to tell wether she's pregnant or not.

 

If it's dropsy, the scales should have an open position as in a pine cone. If it's not, you can rule dropsy out.

This. Very true.

balloon platies and balloon guppies

Wait, those are things? Why do people make this kind of stuff?

 

Wait, those are things? Why do people make this kind of stuff?

Yes, also balloon platies and balloon guppies do already exsist. I myself dislike them. And the bodyshape is not even healthy for a fish. The intestines are cropped in such bodies.
Well, the japanese came with these varieties. Unfortunately, there's a market for such fish.

 

Yes, also balloon platies and balloon guppies do already exsist. I myself dislike them. And the bodyshape is not even healthy for a fish. The intestines are cropped in such bodies.
Well, the japanese came with these varieties. Unfortunately, there's a market for such fish.

I will never understand why people like deformed, balloon varieties of fish. They can't swim properly, they are more inbred, they die early, the list goes on. I don't understand what the appeal of a goldfish with a massive tumour on its head and a water balloon for a body is. I just want to put the poor things out of their misery whenever I see them.

 

Hello All!
I am new to fish keeping and I can’t tell if my balloon Molly is pregnant or bloated. I have 2 tanks, one of which is a 10 gallon and one is a 3 gallon. I separated her because she was stressed and I noticed her stomach getting larger than my other balloon Molly’s. I have a 10 gallon with 3 balloon Molly’s (2 females, 1 male), 4 zebra danios, and 3 panda corys. Oh and 2 mystery snails. I will attach pics of my female. She is a lot calmer and less aggressive in my 3 gallon. She has on/off eating and swims in one spot for about 15 minutes. She can seem tired and then 10 minutes later have a large burst of energy. TIA!

Hello Again! So my fish was pregnant in the end. The fry were birthed yesterday and are all doing great. I have put them in a separate tank and they are all happy. She had a total of 24 babies. Sadly 8 of them died, but I read that this is not uncommon. I will be posting later about my Zebra Danios. Thank you for your help!

 

Hello Again! So my fish was pregnant in the end. The fry were birthed yesterday and are all doing great. I have put them in a separate tank and they are all happy. She had a total of 24 babies. Sadly 8 of them died, but I read that this is not uncommon. I will be posting later about my Zebra Danios. Thank you for your help!

That's great news, good luck with your baby mollies