Need opinions. Is my black Molly Pregnant?

We got her a day or two ago to make up a group of 4 mollies 3 f 1 m 2 black mollies 1 white lyre tail I think and 1 dalmation molly. She was kept with males in the store.

We don't mind if she is pregnant just want to know so I can prepare and purchase a hatchery breeding thing for the fry.

I have some pictures of her so if I could get some advice it would help. Doesn't look squarish yet.




This is the 1 male and the possibly pregnant female.





Thank you. SHE'S heaving strangely so might be getting ready to give birth or just ill not sure.

Thank you!

 

She looks pregnant, she's got that \___/ kinda shaped belly but at the same time she just looks bloated. I would honestly return her as they have tons of babies! I have mollies and within a month they had overran 2 of my tanks with babies. What sized tank are they in? Do they have any other fish with them?

 

64 litre interpet insight tank with 4 cory cats 3 other mollys 2 gourami 4 tiger barbs 2 algae eaters 2 silver tip tetras 4 swordtail as well. We also have a smaller tank not set up at the moment but will set it up if she's pregnant for the fry. hopefully in time for fry might need to Just get hatchery though.

 

That's too small for mollies mollies are very active fish and really should be kept in like a 20+ also Corie's are shoaling fish and should be kept in 6+ of their own kind but your tank is already over stocked. What type of gouramis are they? Tiger barbs and tetras are both schooling fish as well and need to be in groups of 6+ each so I would recommend returning either group of fish and upping the left over group. I would definetly return the swordtails as they can get quite large, too large for a 17g tank. Do you know what type of algae eaters they are? I would probably return those both also depending on what they are

 

We had 5 tiger barbs but one started swimming vertically and died a few hours after acclimation. We have spoke to a few different fish stores and one of them said we were overstocked. The man that sold some of our fish to us got shut down by an animal welfare charity so I know he was given ingredients us the wrong information. We spoke to all our fish stores before buying about our tank size and stocking and they all seemed perfectly fine with it. we have a 50 l tank. Would moving some fish into that help? We are moving house soon as well so I don't want to stress the fish out before the move.

 

I would return them still even a 50l is still too small. Most pet stores are unreliable, they really just want to sell their fish and probably don't know all that much about fish. Also could you answer what type of gourami they are and what type of algae eaters you have?

 

We have 1 dwarf blue gourami not sure about anything else regarding him and not sure about the algae eaters. They are definitely not Chinese algae eaters I know that but other than that I don't. I could take a picture and show you though?

 

The dwarf is fine in that tank and yeah, could you take a pic of the algae eater?

 

Here's a picture of my algae eaters very active things and have gad them about 3 months now

 

Those look to be Chinese algae eaters but I'm not quite sure. They are a great work horse in the aquarium and fine when juveniles but as adults, they are highly aggressive and will eat the slime coat off your other fish. They are also incredibly active and your tank is too small for these guys too. If they are CAE, trust me, you don't want them anyways. Especially in a peaceful community tank.

 

Hmm that's once ruing if they are CAE as my tank is very peaceful. I wouldn't want theme to upset the balance of the tank or injured any fish. Store I got them from said they were not Chinese algae eaters they had a separate tanks selling Chinese algae eaters in their store and they weren't the CAE. They are active but don't seem to bother with other fish just always stick to the tank walls and move up and down them quite happily.

 

Looks like a Chinese algae eater to me so I would personally rehome both as they get large and aggressive. If you truly believe it is not a Chinese algae eater then the only thing I could thing of is a flying Fox and even if that's what it is, I would still rehome them because they also get aggressive.

 

That's a CAE and yes they get nasty when grown.

 

Thank so muxh for all your input. I don't want any of ky fish to get hurt and I don't have enough space for them so I'm use going to sell them on to someone who is able to take care of them. Thanks for all your advice. About the molly... should we isolate her or just leave her for now?

 

You'll be glad you rehomed the CAE now. It actually annoys me they sell them with tropical fish. I had one and went from great to violent over night!! If you want to keep the fry, put the molly in a breeder box in the tank that way she gets the same water quality and after she gives birth, you just remove her.

 

No problem we bought a breeder box today so we will set that up for her. It is a shame as they are great fish if they have the right enviromentioned and a big enough tsnk but the fish store didn't inform us of that so they have suffered due to it.

 

Yes. The fish suffer the most when it comes to pet stores. We always trust who we are buying from regardless what it is, but unfortunately when it comes to fish, they're just trying to make a sale. There are other options for a clean up crew so don't be discouraged.

Edit** you should put the mollies is a bigger tank anyways. Once you do that, research some of the smaller plecos that would temp compatible and size compatible to your tank. You can do snails too.

 

WE don't have the finances of a bigger tsnk at the moment as we are moving house m a matter of weeks but should be able to save up for a bigger twnk in about 3 or 4 months which I know is probably not good enough for them. Minimum 20 gallon us so should be able to get it sorted soon

 

Sad update...our girl died about 20 minutes ago my she started swimming erratically and on her side. Swam away to hide and then died. She was fine and them just suddenly died in am distraught. I have no idea what happened. If she was pregnant and complications set in or if she was stressed or ill I hsbe no idea but I'm just
So upset. Only had her a short while. All our other fish seem good and we did a partial water change the other day. Reading were good last we checked but will do checks tomorow.

 

I'm really sorry about the loss of your fish. You did your best though so don't beat yourself up to much.