Should I separate them? ( fish )

[BookWorm243]

The posting below is from a friend who needs some help deciding what to do. Thanks!!


Hi there! I have 2 female Mollies, 2 Female Platies, and 1 Male Molly. I'm about 75% sure that my creamsicle lyretail Molly is pregnant

I'm also thinking that my other female molly is as well. My male will not leave my poor lyretail alone and I feel so bad for her. Should I remove the two females that I believe are pregnant or should I just move the male? I was told that platies and mollies can breed and more than likely my other females are prgnant as well. My main tank is well planted and there are many spots for the babbies to hide when and if they do come. My second tank is just a little 5g. I could also put the babbies in the 5g tank once they come and move the male back, so I could do a swap. I thought I was getting all females but found out very qiuckly I was wrong, I should of paid more attention when they put them in the bag

I am not sure on what to do so any help would be very helpful!

Thank You

 

[annageckos]

That's what male mollies do. They pester the females. Your best bet is to get a few more females, as long as your tank can support them. What size is your tank? Keep in mind that unless you have a plan for the young you will soon be over run with them. And in later generations you will start to see physical problems due to inbreeding. I wouldn't move the females or the male out, it will stress them. And unless your five gallon is cycled already the ammonia build up will kill them. It is also possible for the females to abort their young if stress too much, like moving them to a new tank. Besides, a five gallon is not big enough to house a group of mollies. And they are a schooling fish so you should never house them alone. A five gallon would be fine for a grow out tank. If you choose the leave the young with the adults some will get eaten, which IMO is not a bad thing. It will help to keep the population down some. It also makes for a great, healthy treat for the adults.

 

[Kevin565]

If you believe she is pregnant I would move her. The constant pestering can cause her to abort her babies.

 

[mz.candiz]

How far along does she look? You can tell when they are getting close to giving birth by the shape of their stomach area. If she is close it will look more squared off; depending on the Molly you can sometimes see the gravid spot. Closer to birth it will move closer to the birthing canal, and you can almost see the birthing canal drop and open in really light colored fish. It's much easier to tell with guppies however. Usually gestation is 3-4 weeks, so once you see her drop one batch of babies you can pretty much time the next one.

If you aren't too concerned about all of the babies making it I would just leave her in the main tank. She will hide once she starts giving birth. The male is freaking out because once she drops the babies she will be ready to mate again. You would be surprised how many will make it if you tank is planted well enough. And after a few months of breeding, you won't have a shortage anymore. As the mollies age they will have larger and larger batches of babies too!

If you wanted to grow them out, keep her in the main tank but get a net breeding trap (not a plastic one preferably). The net ones allow more water circulation. Once she is finished dropping babies, scoop her out of the trap back into the main tank. And you can move the babies to another tank. I would use as much water from the main tank as possible, and a cycled filter if you have one.

 

[BookWorm243]

I will have to ask her how big her tank is. I have seen her fish so I can fill you in on that. The lyretail isn't huge ( I have seen some mollies that get really fat! ) but she deff looks squared off. You can also see what to me looks like a little gravid spot. Any ideas on how far along she is??

 

[Kevin565]

If it's little then she's probably not that far along. Once it gets larger and darker it's time to give birth.

 

[BookWorm243]

Could the male stress her out enough for her to abort her young? That is all the male does all day is chase her around the tank

 

[annageckos]

Quote:
It's unlikely. It will be more stress moving her away to a new tank with no other fish. What the male is doing is what they always do. The best thing is to add more female mollies, as long as the tank is big enough. That or try and return the male if it bothers the owner that much. But once the babies are born and grow up you will have the same problems again, but with more males.