First time with Livebreeders...Help Plz?

[FishLuvr4]

I am a first time breeder of Mollies. And I have several that are pregnant. Can anyone tell me what to watch for when they are ready to give birth? Are there any behaviors they tend to have? How can I tell when they are in labor?

Thanks!

 

[Mac.]

You will see the babies pop out, kinda cool lookin. Mine always hung out at the top of the tank to give birth...and get some "baby hiding place" of some sort too so the babies will survive..I recommend java moss live plant

 

[glovanator]

I had a breeding pair of mollies that just kept popping out 2-3 per litter bi-monthly. I never really did anything special, I did have floating plants in the aquarium though. But other than that, they got their flake food daily and that was that. I never had an issue keeping the little ones alive, until I introduced a stingray and that was the end of all the mollies.

But while I had them, I never noticed any special behaviour which I though was strange. The male seemed a little aggressive, but the female pretty much stayed alone in the floating plants.

 

[aakaakaak]

Mine got a little lathargic as it was getting close. A definite indication would be other fish "kissing her butt". They're basically waiting for the fry to pop out so they can gobble them up. If you keep your fish adequately fed and water parameters excellent the fry are more likely to survive.

If you want to maximize your molly fry you could use a breeder tank that attaches to/or floats in, the regular tank. If you have another tank specifically for breeding then moving her over when she's getting close to ready would be a good idea.

If she's not a black molly you may be able to see something called a gravid spot near her anus. This is a dark spot in that area that basically indicates she's ready to pop.

For the fry you should be feeding them little ground up pieces of flake food until they grow a little. There's other stuff out there you can feed them, but this is quick, easy, and doesn't require a $6 purchase at the LFS. Once they grow to the point they're not all hiding in a little corner they grow like crazy.

Good luck, and get a bigger tank. (No matter what size you have you'll probably need a bigger one if you're going to try to keep them all alive. They breed so much they make rabbits look infertile. They can also store sperm from one breeding for several months)

 

[biohazardcustomz]

all advice above is good. i would second the floating breeder trap if you want to save them all or some may get eaten. java moss is an excellent floating plant they can hide in too. with mollies look for their rear end to get kind of "squared off" right by their anal fin there will be a point at her big belly. also if a lighter color look for that gravid spot. if you look close you can see she is dilated. once she pops you will probably get fry from her about once a month around the same time. so mark it on a calender and put her in a breeder trap during that week. works well for me.

 

[szymon328]

if you look close you can see she is dilated.

yup u can deffinetly tell with guppies, it starts protruding a little and isnt round like usual