Molly questions

[FreshSaltGirl]

Ok, a bit of background first:

I have a female Molly who gave birth for the first time approximately 26 days ago. She had 10 fry (3 of which she ate before I could remove her, and then the runt of the litter who died yesterday ) the remaining 6 are healthy and eating well, they are given crushed flakes 3 times a day and they love to nibble on the floating cabomba. They are in a 10g.

After giving birth, I transferred the Molly into my 40g planted community tank. She recovered well and ate tons. About a week ago I noticed she was having some trouble swimming. She was overly buoyant and swam with her head down. 3 days ago I put her in a 20g all by herself, so I could better monitor her behaviour. Today, I did a water change and added a bit of aquarium salt. The parameters are as follows: temp = 76, nitrite = 0, nitrate = 7ppm, pH = 7.6. Here are some pics:

My questions are: 1. What's wrong with her? It doesn't seem like a swim bladder issue because she's still upright...2. Is she going to give birth again? Other than the slight salt content is there anything else I can do to help her out? It's weird because she's still eating fine. I'm not sure what's going on

 

[icydeath]

She looks a little bloated... Someone correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure they can store sperm and reload later on.

She will probably be okay, just try to not stress her too much and try to get a pellet food so she doesnt gulp as much air.

 

[FreshSaltGirl]

Yeah that's what I thought, so I can't really tell if it's just bloat or if she's really going to give birth again...

She's not a fan of pellets (the friend who gave her to me fed her only flakes) but I'll try to give her those from now on.

 

[icydeath]

Hope she gets better!

 

[FreshSaltGirl]

Yeah me too, thanks for your help


Did you hear? I'm starting a group called AA... for Aquaholics Anonymous!

 

[BBradbury]

Your Livebearer

Hello Fresh...

Moving pregnant fish is always risky. Rough handling causes injury and some don't recover. For the future, prepare the main tank in the beginning with thick floating plants likes Hornwort and Anacharis. Drop as many individual stems into the water as possible. This provides places to hide for the females and fry. My tanks have several inches of thick plant growth on the surface. Feed all the fish a variety of flakes, freeze dried and frozen foods. Well fed adult fish aren't really interested in the fry. I have fry in my tanks all the time and most survive.

Above all, keep the tank water free of dissolved wastes by removing and replacing half the tank water every week. Your Livebearers would also appreciate a little standard aquarium salt added to the tank water, especially Mollies. I typically add a teaspoon or even two to every 5 gallons of treated tap water. Other fish and plants are fine with this dose.

B

 

[icydeath]

Oh also if you move her and she gets too stressed, she will abort them.

 

[FreshSaltGirl]

Thanks guys good news! She have birth to 15 more healthy little ones early this afternoon!!!


Did you hear? I'm starting a group called AA... for Aquaholics Anonymous!

 

[FreshSaltGirl]

Newborn fry are impossible to take pictures of, but here's one I managed to get


Did you hear? I'm starting a group called AA... for Aquaholics Anonymous!

 

[icydeath]

Ooh nice! I hope they do well!