ballon mollie look's ready?

[izzycomosy]

Hi, Could any one tell me if I should move my ballon mollie into my small tank as she looks about reqady to deliver her fry I have put a lot of allies at the bottom of the tank and she looks to be getting pestered by all the other mollies,the reason for asking is I have a number of clown loaches and a red tailed shark and a number of different type mollies in a 5 ft tank
also I have some kissing fish, what are the chances of them surviving with all these other type fish in the tank,I have a hospital tank on standby and poor thing she is having difficulty swimming she is so big but I think she might be hanging on to them,maybe she feels threatened?
what do you think...anyone help me with this problem please

[Zagz]

She could very well be holding, I'd move her to the [acronym:ca0a089ac8="quarantine or quart depending on context"]QT[/acronym:ca0a089ac8] tank as gently as you can. It generally isn't recommended to move a very pregnant fish, but it sounds as if she is stressed too much in her exsisting tank. Move her over and keep an eye on her. How long has she been pregnant by your best guess?

[izzycomosy]

I think about 3 weeks maybe a bit more,its hard to say but I was concerned about moving her as I didnt want her to abort her fry
how would I move her without stressing her to much,I thought maybe a large jug which means I would'nt have to handle her to much,and I dont want to put her in a net as this would frighten herand maybe bring her on when she isnt ready.
Thanks for the reply

[Zagz]

I'd try the jug as it would be less stressful than a net. I just meant not to chase her around the tank with a net, that stresses all the fish. I used a floating breeder tank to catch my molly when she was almost ready. Is your molly gravid? Might be hard to tell if she is a black molly.

[izzycomosy]

how do you mean gravid? she is orange with a white belly and I can see the fry through her tummy,she is a ballon molly

[Zagz]

That's gravid, when you can see the fry in the belly, she is close for sure.

[izzycomosy]

its quite hard to say how long she has been pregnant as I have been in america for 2 weeks visiting relatives and I asked my husband how long she had been this large and he didnt know he said he had been feeding them and didnt take any notice...lol but thats my husband for you

[Zagz]

[acronym:2ae88c6ebc="Laughing out loud"]LOL[/acronym:2ae88c6ebc] non fish addicts. They aren't really helpful are they. Well good luck with the birthing and keep us posted on how it goes!

[RoK]

There isn't a good chance that you'd have surviving fry with those fish in the tank, unless they could find some really good hiding spot. Try moving her into the other tank with the jug.

[izzycomosy]

Hi, Anne,thanks for the help....well I got her into the other tank without any problems she almost jumped into the jug without having to chase her ,most of the fish eat from my hand when I give them blood worms so I think they trust me anyway she is now safely housed in my hexagon hospital tank she is still eating quite well but she has found a nice quite place behind the rocks and plants and only comes out when I go over to see how she is,I dont think she will be long as she lost a little white stream from behind she is so large now,I really feel for her...been there done that..lol so maybe some small fry tomorrow,I only hope she is not to lonely in there on her own .
anyway I will keep you updated on her birth OK.
once again thank you for all your advice anne