Are These Mollies Pregnant, Obese, Male Or Female?
By Lavendera1975, 4 days ago on General Freshwater Questions
29
1~ What type of fish is afflicted?
Dalmatian Mollies. I have two of them, and I don’t know if they are boys/girls, obese or maybe pregnant! They do clean of all the decor all the time looking for food. But I’m concerned about their obesity. They don’t hide a lot, and there’s no semi aggression. They just wiggle their bodies when their fat little bodies swim side to side. If they are pregnant, I’d like to know so that I can prepare ahead of time. Could it be they are both bloated?
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)?
PH is 7.6, High Range is 8.2,
Ammonia is: 0.25
ppm, Nitrites is: 0.25
ppm, Nitrates is: 0
ppm, Temp is at: 81 degrees.
3~ How large is the tank? The tank is a 75 gallon and has been set up for 3 weeks now.
4~What type of filtration are you using? Filtration using is Marineland Emperor 400, Fluval Sky 35 watt light, Heater Eheim 79 & Tetra Whisper Air-pump.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes? There are currently all mid size to babies.
They include:
2 Dalmatian mollies
2 Three spotted gouramis
4 Silver Dollars
1 Mustard Half moon Betta
2 Black skirt tetras
7 Cardinal tetras
5 Black neon tetras
7 Tetra GloFish
2 Red eye tetras
1 L397 Alenquer Tiger Pleco
2 Nerite snails
2 African Dwarf Frogs
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? I Haven’t done this yet as I have just started to accumulate good bacteria in the tank. I plan to do my first water change this week of 25%.
7~How long have you had the fish? They are two weeks new and we’re acclimated at least 30 minutes floating in my aquarium.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
Yes, I recently added a procured, soaked piece of driftwood from Petco last week, and 2 moss soaked moss balls that I washed out with my aquarium water before adding them in.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish?
I feed them flakes, freezer dried blood worms, frozen blood worms, Tropical granules, Mysis, Daphnia,(for betta),color enhancing pellets, algae wafers (for silver dollars), & Aquatic Frog & tadpole food micro pellets (for frogs). Of course I don’t feed them all of these at once! I will occasionally add baby spinach & tiny dozen carrots for the (small to medium sized) silver dollars as well maybe once a week. I will feed all the fish 2 times a day a very small amount in the 30 second window.
I have included a photo of my mollies. Could they be both females? See photo attachments below.
#2
Fishfur
4 days ago
The mollies are both female, both very pregnant and with all those fish in the tank, I doubt any fry will survive, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
But your tank is not cycled and that is not good news for the fish! Nitrite and ammonia cannot ever be permitted to rise higher than .25ppm when there are fish and it’s fortunate they are no higher than that now but have they been higher?
To have SO MANY fish in an uncycled tank is really asking for trouble and it is nowhere near large enough to hold all those fish once the larger species grow some.
I’d never try to keep African Dwarf frogs in such a tank, they’re timid and shy. They should have their own tank. The Betta should to, all things being ideal.
If I assume they’re the more common smaller species, then the Silver Dollars will grow to about 6” in length. They should have a group of 5 and would want a 75G tank all to themselves.
The gouramis will get to about 5” and if there is more than one male there is going to be fighting between males. Either have a pair or one male and two females.
The pleco is, thankfully, a smaller species that only gets to about 5” but they’re messy fish with a high bioload.
You’ve only got 2 Red Eye tetras, one of the slightly larger species but like other tetras they really need groups of their own kind, at least 6.
Altogether you’d need about a 150G tank to house all these fish and that’s not even counting the frogs or the molly fry, which are going to keep showing up regularly for probably a good six months or more even without a male to mate with. It’s what livebearers do.
For now, you need to be changing however much water it takes to make sure the ammonia and nitrite NEVER rise higher than .25ppm at any time and if I were you, I’d return the gouramis and Silver Dollars and the Red Eye tetras and the frogs!
Those good bacteria you want grow primarily in the filter media, not the tank and will never be disturbed by water changes. They are not in the water column as they are sessile and adhere to surfaces.
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#3
Lavendera1975
4 days ago
So far these are the parameters. I have added De-nitrate by Seachem, beneficial bacteria, some moss balls and Anubias plant to help out. The Ammonia has went down a lot along with Nitrite & Nitrates. I’m working on the lowering of the PH with Seachem Regulator. To tell yo the truth, I’m really thinking about rehoming the 2 gouramis, 1 seems to bully the other along with the mollies, they eat so much as if they are both females, I’m not experienced enough to raise their fry. I am considering getting a three partition betta tank and add the betta to one, dwarf fringe in the other, and maybe red eye tetras of 3 more if they fit and don’t grow much. I really was considering a pom pom crab or two but maybe later?
#4
Fishfur
4 days ago
You need to find out what the
GH and
KH are before you attempt to meddle with pH. If your
KH is high you will not be able to drop the pH and keep it stable because that’s not how water chemistry works.
You cannot keep the two tetras, never mind five or six in any divided tank I’ve seen, unless you’re considering maybe dividing a 20Long?
The betta would like at least a 5G tank all to itself. Wild males claim territories that are roughly equal to 40 gallons in volume and it’s just not fair to stuff them in a tank where they get maybe only one or two gallons of water.
You likely have two male gourami, not a good situation.
DeNitrate is fine to use but while you are cycling you want to be able to know there are some nitrates to help monitor the cycle.
Anubias and moss balls grow so very slowly that they are not of any use to reduce nitrates. Only fast growing stem plants and floaters take up enough nitrate to help control it.
Do not get pom pom crabs. They’re sensitive and tiny and very likely to be harassed to death in a very short time.
African dwarf frogs need at least 3 gallons per frog. You could probably get away with 2 in a 5G tank but stick them in a divided betta tank like any of the little ones I’ve seen for sale and they won’t last long.
In response to this my betta fish looks happy, radiant, colorful and is all over this tank! He has his lotus flower he rests on and sometimes shows dominance to a three spotted gourami or Dalmatian Molly! So I’m not so sure about separating him.
My African Dwarf Frogs are also seem to be doing good. I make sure they have their frog sunken pellets/frozen blood worms/dried blood worms. They are very comical sometimes wrestling each other for food, but not fretful. They have their favorite hiding spaces, and are all over this 75 gallon tank climbing everywhere! The Red eye tetras are shy and timid, but I wasn’t aware they like to Skool, they hang out with the silver dollars. I would like to add to their skool but I was advised not to add anymore fish. All my fish are small to medium size. I just set this up and I cannot afford to go sell this one and buy 150 gallon one with all its equipment right now. I guess I have 2 expectant dalmatian females who are very pregnant. I’ve never bred before because im still new. But I did get an extra 10 gallon aquarium & ordered them a Large Double Layer Self Floating Incubator with Suction Cup Aquarium Hatching Fish Breeding Box . I’m just asking for a second opinion. I took my aquarium water to be tested for the
GH &
KH, the results were within range with the
KH a little elevated but not alarming. The PetSmart lady said a 25% water change should do the trick.
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