Is my Mollie pregnant?

[Lycie]

She's a Dalmatian, so if she does have a gravid spot I can't see it :/ I ask because I just found out that mollies can have more than one birth after a single mating as they can store the sperm. Firstly...is this true? And secondly... Does she look pregnant?

She does seem to act pregnant - very aggressive to my other fish, constantly wanting to eat, and she seems to need a lot more oxygen than all my other fish. But I thought this was because she has her first lot of young in the tank with her. They were born about 2 months ago.

Water parameters: 0:0:20, temp: 26 degrees celsius, pH: 7.5

[ocminpin]

I keep many mollies and breed them... She does appear pregnant but earlier in the pregnancy... I'd guess two wks till drop.
They can hold sperm for 3-5 times after a single mating...

[Lycie]

Thanks for the feed back. Wow. I didn't even know she was pregnant the first time as she is the only female mollie I have, then one day when I was doing a gravel vac I almost sucked up one of the tiny babies! Now I have 7 babies and can see 2 are male and 5 are female. How long til they are old enough to get pregnant?

[dotswithchemicals]

I think around 4 months... correct me if I'm wrong. ^^

[ocminpin]

My mollies start mating with their siblings at 6-8 wks... Usually before a defined male gonopodium is visible... But all the girls are visibly pregnant...
First drops are around 10-12 wks...
A lot of people think the fish they get at pet stores are their first pregnancies but these fish are 6-8 mths old generally....
Early batches of fry may only have a few.. And fry amount increases with age... My year old Molly is dropping 45-60 per batch...

[Lycie]

Originally Posted by ocminpin

My mollies start mating with their siblings at 6-8 wks... Usually before a defined male gonopodium is visible... But all the girls are visibly pregnant...
First drops are around 10-12 wks...
A lot of people think the fish they get at pet stores are their first pregnancies but these fish are 6-8 mths old generally....
Early batches of fry may only have a few.. And fry amount increases with age... My year old Molly is dropping 45-60 per batch...

Well then...my babies are gonna have babies! Haha...eek! I hope they wait until my 180 litre is fully cycled, because my 25 litre is fully stocked because of them being born! Haha. And I thought that having the rounded belly was just the shape of the female Molly. Now that I'm aware of it, I can see gravid spots on my white babies. Ooh dear.