Is my dalmatian molly fish pregnant?

[TinyGoldieAster]

Hi all,

I'm new to this whole aquarium hobby. I got my golden and dalmatian molly as a gift from my girlfriend, both female. I have them since december 5 and on december 15 I found dead fry in one of the plants and moss after water change. They looked underdeveloped, I think she got stressed because whenever I change the water I also move them and I didn't know she was pregnant.
Now the other one, dalmatian, looks very big compared to the gold one. I want to avoid having dead fry again so I want to be sure if she is really pregnant or maybe just fat or sick? because sometimes she looks like she has smaller belly. I keep reading and watching videos about the gravid spot but on her I can't see it because of her color.
Can someone please check the pictures and tell me. The water is good, nothing weird about it. Thank you very much in advance!

 

[HopeGR]

Re:

She looks pregnant, indeed. I bought a male/female Dalmatian molly on Dec 2 and the female is not pregnant yet. Whereas, the male has impregnated my gold dust molly and a few balloon mollys! I was surprised! I, too, am new to this hobby, started this past summer. Fry are wonderful and exciting when you first get them, but many don't make it and it's sad. I found one dead in the gravel. I suppose it was hiding and didn't allow itself to find food. Feeding them is very tricky, esp. if you have them in the same tank as the adults. I bought the powder-like food for them, and with air pump on, it circulates the food to the point it brings it down to them, but the adults consume a great deal of it first. And back to the dalmatian molly - it's cute but I think mine look very weak, esp. the female. I don't think I'll get those again.

 

[TinyGoldieAster]

Thank you for your reply!
That is so cool, do you have pictures of them? Since a few days, when I was actually going to the petshop for extra food, I got myself a baby black molly haha. She is about 1,5cm but somehow her belly is growing. The water parameters are perfect. It is not possible for her to be pregnant too right?

Powder food, I'm gonna look into it! got already baby fish food from the shop, they gave me a liquid type called Liquifry No2, do you know this one?
How long does it take for the babies to go into the community? or how big do they have to be to not be eaten?

 

[HopeGR]

Thank you for your reply!
That is so cool, do you have pictures of them? Since a few days, when I was actually going to the petshop for extra food, I got myself a baby black molly haha. She is about 1,5cm but somehow her belly is growing. The water parameters are perfect. It is not possible for her to be pregnant too right?

Powder food, I'm gonna look into it! got already baby fish food from the shop, they gave me a liquid type called Liquifry No2, do you know this one?
How long does it take for the babies to go into the community? or how big do they have to be to not be eaten?

Yes my dalmation mollys look identical to yours! I'm told as long as there is one male in tank, these fish will almost always be pregnant. I started with guppies and after giving birth, they would suffer a painful death - If you read my post 'I've had it with guppy breeding" - you'll understand what I'm talking about!

This is the powder food I was talking about - https://www.amazon.com/FIRST-BITES-...ywords=small+bites+fish&qid=1608938585&sr=8-3 I call it that because it is very fine and smalll for them to eat...

Also, the fry will be safe from being eaten by others at 2 weeks old. I've never had a breeder net to keep them in, I just provide a lot of hiding spaces for them. But the trick is to feed them enough while not overfeeding the other fish in the tank. Unless you take the fry to a different tank.

 

[TinyGoldieAster]

Yes my dalmation mollys look identical to yours! I'm told as long as there is one male in tank, these fish will almost always be pregnant. I started with guppies and after giving birth, they would suffer a painful death - If you read my post 'I've had it with guppy breeding" - you'll understand what I'm talking about!

This is the powder food I was talking about - https://www.amazon.com/FIRST-BITES-...ywords=small+bites+fish&qid=1608938585&sr=8-3 I call it that because it is very fine and smalll for them to eat...

Also, the fry will be safe from being eaten by others at 2 weeks old. I've never had a breeder net to keep them in, I just provide a lot of hiding spaces for them. But the trick is to feed them enough while not overfeeding the other fish in the tank. Unless you take the fry to a different tank.

I have found the product you mentioned! thank you very much!
Today she still hasn't dropped her fry and she was twitching so I put some aquarium salt into the water(bit less than half the instruction recommended) and the twitching has stopped luckily and her belly grew even bigger. I think this is a good sign right?