Pregnant Dalmation Molly Trying to Give Birth

[Erictheengstrom]

-My dalmatian molly has been pregnant for a good while. She finally gave birth to one fry (that is all I have found in my 55 gallon). If she did just give one, is this common?

-I have taken that one fry and put it in a separate 5 gallon take. Should I also put the pregnant one in as well?

-Also how can I tell that she is about to give birth to more, like when are they gonna pop out?

-And what should I do to care for this fry to make it survive? Feeding etc.

THANKS

 

[khoifish89]

from personal experience, the first time a livebearer gives birth, i always get about two to three fries. do you fish flake food, if you do crush it up to fine powder and feed a small amount.

 

[janice_016]

From my recent experience with my pregnant platy, she gives birth about once every 3-4 weeks and I get about 4-5 fry each time.. Maybe more. It takes her from a few minutes to hours to give birth. I can usually see her "butt" get bigger and then either white ( tail) or black(eyes) starting to come out from her. I would watch her closely, then have a net ready and almost follow her so I can catch the fry as soon as it comes out. Many get eaten unfortunately.

The mom will eat her own fry right away so try to separate her and other fish from the fry. OR In your 5 gallon tank, if you have moss or some plants the fry will hide right away. And you can keep the mom in there until she's done giving birth.

Feed the fry fish flakes that are grounded up well.. Almost powder. After about 2 days I would see the fry start to eat.

If the mother has babies again in a few weeks, the larger fry can and might eat the new fry... I lost 3 that way. I currently have 2 breeder nets in my tank with fry of all sizes, bigger ones together.

Good luck! Any other questions I will try to help!