How far along?

[adagiolove05]

My little white molly is pretty fat and she's got the dark spot by her bum. However, I have nothing to compare her to, and I can't tell if she's going to pop today, or two weeks from now. I'd like to know because I have another rather aggressive female in the tank (I think she's part sailfin), and I'm a little scared for the babies. There are plants for them to hide in, but I'd just like to try to figure out the time to expect them.

p.s. I'll try to get a picture up if I can. I'm technology retarded.

 

[Balloon Fish]

you should get one of those breeding baskets and just stick the mommy in there when she is gonna have babies. If she looks pretty big then it should be either on your next water change or if she's not ready then the next one after that or she might just drop it in the middle of the week after the next water change

 

[adagiolove05]

yup i have a breeding net- i just dont want to stick her in there and then have her stuck in there for 2 weeks before the babies come.

 

[adagiolove05]

oooh and i'll go pick up some aquarium salt from work too

 

[FroggyFox]

Just dont raise the salt too quickly. I would disagree with using the breeding net/box/cup/basket/trap whatever, especially if this is her first time giving birth in your tank. Those things tend to stress them out even more than other fish pestering them in the first place. Watch her closely and maybe next time you'll be able to tell the signs of when she's about ready to drop. I also think its best to let nature take its course with the babies. As long as you have some spots for a few of them to hide and you're not starving your fish...chances are good that some will survive. Mollies tend to have bigger groups of babies each time...so no use trying to save every single baby this time around. Not to mention, what would you do with all the babies? do you have another tank set up to grow them out? There's just all sorts of stuff to think about, and I figure the health and safety of the momma is more important than the babies.

 

[adagiolove05]

i was actually going to take the babies back to the store. i work there and that's where the parent fish came from, so we were just going to stick them in a tank there.

i didn't want to stress mom out, so i was planning on netting the surviving babies and putting them in the breeder's net for a while. i just dont know when to expect them.

how often do you add salt?