Another Molly Question...She can't keep the boys off 'er!

qwertmonkey

You have probably read my other thread about my baby being pregant. Well, now I have another question. I'm cleaning some of the decorations from the tank. I decided to take a look at her. She looks normal, pregnant, and pretty happy. Shes just picking the alge off of the heater. As I was sitting there, I noticed one of he male sibblings would no leave her alone. He kept sniffing her anal fin, then bumping up against the side of her. I'm guessing he was mating, but shes already pregnant! I sat there for 15 minutes, and he did not leave her alone. At one point, the full grown male came up and did the same thing, but only once. She was.......having a bowel movement at the moment is that makes a difference.

What is up? Should I move her to the breeding net? I would like to keep all the babies that are born.

In the picture below, you can see her in the upper left corner, and the male that is bothering her the most in the lower left.

Thank you in advanced,
William

Rue

Ideally, you should have 3-4 females per male for livebearers...otherwise the females get bothered non-stop...and may die of the stress...

If you want the babies...I'd isolate her in a breeding tank or breeding tank insert (into the main tank).

qwertmonkey

Should I separate her now, or wait a little while longer? I'm going to get a divider soon so she can have a break. She being harassed! Although there is another female, she is a different color and full grown.

Rue

Up to you...

If you're getting the divider this afternoon...I'd leave her be until then...

But if it's going to be several days...then I'd separate her sooner rather than later...

qwertmonkey

I dont have the divider yet, but will in the future. For now, I think I'll put her in the net. Its a little small, but I think she'll be ok. Its probably better than being pestered by all those horny kids!!!

Falina

looking at that picture she looks like she would give birth any minute, however i am basing this on the only pregnant molly i have ever had so dont take that as definite fact. she might have an awful lot of babies. you say that you want to keep them all but have you got room for another 30 odd fish? she could have this or more. if not and you have some as pretty as her, ill take a couple off your hands lol shes beautiful :)

Butterflyy

When my swordtail gave birth she had 40+ fry which was the most any of my livebearers had at one time. And out of that whole batch only 1 has survived. Some of them literally seemed to disappear into thin air (they were in a breeder net) while others just died off. I had 4 who made it past 1 month, but once I let them out of the breeder net they all died but the 1. So if your fish has a ton of fish don't panic, most of them sadly won't make it past a few days