[Barefeetnbluejeans]

Hey y'all!
Let me start by introducing myself, my name is Brie. I developed a love of the fishies a few years ago when I worked at a pet store (Now I'm a daycare teacher... yay for a big girl job!). I've kept Betta's for years but recently decided to make the leap to a 20g (meager for some, I know, but gimmie a break here, I'm new). Last week, I set up the tank and today I've filled it with several dalmation, black and silver mollies and two very small plecos (Don't worry, I know how big they get and I have a buddy whose been keeping fish for years and has a lot of BIG tanks. He says once mine grow out of this tank, he'll take them).

Now for the problem- I noticed two of the female mollies (one marble, one black) look quite big, especially the black one, so I went back out to the store and bought a net breeder. The problem is, as I'm at work all day, I can't sit there and stare at her waiting for her to pop. So at what point should I put her in the breeder? I have no way of knowing when she got knocked up, so it could be another week for all I know. Is it better to wait until I come home one evening (or wake up one morning) to find that she's deflated and put whatever little buggers survive into the breeder then?

 

[Austin]

Welcome to TFK!

I personally would take the approach of letting her "pop" in the aquarium. I think putting fish in a net is far too stressful for them. It is hard to tell exactly when she will give birth but you may be able to tell as you see it happen a few times. Again, I would let it occur in the aquarium, especially since it will be hard to tell whether it will take an hour or a week. You could try posting photos. Even if it wasn't stressful, you really don't want 40 more mollies in a 20 gallon tank! Trust me, it just becomes a mess!

Also, on a side note, you mentioned you set up your tank a week ago and just added fish. A week is typically not long enough to cycle a tank, and mollies and plecos are very dirty fish. You may want to research the nitrogen cycle, and if you did not cycle your tank you will want to make many large water changes at least daily for a few weeks and feed the fish much less than normal. I won't get into detail because I'm not 100% sure this is the case. I'd also ask your experienced friend for maybe a tiny piece of his filter in order to speed up the cycling process.

Good luck!