Pregnant Balloon Mollies-What to do?

OK, I have three Balloon Mollies in my 29g and a 10g that has been cycling with no fish, just plants. I now think the 10g is going to have to be turned into a nursery for balloon molly fry. The two female ballon mollies have got huge bellies all of a sudden. I checked for the gravid spot on them, and it is obvious on the grey one, but the black one just looks, well, black and swollen. I think the article I read here said to put the moms in breedng cups in the main tank, then when they have the fry, move the fry to the nursery tank and the moms back to the main tank. Do I have this right?

When do I move the moms to the breeding cups? How long do I wait before I know whether they are going to give birth or just had to poop really bad? Especially on the Black molly, since I cannot really see a gravid spot?

With the nursery, do I pull out the decorations and just plant a ton of plants in there? And if the 10g hasn't cycled, can the fry stay in the breeding cups in the main tank for a while? I saw the hatchery pict here, but it wasn't obvious which plants were used in the pict...

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure I asked all the right things....

That is all right.

Does your breeder have a removable divider?

If it does then you can remove the mother after she is done giving birth and then remove the divider and the babies can stay in there for however long you would like, although a baby nursery would be much better for them.

Yes, plants should be in the nursery, but they can be fake ones. Just make sure there are lots of hiding spaces so they feel safe.

You can tell when your fish are about to give birth when there stomach "squares", which is when their stomach looks like it has because a square shape.


i hope i have answered all of your questions.

I hadn't planned on breeding them (I guess they had their own plans ), so I am going to buy the breeder cup today. I will make sure to get ones with a divider-I am assuming each mommy molly needs her own cup.

I will move the fry over to my 10g tank once it has cycled, just wanted to make sure they will be safe in the breeder cup until it does. I am hoping it will be cycled within the next week or so, but I have no clue.

Thanks for all your help!

If you have mollys of any kind get ready for lts of breeding times with them. Mine breed like theirs no tommorow. Got to the point that i let them become food for the other fish now.

Well, tried the breeder cups and put a TON of plants in the nursery tank, so it is mostly plants now with a four by four inch space for free swimming.

Lessons learned: Balloon Mollies do NOT like breeder cups, they both freaked and started bouncing off the sides of the cup, so I let them out before they hurt themselves and tried using plastic plants floating on the surface for a nest. Oh, joy--woke up this morning to find one of my Dwarf Gourami got caught/tangled in the floating plants and died. So I am now going with Tony's method of letting nature take its course. Maybe try breeding later in my aquatic life...

Can I still put adult fish in the 10g "nursery tank" or do I need to take out some of the multitude of live plants for a larger free swimming area?

The Gourami has an organ that lets it breathe air, but they also have small gills. The result is they need to get oxygen both ways. Their gills will not absorb enough oxygen to keep them alive, so they need easy access to the water surface. If the aquarium is absolutely choked with plants, it may be difficult for fish to reach the surface.

As for the ten gallon aquarium with all the plants, you could put one or two of the pregnant Mollies in it, and their fry would have plenty of hiding places. If you're careful, you can move the females back to the larger tank after they drop their fry. Moving any fish from one aquarium to another can shock their immune system, so you may want to look into the drip acclimation technique.

I never do the drip thing if i am just moving them from tank to tank, i just make sure the temperature of the tanks are EXACTLY the same, and triple check it, and i've never had a problem, but for the nursery tank you may want it warmer for the preggo mommies and babies, mine is always at 78-80 degrees.

My females always freak out when i put them into the breeder traps but they do calm down after a while, and if you turn the aquarium light off they calm down almost instantly, and they wont hurt themselves. I have never had good luck with letting nature take its coarse because the babies do not stay in the plants, mine always swim around in the open, so idk. But now that you put them in their and then took them out again it may stress them out too much to but them back in.

Good luck, and let me know what happens!!

Thanks for all the advice. I think the mollies had their fry in the 29g while I was at work today, they are much smaller in size tonight. I do not see any fry in the 29g so I am assuming the fry became food. Oh, well.

Anyway, I think I am going to leave the mollies be and let nature take its course in the 29g rather than stressing them (and me) out so much. Maybe in the future I will give the breeding thing a try, but for now, I think it is better to concentrate on learning how to not kill any of the adult fish.... Thanks again for all the advice!

haha, well you might be surprised. the fry are like IMPOSSIBLE to see, but maybe you will get lucky and in a couple of days you might see a little baby zoom by.

and your very welcome :]

OK, I was wrong, I just went to feed them and the black balloon Molly's belly was square and a little fry was poking out of her. I quick moved her to the 10g tank so she could have her fry there, but it just occurred to me---the filter on that tank has an intake in the water. Do I have to cover that up or something????? Help, please! Before the fry get sucked in!!!!!

OK, that sounded panickyu---I am not really, but if I am going to do this, I figure I should give them the best chance they can have......

OK, that sounded panicky---I am not really, but if I am going to do this, I figure I should give them the best chance they can have......

I would part part of a stocking in it just in case.

A piece of nylon hose over the intake is the standard method for protecting fry. Just make sure it's free of any soap residue.

Awesome! Thanks, guys!

Hope they do ok mate, If not i have some always hungry fish thatll love them.