I'm Granma Molly

One of my black mollys has had a big belly for a while. I thought it was pregnant. But then one morning last week, I looked at it. Its belly was flat. Mollys are live bearers and I saw no baby fish in the tank. I read up on pregnant mollys and noted that sometimes, they just abort their pregnancy for reasons unknown.

Yesterday morning, when I was exchanging some water in the tank, I noticed a piece of black in the water. It disappeared as I was pumping the water out. I thought one of the mollys had lost a piece of fin though neither looked damaged.

In the afternoon, when I was staring at the fish, I saw a tiny black fish swimming about. I took a second look and followed it as it swam close to rocks and crevices. It really was a little black molly, a fraction the size of the adult mollys.

So the fish had given birth after all! But surely it doesn't give birth to only one fish. The others must've got eaten, and this smart fish was able to hide and survive. It is now big enough that it is not afraid to show itself. It is very neat to suddenly find a baby in the tank.

As I examined the rest of the fish, I see that one of the red platys has a very big belly, like the black molly had. I bet it is pregnant. So I dropped a shell and a piece of flat rock in the water to create more nooks and crevices to give any newborns a higher chance of survival.

The Man set up a video camera in front of the tank, ready to capture the birthing miracle. But how do we know when it will give birth? Maybe it is just fat from overeating, or it is sick. It pooped three long strands of poo yesterday, one of which the male molly ate. Maybe the red platy just has a sore stomach. We'll see if any tiny fish makes an appearance in the tank in the next few days.

I wish I could take a picture of the baby molly and an adult molly together. But the baby tucks itself away every time an adult fish swims near. Smart fish.