# Trouble with "Pregnant" molly



## chillrgirl (Mar 26, 2009)

I purchased 3 mollies around 4 months ago, all 3 pregnant females, first one gave birth, no problems, second, then third, all offspring from the female mollies are doing wonderful, all are female (which is a good thing).
Our tank is 125 gallons, complete with live plants, we keep the temp at a nice 81 degrees for all fish, Pleco's, chinese algae eaters and the mollies, PH I am a little worried about because it is between 7.5 - 7.8 which I would like it a tiny bit lower, however all fish seem to not have any problems.
However, I have a black dalmation molly that is on her second batch of babies, however it has been around a month, month and a half since she started showing, her stomach has puffed to about 2x larger then when I purchased her when she was pregnant with her first batch, we have no males in the tank, and I have read and from past experience with mollies that they can go without breeding up to 6 months and still have offspring every month or so, however, my first molly I had purchased became pregnant again, without a male, she was 4x larger and didn't end up having any babies second time around, and ended up dying around a month ago, sadly I miss her, however I know that she didn't have any diseases at the time that could have caused her to appear pregnant, and not be, at the beginning when we purchased the mollies another molly had brought Ich to the tank, after a two month battle with it, we are ich free.
I am wondering should I purchase a male to be sure that my molly that appears to be pregnant actually has fertilized eggs? I don't want to end up losing her, she deffinetly appears pregnant, and her eating over the past few weeks has tripled, as did my other molly that wasn't able to birth her fry before she died.
Can a molly have a full batch of unfertilized eggs and it cause her to die due to the fact that she is unable to give birth?
I am a bit worried about my dalmation since it has been a little over a month and still no babies, she hasn't had any contact with a male since I purchased her, tips and advice would be helpful.


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## Sj45 (Jan 5, 2009)

They are livebeares aren't they? So probably it was just a problem with giving birth, which happens. I don't think you did anything wrong here. Best of Luck.


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## chillrgirl (Mar 26, 2009)

Can anyone tell me if I should purchase a male to make sure her eggs are fertilized?!? She is getting bigger and bigger without any signs she is going to give birth


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## mollies (Mar 27, 2009)

i would if u want babys. but they dont need a male for up 6 months. they stay fert for that long if they were in a tank with a male they most likely are preg.


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## Psychmajor (Apr 12, 2009)

I have heard that mollies can change sexes if needed, so you may have a male now, and not know it. however, it cant hurt to get a male in there. unfortunatly, she could have eggs in her, but has prolbems passing them. also, she may feel uncomfortable for some reason and is refusing to give birth, maybe becuase of the ph level, ( though i doubt it). there may be an issue with her, but theres not much you can do about it. hope this helps.


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## 1077 (Apr 16, 2008)

Your pH levels are fine for mollies who prefer alkaline water as opposed to soft or acidic. If it's babies you want,, Add one male to every four females and wait.


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