pregnant????? a fish that is.

Question
tank been up 2weeks 10 gal not sure at all about the ph,ammonia,or nitrate levels. i only have 1 mollie left. plucostomous just bellied up tonite.  5 nites ago i had 2 mollies, 1 "pluto", now 1 mollie. im not even sure about the sex of it. but i do know it looks like its about to have litter. mabey you can show me what a preg mollie looks like, or if im about to loose my only little fishy. thanks shanna  

Answer
Hi Shanna;

Make a 25% water change to lower the "New Tank Syndrome" toxins. Your tank is just too new to have so many fish in it. If you were to check the ammonia levels you would find them very high right now. The poor little gal may not survive having babies if they aren't reduced. Do another 25% change tomorrow. The idea is to lower the toxins without eliminating them so the break-in process can still continue. It helps the fish to survive it. Here is a link to my page on New Tank Syndrome to help you understand more about what's going on in there;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Below is a link to a page about livebearing fish such as mollies, platies and guppies. The picture of the two red fish are "platies". The male is on the left, the female is on the right. The bottom back fin is pointed in the male, fanned out on the female;

http://www.fishforever.co.uk/livebearers.html

I hope she does okay.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins