Unknown Death?

Question
Hey, i have been taking care of tropical fish for several years but recently tried fish breeding, i decided to start with pair od mollies, however they died but i did not let this discourage me and tried again, eventually after a few tries the female molly had became pregnant, as it started to get bigger i knew it would soon deliver fry. to my sadness i found the molly dead at the bottom of the tank one morning which was deflating. i did a scheduled water changed that night and founf one single baby molly, so i was wondering if it is a possibilty that fish can die from child birth? or if another fish could have attacked it during delivery?

cheers

Answer
Hi Stuart:  Sounds to me like your molly was stressed out.  Sometimes that can come from giving birth... especially if the females feels like the tank could be hostile to her or her fry.  It is best to separate them as they are growing larger and let them give birth in a birthing tank... I tend to put my females in the birthing tank when I know they are pregnant... but unlike many people my birthing tank is a ten gallon tank and she has plenty of room...   I also tend to do less water changes when pregnant fish are in the tank... but because there is only one fish in a ten gallon ... the need to change water is a lot less... which means an unstressed fish.  I am also not a fan of birthing nets, etc.. I put in a thick bottom layer of plants like java fern, java moss, etc and let the fry fend for themselves.  I usually end up with something between 30-50 fry with guppies.  I suppose that it is possible that your fish could have died either from giving birth or from being attacked... what other kinds of fish do you have in the tank?  hope this is helpful and please keep me posted... dave