Information on pregnant red mollies

Question
I have two pregnent red mollies and I have a few questions: 1)How many days will they take to give babies? 2)How many babies will they give? 3)Can you give some advice about how should I take proper care of them so that they could give healthy babies? 4)What should I feed the young ones? 5)Any futher advice about mollies would be of great pleasure.5)Thank you in advance.

Answer
Dear Spenta,
To make things simpler, I have decided to answer your questions in the order you listed them...
1.) This can vary. The typically period that a female molly tend to brood is about eight to ten weeks.
2.) Again this can vary with their age, diet, water quality. Good and well-cared for mollies can deliver large batches of 130-150 fry. But younger or first time mothers will deliver sometimes around 30 or so fry. There's nothing wrong with that. It's always fun and exciting to have any numbder of new baby fish around!
3.) Mollies appreciate a slightly brackish tank which is an aquarium with usually something along the lines of 1 part synthetic marine mix water to three parts freshwater. But many mollies are bred generation after generation in freshwater. So if your Red mollies are one of them, leave their water as it is. But as a general rule. They do best in brackish water. *Diet is quite important in the health of mollies. They can thrive in live mosquito larvae and other insects, but they do much better if given as much variety as possible--including plenty of vegetable matter. Algae disks or flakes foods for herbivorous fish are very good. Also Zuchinni squash are excellent vegetable supplements for mollies. You can freeze zuchinni and then completely thaw it out before feeding. The freezing process breaks down the cell walls of the zuchinni and makes it much more digestible for your mollies. It is not fully understood. But the reproductive chemistry of these fish will not operate properly without a plant-rich diet. *Of course excellent water quality is vital for good molly health. This means frequent water changes with insuring the replacement water is dechlorinated and equal in temperature to that of their aquarium like with all fish.
Try to do at least twice a week water changes in the range of 20-30% just depending upon your stocking level.
4.) Newly born baby mollies can be fed powdered high quality flake food. An easy way to make powdered flake food is take a few big pinches of flake and drop into a sandwich bag. Shake the flakes down into one corner and crush them with your fingers. This works very well in making the flake food small enough for your new little molly fry to eat. You can also power other foods like freeze dried brine shrimp, worms, ect.
5.) It is best if baby mollies are feed in tiny amounts several times a day. About 6 tiny meals a day is good. It may be difficult to get a tiny amount of powdered flake food out of the bag but you can try take toothpick, just get it slightly damp and dip it into the bag. To feed just swirl it around in the water near the babies. I have also taken a small and uncontaminated cup reserved for aquarium use only and put just a tiny amount of tank water in it and swirled a little powdered food in it. Then I'd take a large and unused eye dropper to siphon the food and then I can directly squirt it near the fry. *Warmer water in the range of 78-80degrees F will help molly fry grow faster. And daily water changes of 20% everyday will cause growth spurts in nearly all fish babies.
~*To protect your molly fry from other hungry fish or even the hungry mother, you can buy a simple "fry saver" little contraption that you place a heavily pregnant molly and thats where she drops her brood. The babies will fall down into a special compartment that protects them from being eaten. You can also chose to move your pregnant mollies into a special small aquarium of perhaps 10 gallons with a established sponge filter and plenty of plant cover.

Well, I hope I've covered everything!
Only my very best wishes and best of luck with your red Mollies--you'll get babies soon!
Karen~