How do I know if Molly is birthing????

[sassie]

Hi,
How is everyone?
I am new to this forum...a litle bit about my fish..and I'll ask my question, that I am dying to know the answer to!!
I have a 10 gallon tank. I bought it for my 6 year old..but obviously, I care for the fish...he just loves watching them. As well, I bought my 12 yr old daughter the same..although she is old enough and educated enough to care for her own fish.
We have a mixture of fish. Rainbow Shark (my favourite!!), some beautiful guppies (gorgeous fins/tails-I don't know what these are called!!lol), a snail, I forget the kind (it's orange), 2 african dwarf frogs..adorable...and 2 dalmation Mollies.
Now to the question....One of my mollies is pregnant! *celebrate
No question about it!!
But tonite, she has been acting so oddly.
She has been freaking out, literally, whenever she goes near a certain plant. This has never happened before.
As well...now this is weird....she has pooped (had bowel movements) a billion times tonight. Seriously, I-F it is poop, it is never-ending..for real..she won't/can't stop. She also has this blood red colour stuff coming out of her behind all the time. In small pieces. Then they just fall off. It doesn't stop. It's still happening..and I noticed it had started when I went to my room to put my son to bed at about 8p.m....it very well may have started happening way before that though?
What the helk is going on?

Also...what is the birthing prcess like? What should I expect? Will little babies just start popping out?
Is there a lead-up to her giving birth....like what is happening tonite maybe??

I look very forward to any help, advice and feedback from ya'll!!
I'm a little worried about her..she seems just..well..not herself tonite.
Okay..please help!!!!
I'm dying to know what to do for her..and what to expect...
Thank you to all of you..and I look forward to posting and getting to know ya'll!
*PEACE!*
Sassie

P.S. The other molly is definitely a guy...keeps chasing her..has since we got them, sniffing her or wghatever he's doing to her backside!! She seems really po'ed at him!...It MUSt be a him, right?

 

[nobody]

I can't exactly tell you what is going on with your molly or if she is actually in labor, but I can relate to you what has happened with my platies and maybe that'll give some idea to what happens.

When I notice that one of my platies is going to give birth, they are usually trying to hide from the other fish in the tank. Sometimes on unsuccessfully if there is a particular male that likes her. If I isolate her sometime I notice the anal openning seems to move downward as if in preparation for a baby to pop out above. Usually that's what happens, the anal openning will move down and just above it either a tiny tail or head will suddenly pop out of the mother's body followed by the rest of the body. Sometimes the mother's tail will tip up slightly as she tries to push the fry out of her body. Birth can take a while, so if you plan to watch you might want a chair or something like that. Anyway that's the best I can describe what happens when my fish give birth and being that they are livebearers too, the proccess maybe very similar if not totally similar. I hope that helps some. Hopefully someone here can tell you for sure what is going on with your molly.

 

[cusunfireguy]

Pregnant Molly

Most of the time, no one ever sees the live bearers actually give birth. My Molly started standing on her tail when she was about to give birth. I have noticed over the past few months that they tend to start hanging out on the bottom and become somewhat territorial when they are close. However, until I saw the standing on the tail behavior, I wasn't sure. Once I saw the standing on the tail behavior, I placed mine in a birthing chamber and she started popping out babies very quickly. I was very excited to witness the process! I now have about 30 - 40 fry in a maturing net and they are doing great.

Steven

 

[Helena21]

The other day i was looking in my tank and my guppy was pacing up and down the back of the glass, i was wondering what the weird behaviour was so i watched her for abit longer and a tail came out, i wasnt really sure what it was at the time but then 1 tiny fry popped out.

So thats how i tell when they are in labour. Watching them give birth is really cool