A Molly's Story From One Drop To The Next

[OldMan47]

With my female, at my tank temperature, it was always 6 weeks to the day between drops. Each female is a bit different and tank temperatures affect the time too. My best guess, based solely on time, would be another 3 weeks. The idea of the first long post in this thread is to give you something to compare to your own fish so that you can decide. Your fish is right in front of you and the picture commentary is meant to point out what I look for along the way. That will give you a better estimate than we ever could from this end.

 

[nathan1987]

Ok thanks for the advice, I understand what you mean it's been a while since I had livebearers again so just wanted to make sure I get it right with timing when to move her from the community tank.

 

[OldMan47]

As far as moving the female, I like to move them to a birth tank quite early so that they have time to settle into their new home before it is time to drop the fry. I do not use breeding traps and nets, although I do own an old fashioned, very large, breeding trap.

 

[Alind]

This thread must stay at top,
as every new comer needs to know this.

 

[5teady_2012]

truely a awesome post oldman, im glad that you have done this and it should been pinned, so we have 2 pinned threads of both ways to do it, the trap way, and the tank way...

I liked the way you went through the cycle taking pictures at random to the stages better.

As of late i have setup a 60L tank for my show guppies and im doing it your way on them and letting the female drop in the tank cos i would like to see myself if i can be successful without traps and not having to rely on trapping them all the time.

Again great post

 

[OldMan47]

Actually, I find that any method that reduces my personal work load ends up with better success than methods that are labor intensive. If a method requires me to actively evaluate my fish daily so that I can trap them, I end up missing the minor cues and fail completely. If I can set up the situation where most fish will survive without my intervention, I have relatively good success. I am not sure if it is because I am so lazy that I miss the minor cues or if the method itself just works better. I am a farmer at heart and like systems that I can manage using simple techniques. It is easier to spray for bugs when the first hint of an infestation comes up than to try to control them using the methods that require a perfect analysis of the potential impact of the bugs on your crop, and similar simplicity works for me in breeding large numbers of different livebearers. I breed individual fish species in over 20 tanks at any one time and just can't afford to track each tank to trap females at the optimum moment. By setting up survival situations, I get as many fry as other methods but seldom miss a critical timing and lose my whole fry "crop". It is a personal prejudice, in addition to the simplicity, that has me avoid the breeding traps, although I am the first to admit that they can be used effectively if you devote the time needed for their use.

 

[5teady_2012]

Actually, I find that any method that reduces my personal work load ends up with better success than methods that are labor intensive. If a method requires me to actively evaluate my fish daily so that I can trap them, I end up missing the minor cues and fail completely. If I can set up the situation where most fish will survive without my intervention, I have relatively good success. I am not sure if it is because I am so lazy that I miss the minor cues or if the method itself just works better. I am a farmer at heart and like systems that I can manage using simple techniques. It is easier to spray for bugs when the first hint of an infestation comes up than to try to control them using the methods that require a perfect analysis of the potential impact of the bugs on your crop, and similar simplicity works for me in breeding large numbers of different livebearers. I breed individual fish species in over 20 tanks at any one time and just can't afford to track each tank to trap females at the optimum moment. By setting up survival situations, I get as many fry as other methods but seldom miss a critical timing and lose my whole fry "crop". It is a personal prejudice, in addition to the simplicity, that has me avoid the breeding traps, although I am the first to admit that they can be used effectively if you devote the time needed for their use.

I think thats what it mainly comes down to in any hobby, its what works for you as an individual and the success you get from your own way.

Ive always used traps, and by keeping logs and knowing my fish well, i became a good judge of when mine was going to drop.
Im a addicted to trapping i think haha simply cos i want and like to save everything i can when it comes to fry.

To be honest if i was going to give someone information on breeding when it comes to livebearers, i would rather tell them to set up a tank and heavily plant it if they have the room, so when the female is heavy pregnant,they can move her to it and let her drop there, if im giving the advice, i would recommend traps as a last resort, even though i use them constantly and its the way i do things.

I think if i had much more room and time, i would certainly use your method instead of my trapping method even though it works well for me.

Super thread oldman "definitely should be pinned"

 

[mizzflick98]

Hello OldMan

I have a question will my molly's stomach be smaller if it's the first birth or will it be the same size as yours?

Also another question: If I have put her in a breeding trap then how can I tell she when's she's ready to drop?

 

[OldMan47]

A very young fish will often have a small fry drop with proportionately less swelling in advance. It is one reason that I go by shape rather than size.