Babies, Babies Heeeeeellllp!

[Markos84uk]

Hello, please help us, help us!!!

Our balloon molly (we think its her) has dropped three babies, it could be the loach though cos we saw some eggs in there a couple of days ago. they are tiny and we dont want them to get eaten. they look like tadpoles

I dont ahve another tank set up, i only just got this... my first one.

Is there anything i can do? can i put them in some sort of container? will mollies eat baby fish??

Help please ASAP.

Thanks in advance
Mark

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Many fish will eat their fry

The best idea is to add some dense/bushy plants and this will give the fry somewhere to hide.

You can also get holders that attach to your tank that the fry could go in but I have no experience of these.

Good luck

 

[Feline]

Oooo babies!! congrats!!

First you'll have to monitor your water parameters. I just had a very brief look on your other post and am relieved to find your ammonia was back to 0, but do keep an eye on the nitrite and nitrate level as babies are esp. sensitive to any fluctuations in the water, hence any nitrite found in the water would greatly decrease the survival rate of the babies!

Do you have sand or gravel as substrate? Frys would be safer if you have gravels cos they can hide in between.

As Cheese has mentioned, you'll need to get a breeding trap for the babies for now if you want to save them all. It'll be a short term measure though, cause eventually you'll need a fry tank when the babies are bigger (but not big enough to put in the main tank) which means you'll have to prepare to cycle another smaller tank. If your main tank's cycled, use the current filter media + water for the smaller tank to bring the benficial bacteria there.

How do the babies look like on closer inspection? cos I think molly babies are quite large comparatively... some r even 0.5-0.8cm long when born!!

Good luck!

 

[Sasha]

Mollies and the other fish are cetainly going to snack on the fry, unless the tank has a lot of hiding places for them. You could also get a breeder net that hangs on the side of the tank. It safely seperates the fry from the adult fish and increases their survival rate. Molly fry are large when they are born, but they still have to grow to avoid being eaten by the hungry fish. A fry tank is the best thing because it offers more space for the young ones to grow.

 

[Angry_Platy]

If the babies have somewhere to hide they should be OK.....

If not chances are the mother will give birth again in 28 days or so...there will never be a shortage of fry with livebearers....

 

[Markos84uk]

Hi guys

They sound like the fry you are talking about, pretty big really really, we thought we may have missed them and they were a couple of days old, but no fresh today. We have a black molly, and he/she is really mean, so I dont fancy their chances. It was nearly 10pm when she dropped them, so i cant get hold of a tank or anything! If they are still there in the morning, we'll see about that bredding trap. There are actually some good places for them to hide, we've got some tall white and green plants and they were hiding deep in the midle of those.

They really are quick lil guys as well. I'll keep you all posted on what happens, thanks so much for your advice. 2 days an all this excitement already!!! She must have been 'done' at the LFS

See you soon
Mark <----- Daddy (for the moment )

 

[Markos84uk]

n.b its 3am...

sorry about the typos above, I'm still watching the fish with the lights out...

Its soooo addictive!!!!! (or am I just weird )

Mark

 

[Feline]

n.b its 3am...

sorry about the typos above, I'm still watching the fish with the lights out...

Its soooo addictive!!!!! (or am I just weird )

Mark

Yup I can relate! I remember myself sitting in front of the tank the whole night until 8am the following morning trying to net out all the frys!!!

 

[BIGMAC]

Way to go Mark or should i say DADDY Looks like you got your moneys worth of fish the other day,i suppose its one way of getting extra fish from the fish store without having to pay for them LOL.. no really im dead pleased for you both.
Good luck with the babys
SUE

 

[Markos84uk]

Well, its been 3 days since Molly gave birth

There WERE 3, now theres only 1 (we think)
So we're hoping that one is a survivor.

In the tank though the fish seem to be either bored or scratching. The go up to the heater slowly, then sort of rub against it and flinch away quickly to one side, then repeating it. What are they doing?

Are they OK?

Mark

 

[Cheese Specialist]

In the tank though the fish seem to be either bored or scratching. The go up to the heater slowly, then sort of rub against it and flinch away quickly to one side, then repeating it. What are they doing?

Are they OK?

Mark

That sounds like a symptom of an external parasite like ich, it's known as flicking.