Fry questions

[frannyscho]

Since last night there are now 4 black molly fry and now two platy fry who seem to be dodging about in the bottom, in the castle (it's the kids' tank - honest) and in the plants. As a newbie I am torn between letting them take a chance in the plants and let natural culling happen or getting a fry net. I have no idea how many they are going to lay, and I suppose we don't want to be overun (overswum!). I'm not a hardened fishkeeper yet. Still a softie, they are rather sweet at that size.

I haven't got fry food or live food yet, I'm just crushing the flake for everyone very small, and doing a crushed pea every two or three days.

The two mollys seem a bit subdued today, not very hungry, are very inactive and fanning fins alot. Might they just have eaten lots of other fry last night or might they be ill?

How many fry happen at once? Do vast quantities of fry get produced continually when one keeps livebearers or have I just got a rather active beginning to this hobby?

Can my water be all that bad if the fry are living? I'm still changing daily.


three week newbie
two balloon mollys one sunset platy
tank - 30L not yet cycled completely

 

[Angel Lady]

You may want to do a small water change and add some salt. Mollies are sorta a brackish fish and require salt for them to thrive. You will soon see every month or so you will have a new batch of fry. And they do add up very quickly that is something to think about. I had to seperate the males and females so I wouldnt have so many I was running out of room fast.

 

[fatguppy]

I have swordtails which are also a live bearer. We have made the decision after the first brood to "let nature take it's course" and allow the other fish to eat the fry. I understand it sounds harsh but we realised very quickly that a) we have not the facilities to keep huge amounts of fry B) the lfs is reluctant to take any fry even when bigger from us so we have nowhere to keep them - we cannot put them back in our tank as it would lead to more fry, interbreeding and just exacerbate (or errr!) the problem c) the fry we raised in a separate tank, although well looked after and fed etc out of approx 50 fry - only three have survived anyway.

My husband still gets stressed when we realise that one of the females is about to give birth AGAIN because he doesn't like to leave the fry to be eaten but in all honesty - we have little choice. I thought fish keeping was supposed to be relaxing!!!!

The only way to stop live bearers producing is to separate male from female. They are really prolific so expect regular pregnancies.

The other behaviour you mention does sound to me like they are still giving birth - although I hasten to add that I do not know Mollies only swordtails but certainly the behaviour you mention if they were swortails would suggest that they have not finished as yet

Again - we have been the victims of the lfs when we were total newbies because we were not told about swordtails propensity for reproduction. Hey ho!

The choice is obviously yours - the fry are extremely cute and it does seem cruel. But unless you have endless funds and endless space for new fish tanks - your only other option is to get rid of the live bearers altogether. And remember that if you put mature fry back into the tank - the whole process starts again with the added disadvantage that you will get more and more interbreeding and therefore deformed fry.

And finally if you have an lfs willing to take the fry off your hands - that's another possibility. None of ours were happy to do that

 

[OohFeeshy]

Is it a 30 litre tank? Then I'd leave them. If it is indeed 30 litres, its only really big enough for 2 mollies on their own.

 

[frannyscho]

Thank you. I shall leave them in there with a sporting chance of three cover plants. There are four black molly fry and one platy fry seen to date.

Over how many days do they produce? Mine seem to have only laid a couple per night, because having read a bit more, it says they produce 30-60 at a time. Did they?... and have the others really eaten the rest during a night?

As it's a new unfinished cycle tank, would this inhibit multiple births?

Sorry loads of questions in one posting.

 

[Annastasia]

Over how many days do they have fry? They can take up to a week to fully have their fry. Usually, they don't take that long...but some do. Mollies can have 100+ fry, but this depends on size of female, age of female, and a few other things.

It's entirely possible you have a younger, smaller female who simply does not have many fry. Yes, she probably ate some. But she may not have those numbers. I know a few people who's Platies have only had 3 fry. It just depends.

A cycling tank shouldn't really inhibit it, unless the water quality is very bad and they are stressed. When they are stressed, some fish hold on to their fry, until they feel it is safer. The only thing I'd really worry about in that tank, is the fry, as they are very sensitive to water quality.