HELP - What do I do with these 'baby' fish??

[DIZWIZ]

Hi, don't know if this is actually an emergency, or not. It sure is to me!

We are newbies and just set up our 10 gallon tank last week. We bought a 'black molly' and a 'glass?' fish on Sunday at PetSmart. This evening (Sun., 1 week later) when we came home from dinner around 7 pm - I noticed 3 tiny (very tiny) black fish in the tank. Imagaine our surprise!!! Obviously, "Big Ben" is actualy "Big Bertha"?!?

Is this normal? Is there something special/urgent that we should be doing for these little guys/girls??? We are pretty clueless and just learning the basics. I've scoured my books and it seems like we should separate them and feed them a special food? Is that all necessary?

Thank you for any help you can offer!!

Clueless in NJ

 

[shrks1fan]

Well, if you want them to have a better chance of surviving, then yes, you'll want to get them in their own tank as the other fish will probably eat them. In fact if you only have 3 then chances are alot more already were eaten as they will usually have 20 or more babies (my guppy recently had 70). Also, they will need small food to be able to eat it, so very finely crushed flakes would do.

Linda

 

[DIZWIZ]

I guess there's nothing I can do now until tomorrow; it's Sun. 8:30 pm EST and we don't have any 24 hr. PetSmarts out here. Is there anything I can use 'temporarily' for the little fry until I can get out for a tank tomorrow???

 

[bunny]

She will probably give birth again in 6 or so weeks. So expect another batch then. Mollies can have up to 6 batches of fry with only one mating.

You may consider finding a way to eventually separate the male and female fish after the fry have matured. If you don't, you'll end up with a huge population of fish.

Good luck!

 

[shrks1fan]

For the short term you can put them in anything that holds water basically, hehe. Any large jar or tupperware or even a pot, they will be fine without filtration in the short term.

Linda

P.S. Just be sure to rinse it out REAL well.

 

[cutecotton]

i don't know how long they'll last in a jar of water wtihout filtration..but if it's possibel just get some kind of plastic container, take something sharp and bunch holes all over it, put it in your tank (the holes will let water pass through), take the babies and put them in that.

I believe you can keep them in there for the time being until they're big enough to be released back inot the tank. as for food, yes crushed flakes will do goo dluck wiht the litlte ones

 

[shrks1fan]

They should be fine without aeration. I have a bunch of guppies in a 2.5 gallon tank (originally 70, but I've since fed many to my community tank) without filtration or aeration and they're thriving. So Mollys should be fine for a couple days until you can get something better.

Linda

 

[skimpy]

Babies unexpectly, Just seen another post (about 6th message down) that might be helpful Previous post

Good Luck