Well, I’m as new to this as you really Wendy I’ve only had my setup for a short time really. I'm still going to do my best to answer your questions as best I can though
so here go's.
Q. “excreting these things and dragging them aroundâ€
A. As I say I’m not 100% sure but as they are Livebearers that it is in fact an umbilical cord you are seeing, why I go with my theory of it not being is because they have that many babes inside them I find it hard to believe they would all have there very own umbilical cord but I could stand to be corrected on this.
I will find out though because now I want to know as well, lol I’m only on my second birth of Guppies fry you see.
Q. Any suggestions before they become lunch?
A. Ok as I understand it once they reach a size of approximately 10mm, they will then be big and strong enough to get away from the predators.
When the Female is fertilized it is after around 45-60 days before she will pop them out, what I would do myself now is work out when the 45-60 days is going to be from the date she popped her last lot out, from this I would hope you will have a good idea of when she’s due (providing she has been fertilized again of course, most likely she will have been).
Take a read of this post (
click here) as it is very good at giving a basic knowledge of the Mollies. I don’t really know what to suggest for the babes you would like to round up, I would be inclined to take it as some sort of happy medium and leave them as they are, if some survive so be it if not o well there is always next time.
As I understand it the Mollies give birth too much bigger fry then Guppies and so you should avoid putting the mothers in a breeding net/trap and also because the Molly is just not suited to a small space at all and can abort the pregnancy due to stress I’m afraid.
Today I have decided to setup a smaller tank I have that I can use to raise my fry in, I’m only after some small amounts of fry to be used to stock up my mates tanks as they would like them, after that I will just let nature take its coarse and leave the babes to get on with it.
This tank will also serve as a good foundation for my mollies to give birth in as well so kind of a win win really (fingers crossed), can I suggest you do the same and if not go about dividing your main tank so as to give your mollies the space they need and this will also help you to isolate the babes should you wish to.
As I say I’m only a newbie myself I do however make a point of reading as much as I can about the things I’m interested in, so I can fully understand what it is I’m learning about. I don’t mean to sound rude or like I’m talking down to you in anyway I’m just trying to give you the best advise I can offer in the most applicable way, do let me know how you get on and what solutions you find to work for you.
P.S If you haven’t already take a look in the “
Beginner Questions†and also the “
Livebearers†forums there’s quite a lot of info to be had in various post you’ll find about these forums.
Ok time for me to think about what I’m going to have for dinner, so good luck and do let me know how you get on.
Kind Regards,
Lee
