mollies and babies

[tavery313]

Hi I have never posted here but need some help. My daughter was suppose to get a gold fish(she's 3) and instead my husband comes home with a mollie. She has had it for about 3wks. When I went to clean the fish bowl I noticed there were babies. None of them are swimming and some of them look like they have eggs attached to them. Are these dead? I have never had a molly and I'm not sure what to do. I did not change the water as I did not want to disturb things. Thanks for all your help.

 

[tishygirl]

You have her alone in a fishbowl? How big? Is it heated ? have a filter ? By the sounds of it, she MAY have aborted due to some sort of stress... More information about her tank would be good to help the fish guru's on here give you some better advice.

 

[spanishguy111]

Fishbowl=torture. You need to take all your fish stuff back, do 100 hours + of research, and then CONSIDER an aquarium.

 

[MegTheFish]

Just for future reference, goldfish are not suited for bowls. They get quite huge and need a minimum of 10 gallons each.

 

[trace1]

edited for double post

 

[trace1]

Fishbowl=torture. You need to take all your fish stuff back, do 100 hours + of research, and then CONSIDER an aquarium.

[snapback]905375[/snapback]​

how are people supposed to know things like this if lfs quite happily sell the stuff & don't bother giving the proper information. also she is asking for help. i don;t think there was any need to be so abrupt imho

 

[altinure]

Fishbowl=torture. You need to take all your fish stuff back, do 100 hours + of research, and then CONSIDER an aquarium.

[snapback]905375[/snapback]​

anyone who does 100+ hours of research buying a fish for their three year old daughter is insane.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Tavery, some of the above posts have been a little abrupt, which is a pity, as this makes it harder for you to seek advice. The reason for their strong reaction is that your poor molly has ended up in a very bad situation; I am surprised that the
shop did not warn your husband about his purchase.

Basically, mollies are tropical freshwater fish. They can not be kept in a fishbowl (nor should goldfish for that matter). They require heated water, proper filtration and plenty of room to move (15 gallons, I'd say). The water must be dechlorinated and regular small water changes (20% a week or so) should be performed. You should never change all the water at once, unless you have some absolutely lethal parasite in there.

To keep a molly a fishbowl is a little like buying a large dog and then locking it up permanently in the cupboard under the stairs. No doubt the poor thing aborted her fry due to stress.

Assuming the mother is still alive, you now need to decide what you are going to do with her. It is going to be a choice between getting her a better tank or taking her back to the shop. Left in the fishbowl she will die a very unpleasant death (basically stewing in her own waste). You should also to complain to the manager, if your husband has been wrongly advised (ask him how the transaction happened).

Then you will want to decide what to do with the fishbowl. Do NOT get a godlfish for it. Goldfish are heavier waste producers than mollies and need even more space.

That tank would make an acceptable home for a betta, aka Siamese fighting fish. If you want to use it, go on the betta forum and ask about setting it up for a betta.


quote:
anyone who does 100+ hours of research buying a fish for their three year old daughter is insane.

[snapback]905539[/snapback]​

[/quote]

Do you mean to imply that one should do less research when setting a child up with a pet? More, I would have thought. To your responsibilities for the fish are added your responsibility of teaching the child and making her pet experience enjoyable.

 

[altinure]

quote:
anyone who does 100+ hours of research buying a fish for their three year old daughter is insane.

[snapback]905539[/snapback]​

Do you mean to imply that one should do less research when setting a child up with a pet? More, I would have thought. To your responsibilities for the fish are added your responsibility of teaching the child and making her pet experience enjoyable.

[snapback]905835[/snapback]​

[/quote]

100+ hours of research for buying one fish for a child is ridiculous. you could go online, and within ten seconds find out that you can only have a betta fish in a bowl. i don't even know what you could possibly look at for 100+ hours when buying one fish.

 

[dwarfgourami]

OK, fair enough, as long as you settle for that betta.

quote:
anyone who does 100+ hours of research buying a fish for their three year old daughter is insane.

[snapback]905539[/snapback]​

Do you mean to imply that one should do less research when setting a child up with a pet? More, I would have thought. To your responsibilities for the fish are added your responsibility of teaching the child and making her pet experience enjoyable.

[snapback]905835[/snapback]​

100+ hours of research for buying one fish for a child is ridiculous. you could go online, and within ten seconds find out that you can only have a betta fish in a bowl. i don't even know what you could possibly look at for 100+ hours when buying one fish.

[snapback]906154[/snapback]​

[/quote]

 

[Dubby]

Hi I have never posted here but need some help. My daughter was suppose to get a gold fish(she's 3) and instead my husband comes home with a mollie. She has had it for about 3wks. When I went to clean the fish bowl I noticed there were babies. None of them are swimming and some of them look like they have eggs attached to them. Are these dead? I have never had a molly and I'm not sure what to do. I did not change the water as I did not want to disturb things. Thanks for all your help.

[snapback]905118[/snapback]​

The thumbrule is 1inch of fish per gallon of tank space. About the heater it depends on where you live. If your normal room temperature is quite hot (20+ deg C) then I wouldnt bother with the heater. The filter is probably more of a necessity as you might get away without doing a water change once in a while.

Also you need to get your tank cycled for it to become a friendly environment for fish.

Mollies normally give birth to fully developed fry. When under stress they can abort and give birth to underdeveloped fry.

Hope this answers your questions.

 

[shiftingsands]

HI there,
I tried to pm you but it wont send so I am posting here as I feel you have had rough treatment by a brand new poster here. This is normally a very friendly and helpful message board.

I am new to fishkeeping too and have had a huge amount of help here - you just had bad luck here.

I would take the whole lot back to the place that sold it to you, including the Molly ( as I suspect she won last long) and get your money back. They should not have sold you a Molly to live in an unheated/unfiltered/uncycled tank. Hopefully you can explain to your daughter it wasn't happy and was missing its friends.

Buying a small tank set up is not to expensive if cost is an issue especially if you can track down a s/h tank with all the bits and bobs. You can get cheap set ups on ebay and often through www.adtrader.co.uk . As a child is involved if you are going to buy a tank then consider an acrylic one rather than glass, which often comes supplied with lid, filter/heater etc and can be sent through the post.

When keeping any fish you need to "cycle" the water - get it in a good condition for fish. There is lots of info on that here. Many fish die in the first couple of weeks because some dont know this and think all you need to do is just fill up a bowl/tank with water and put fish in. Its not quite that simple - but its not that complicated either.

Its a great hobby and I hope you will persevere with it. If you do take the plunge and get a small tank - dont get one thats very small, get a 2 ft x 1ft x1ft as very small ones are hard to manage and you can put quite a dozen or so small fish fish in there eventually. In a 2 ft tank ( about 12 gallsuk) get 2 or 3 platys, only one male and one or two females. I started off with platys and they are all still alive and kicking after only a few weeks and we also have a baby one, born in the bag on the way home from the shop who is doing well. If I can do it anyone can. Do come back and tell us what you decide to do and the more experienced posters will help you loads.