Oh Boy!

[Dreaded]

Well, I just took a little peak in my tank (5 gallons, filtration system, plastic plants, gravel 2 male guppies, 2 female mollies (one black, one white)) and couldn't find my turquise Guppy.

I searched and searched before I found him nose down torn to shreds in one of the plants.

That's not the part I need help with though.

Apparently, my black molly has just given birth. I am not a fish breeder or anything. I wasn't planning to get into this, but I have 14 babies and no idea who the father is. (I bought my fish from PetSmart about a week ago. She was pregnant when I got her. I thought she was just fat. teehee.)

But now that I have these litte fry, I don't know how to take care of them! And I really don't want them to die because of my lack of knowledge. I was thinking about getting them out of the tank, but my mollies aren't touching them at all, and the remaining guppy always swims very close to my white molly. He doesn't like to be without her, and so far hasn't even attempted to investigate these tiny new swimmers.

If anyone has ANY advice they could give me on what to do...that'd be great. My budget is very limited, but I have these babies now, and they're my responsibility!

 

[MAM]

if you have lots of plants and such for them to hide in, they may just make it on their own. you can buy food for fry at petsmart or you can crush up the flakes you feed your mollies and guppies real fine. or you can get a breeder net or box (will take up some space though...........) and put them in there (a turkey baster is a great device for catching little fry without hurting them. also, if you can swing it, a second little tank might not be a bad idea (since when they grow up, they won't be able to stay in the current tank, will be overstocked), petsmart and walmart both sell one gallons for about $10, or 2 gal for $20.................
about the guppie, might have been a molly, do you have regular or lyretail or sailfin? i noticed that my lyretails seemed to hate the guppies i introduced and stressed them to death!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just my two cents on that.

 

[Dreaded]

Yes, I have 4 very leafy plants that the fry seem to gravitate to when the larger fish get close to them, but most of the fry just chill out in the open and pick up crumbs from the bottom of the tank.

The turkey baster is an excellent idea, thank you very much!

I called my mom and she has a glass bowl from when she had goldfish that I might go get once my fry get bigger.

I think I just have regular ol' mollies. Like I said, I just got fish because I love to watch them. Didn't know I'd be a mommy. haha!

They don't seem to mind my little yellow guppie, but the black molly, before giving birth, did seem a bit snippy towards the little blue guppie.

You've been a great help. I'll leave the fry in there for now unless I seem the dissapearing.

When do you suggest I transfer them to a new tank to make sure the 5 gallon isn't overcrowded?

 

[guppy97]

Yes, I have 4 very leafy plants that the fry seem to gravitate to when the larger fish get close to them, but most of the fry just chill out in the open and pick up crumbs from the bottom of the tank.

The turkey baster is an excellent idea, thank you very much!

I called my mom and she has a glass bowl from when she had goldfish that I might go get once my fry get bigger.

I think I just have regular ol' mollies. Like I said, I just got fish because I love to watch them. Didn't know I'd be a mommy. haha!

They don't seem to mind my little yellow guppie, but the black molly, before giving birth, did seem a bit snippy towards the little blue guppie.

You've been a great help. I'll leave the fry in there for now unless I seem the dissapearing.

When do you suggest I transfer them to a new tank to make sure the 5 gallon isn't overcrowded?

after a month or so, you can transfer them over. you should consider getting a heater. torpical fish like the ones you have live in a warm temperature around 78 degrees. what i did with my baby guppies is put them in a breeders net. my female guppy gave birth to over 60 plus the ones were eatin.

 

[Dreaded]

My tank is very warm from the overhead light. I leave it on all day. The female who gave birth is very aggressive now, towards the other two. I may have to move my white molly and my guppie to their own tank, then when I move the fry after one month, put the molly and guppie back with the black molly.

I don't have much room in my tank for a breeders net.

 

[Jo]

well done so far...you have had exactly the same thing happen to you as happened to me...a week after I got my molly back from the shop she gave bbirth to fry, unprepared like you were I worried about what to do...I did what Many A Molly is suggesting and crushed up flakes fine and they sink without fogging the water, so even if the fry don't want to come to the surface to eat they will get fed...I haven't got another tank and the fry (So far) are doing fine...

It's strange what you say about the female that gave birth being agressive, I'm having the same problm with my molly and now it has turned out that she is still pregnant, so this may be the case with yours..?

If you can't manage to move the guppy and molly just yet, next time you change the water, try leaving the female molly in a bucket for a bit after you have put the other fish back, this will let them establish their teritorry and she might calm down..this worked for mine for a while at least, so might be worth a go...

Be careful that the temperature in the bucket doesn't drop too much, so keep a close eye on it though!...

Good luck!

 

[Dreaded]

I managed to transfer my white molly and the guppie to a new tank and my white molly isn't doing too well. She was abused by the black molly pretty harshly before I was able to get a tank. I hope she'll pull through.

The tank was decholorinated and I added some of that shock reducer and waited an hour before adding the molly and guppie. The guppie is fine, but the little white molly might not make it. My black molly is alone with the fry now, and she's still darting around the tank. She's eating a bit, but that's a good point that she still may be pregnant. She does have somewhat of a bulge, still, compared to the non-pregnant white molly...

 

[MAM]

i noticed that my molly was real aggressive towards other fish a few days before and after she gave birth. think its kind of like a fishy p.m.s thing
but after she was done, she was back to normal........................

 

[Dreaded]

Well she managed to pick off all my fish except her babies. I just bought some stress relief stuff and measured it into the tank to try to calm her. No one's in there but her babies, but she's still flippin out. Hopefully I'll be able to calm her. Makes me sad to see her darting around and swimming frantically like that.

I took my brothers to get new tanks and I set them up for them and gave them each two fry with careful instructions on feeding and stuff. The fry in the new tanks are doing well. So in my tank it's just mommy and 12 babies.

And I also found a very nice fish store in my area. It just opened and they helped me out alot with what I would need to do and what I should expect.

I feel all professional now. haha! I'm Raisin' Babies!

 

[Jo]

I feel all professional now. haha! I'm Raisin' Babies!

He he...fantastic!

Good luck!

 

[Dreaded]

Boy, I don't feel very professional anymore.

The fry that I gave my brothers are dead. I dunno why. Water temp was the same, I dechlorinated the water, added stress relief. *sigh* I'm just gonna keep them all in one tank until next month when they're more hardy.

Why does transfering them work for you guys and not me? haha

 

[Guppy_molly_lover]

My tank is very warm from the overhead light. I leave it on all day. The female who gave birth is very aggressive now, towards the other two. I may have to move my white molly and my guppie to their own tank, then when I move the fry after one month, put the molly and guppie back with the black molly.

I don't have much room in my tank for a breeders net.

well you said you have a 5 gallon! with fry and fish well i have 2 5 gallons and i have 4 female fish and 1 male fish *mollys* i used to have a guppy and 2 days after i gaot her she gave birth! 17 after the birth she died! well eny way i have 3 females and a breeding tank for the fry in one tank an yes its alot of space taken but i have nuthin else! but i am getting a 29 gallon tank pritty soon! YAY!

 

[guppy97]

Boy, I don't feel very professional anymore.

The fry that I gave my brothers are dead. I dunno why. Water temp was the same, I dechlorinated the water, added stress relief. *sigh* I'm just gonna keep them all in one tank until next month when they're more hardy.

Why does transfering them work for you guys and not me? haha

sorry about the dead fry. too bad i can't give you some of my frys. i have too many.