Death after giving birth?

[intharuff]

I am fairly new to this. I had a Molly and a Platy that both produced fry ( I have a new 10 gallon tank just for the little guys). I have 14 altogether now. Question is, do these breeds normally die after giving birth? Both seemed to be birthing over a period of a 3-4 days (hanging out near the bottom, not moving much, a little one every now and then). Once they were done, both seemed to "give up" and died at the bottom of the tank. I have a 20 gallon tank with 4 Neon Tetra's, 3 (was 4) Platys, 1 (was 2) Molly, 1 guppy, 1 placosytmus and an African dwarf frog and all are fine. Water tests fine. Anyone with more knowledge on this subject??

[astroguy]

Hi-

What does it mean "Water tests fine"? Could you be more precise and give us the values?

No, they should not die after birth.

Mollies: brackish water fishes, therefore they would be happier in their own tank if possible.

Plecostomus: I guess this one is small. However, be aware that they can grow quite large and over time will outgrow your aquarium. Consider a new, larger aquarium for the future.

[myriam]

intharuff, welcome to AA.com!

How old were the fish that died? astroguy is right, they shouldn't die after birth, although I've heard many stories that say likewise. My molly dropped fry and less than two weeks later died. I suppose fish could also die from the labors of birthing, but that isn't the norm.

How are all your other fish doing? No signs of disease or aggression or stress?

[Talon242]

I used to have a molly 10 years ago and when its had fry it didn't die until months later, probably due to lack of my knowlege of fish keeping (I was 9yrs old at the time).

[platylover]

They really shouldn't just die after giving birth. I have platies in my tank that are on their 4th or 5th births and are still going strong. I would definately keep an eye on the others in the tank for any illness or an aggressor. They could have also just been old.

As far as mollies being happier in their own tank, well, I don't agree with that. I have two mollies in my 20 gallon tank along with other fish and they seem right at home. Sure mollies can live in brackish water, but they also do fine in freshwater tanks.

[PlatyLady]

You know, I've heard of similar stories too. My one blue mickey mouse platy seemed to get sick and really very skinny right after she gave birth. She's in [acronym:b504980e2b="quarantine or quart depending on context"]QT[/acronym:b504980e2b] trying to get fattened up right now. She's pretty much deteriorated without getting better. I asked at about ELEVEN pet shops and at least half told me that it's normal for platies to get sick after giving birth, and that there's nothing to do about it. This never happened/happens to any of my other platies. I wonder where these ideas come from?

[AJ]

I don't know if this helps but I have heard that stressed fish (perhaps in a new setup) will actually try to hold their babies in - causing them to die.