Accidental breeding...

[Jharvey]

Hi folks - I've only had a tank for 3 months (10-gallon: 2 mollies, 3 danios). It turns out that one of the two mollies (that the fish store said were both male) is female. I had suspicions for a while (when I looked up how to tell them apart) but now the one with more female-looking fins has an enlarged belly and a gravid spot.

So... obviously I don't have room to keep the babies. My family is not into getting another tank. And my young daughters are pretty upset at the prospect of the parents eating the babies.

I'm looking for any and all advice, here. I'll obviously have to get rid of one of the adults so we don't have this problem indefinitely - but how do I find a new home for one and any of the babies that survive?

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[Cecibella123]

Mollies are hard to get rid of unless you give them away. I feed fry to my oscars, but you don't wanna traumatize your daughters. If you put an ad on craigslist after their born, my experience is that if it's free, it won't take long to get rid of them. BTW: I've never had my adult mollies eat any of their own fry, as long as the fry has adequate hiding places among plants, etc.

 

[Jharvey]

Thanks. I haven't researched breeding at all so it's good to know that they can survive if I give them good hiding spots. I have 5 plants, but none of them are floating - do I need a special kind of plant for the fry to hide in. And do I need special food once they're born?

 

[Cecibella123]

Any bushy plant will work for hiding. Depending upon the species, I normally feed specialized fry foods, but for my mollies, I just crush up flake very fine, and overfeed so that quite a few granules sink so the fry can grab them on the way down. When I have fry, I also double the frequency of my water changes and gravel vacuuming to get rid of the excess food.

 

[Jharvey]

Thanks!

 

[Jharvey]

Do these plants seem bushy enough?

 

[Jharvey]

Oops... here's the photo

 

[Jharvey]

Shoot - I had one more question: Is there any way to estimate where she is in the gestation period? My pair has been in my tank for 3 months but I just noticed the female's belly growing recently and the gravid spots this morning.

 

[Cecibella123]

I'm certainly no expert on breeding. I just let nature take its course in my molly tank. From what tiny bit I think I know, normal gestation is about 28 days, but the females can also store sperm, and thus, have babies for a much longer time period. Sometimes, they'll have 1 baby per day for several days. Usually though, when I see the gravid spot, it takes from about 3-5 days before I see fry. When it looks as though their bellies can't get any larger without exploding, it still takes another day or 2. Not much help, sorry.
I think a couple of your plants are bushy enough. You may want to add a floating plant. My fry seem to stay at the top of the tank for the first couple days, then migrate to the bottom til they're about 3/4", when they're in all areas of the tank.

 

[guppygourami]

Update on the fry?


<g.m.t.a>

 

[Jharvey]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner - I had tech issues and then forgot.

I don't know if my molly never dropped any fry or if none ever survived long enough for me to see them (seems unlikely but maybe?) or what but... no babies. Oh well. I had been getting excited about it but I guess it's for the best since I'm not really set up for babies.

 

[platylover26]

Most LFS's will take unwanted livebearer fry. Sometimes they will give you money or store credit in exchange, but some won't. It is best to call first and ask if they have open space. Then, you can explain to your daughters that the babies will go to a good home somewhere else. Good Luck!