decorations or not... that is the question

[Vamptramp3405]

ok sooooo, I am having a huge debate with myself. I have a bunch of mollies and platties and they are producing babies. but I want to keep them and put them in my cycled 10 gallon tank for the babies. BUT if i have all the decorations and plants like i do in my tank I can never find the babies and usually have to take everything out to find the babies but if I dont have all the decorations and only a couple plants I only end up with like 3 babies cause the rest r getting eaten. what do you guys do??? I have breeder boxes but im still learning as to when to put momma in them to drop fry. I want everyones opinion and ways they do this please!

 

[Somethingclever]

Well i put my mom molly in the breeder net when she looks fat enough, if nothing happens for a couple days i put her back in the tank and watch her. I feel it's a safer bet.

 

[rich311k]

When you think the female is close move her to the ten gallon tank. She will have the babies in peace and you do not have to chase fry.

 

[Vamptramp3405]

How do I know when she is ready? I mean I have a platy that is HUGE but has been that way for quite some time and I keep putting her in the breeder tank but she wont have babies. And wont they eat the babies that are already in the 10 gallon?

 

[rich311k]

She might if they are small. You need to be able to rotate fry or just raise a batch at a time. They get square looking at the back end when they are ready to drop.

 

[Somethingclever]

How long can i leave my female in the breeder net while waiting for her to pop

 

[Vamptramp3405]

ok well what I did was put the breeder boxes into the fry tank and put the mommas in that, and as soon as momma pops I can take her out and put her back into the community tank and that way the babies are already acclimated to the water they will be living in. I usually only keep my females in the breeder box over night cause ive never had one give birth during the day, we shall see what happens!

 

[GuppyLover]

A 10 is way to small for mollies FYI.

 

[Vamptramp3405]

It's only for a couple baby mollies, so they don't eaten by the adults. I would never put more than like 2 adults in a ten gallon lol. It's just for babies my adults r in a 55 gallon

 

[GuppyLover]

It's only for a couple baby mollies, so they don't eaten by the adults. I would never put more than like 2 adults in a ten gallon lol. It's just for babies my adults r in a 55 gallon

Still even two mollies is a bit much. They have big bioloads.

 

[Vamptramp3405]

I'm not keeping any adults in the 10 gallon for longer than a couple of hours, I appreciate your guys help but geez I didn't know I was gonna get the third degree. I know lots of people who keep their tanks overstocked but I'm not one of them, I'm just trying to figure out what's best for the momma and babies. I don't wanna kill anything and I want everyone happy