YEAH!!! Baby Fishies!!!.. now what?

[HOLLIEO]

Yeah!! finally!! This morning when i went to feed the fishes I noticed that someone had babies during the night.
The thing is I am not sure who they belong to? I had two pregnant fish. One was a Molly and the other was a Guppy.
There were about 12 or more babies swimming around the tank. I don't think they belonged to the guppy, because she is quite small and 12 or more of fish about 1/16" - 1/8" ?!?!? couldn't have come out of her.... well, at least I don't think they could of
I think they might be the mollies babies. She still looks fat though. Well, i guess that isn't saying much because after I birthed my kids I still looked pregnant too LOL
So, what do I do now? Any advice to keep them alive.
I thought that maybe the Zebra Danios were gonna eat them, but I watched them for a while and those little babies are fast and are actually able to out swim them.
The funny thing is, I have a tank divider set up to block off a portion of the tank that I was gonna put mama in to have her babies. I guess she beat me to it. Anyway, the babies were born on the community side of the tank and the funny thing is they were mostly all over on the divided part.
How they got over there??? I have no idea. I think maybe they are small enough to fit through the sides of the divider. The sides that meet up to the glass don't fit real flush, so I am thinking thats how they are able to get back and forth.
Should I bother trying to keep them separate? or just take down the tank divider? Obviously they will soon be to big to swim through the sides. Does anyone know their growth rate?
Gosh!! So many questions!!!!
well, tanks for taking the time to read my novel here... I am just so exited!! I had never seen little baby fishies before

 

[grimlock3000]

if you get some java moss, you will be giving the fry a place to hide and grow without needing to fully seperate them from the rest of the fish. also, this lets natural selection take place as some of the fry will still get eaten, and you do not end up wiht more fish than you want to deal with

 

[HOLLIEO]

Thanks for the advice grimlock3000.
Would fake java moss be fine? I have snails and they destroy any real plant.
Does the java moss float or is it one than gets stuck in the gravel at the bottom of the tank?

 

[SoCal]

Congrats on the babies. What color are they, My Molly was pure black and when she had babies they where also black. My guppies have babies and they are a dull gray color. As for giving them a place to hide I bought a plastic plant called "Fancy Plant", they are really big and when dropped right on the surface of a 20 gal tank takes up most of the top of the tank. It gives the babies tones of hiding places, then when they are big enough you can take the plant out and store it for the next batch. I feed my babies flake food and dried brine shrimp. I grind it up in my fingers as I drop it in the tank.

 

[grimlock3000]

i just got the moss a few days ago after a trip to the pet store so i am not an expert on it or anything. it was very highly reccomended because of the guppies in my tank. i was asking about breeder trap and got the moss instead. i have read up on the moss online and almost everyone has good things to say about the moss for breeding. unfortunately, my pregnant guppy died less than 24 hours after i purchased the moss due to a nitrite spike cause by a full substrate change. my previous "aquarium" substrate was rusting ang getting paint chips in the water so i have to remove it asap

small pieces of the moss can come apart and float around until they get stuck on a plastic plant. i put a few small rocks on the moss in my tank to hold it in place, and located the moss next to some little statues in the tank so they can grow on it. i have one large clump that is about 8 inches x 4 inches, and another clump that is about 3 inches by 3 inches. all of the fish in my tank seem to be interested in the moss, and the gouramis try to eat it

i am not sure how well fake moss would work. i think it would be very hard to duplicate the real stuff and get the same effect.

 

[SoCal]

this is a long link but seems helpful

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ss+&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=G

 

[HOLLIEO]

I am not sure what color the babies are. They look like a tan color with big ol' eyes
The mom is pure white and the dad is black with white speckles.
Where can I purchase real moss? Will my apple snails try to eat it? If so, then maybe it isn't a real good hiding place for the babies??
Thanks for the link socal!

 

[MP5]

Congrats on the babies, my goldust molly, marbled lyre-tail molly, and my red wag swordtails all had babies. My catfish also laid her 12 batch off eggs. 8O

 

[Megalofyia]

How long does it take for guppy fry to grow up?

 

[MP5]

Id say about a month. Maybe.

 

[HOLLIEO]

MP5 congrats to you as well!! Boy are your fish busy!!!
so, will the little babies effect the bio load on tank? I am at my max 1" per fish, per gallon rule. Would it be okay to leave all the babies in there with everyone else?

 

[grimlock3000]

You should not be too worried about the bio load for a while. It would be far worse on the fry to move them into a non established tank than it would be to leave them in the tank you already have. Once they start growing up, what steps you need to take would depend on how many you have that grow up and start creating a lot of waste.

 

[MP5]

Yah, you shouldnt have your fries in with other big fish. You could have them in with similar sized fry. You dont have to worry about the number of fish in there for now, but once the get bigger you should think about switching tanks/selling or whatever you want to do with them.

 

[Solid_Snake]

Leave the baby fish alone, because eventually your gonna have a TON of mollies anyway (because they are livebearers). Trust me, i started out with 5 playtys now i have 25!!!

 

[HOLLIEO]

ha, ha... LOL Solid_snake!!
Yea. I think i am just going to leave them, hopefully they are all still there when I get home!! I just bought some fake plants for the fry to hide in. So, when i get home I will put that in the tank. I looked everywhere for the real moss, but I can not find any. Maybe ebay?!?!?

 

[Solid_Snake]

If u want other good livebearers, try buying some playty's (My Favorite livebearers 8)).

 

[Solid_Snake]

By the way, I dont live in Japan 8O. I live in the USA !!!!

 

[MP5]

But it says location:Japan. :?

 

[HOLLIEO]

I like the platys too. I have two males, but not ready for them to mate just yet. Well, obviously not together!! ha, ha LOL
I have too many fish in my tank right now, so the bio load could not really handle another adult fish. thanks for the suggestion though.
How's Japan??? ha, ha.. Just kidding!

 

[Solid_Snake]

Youre very obsevant MP5