11 new mollies

[Scottw68TN]

I put my bloated black molly in the breeder last night and what do you know babies this morning. Removed mother and plastic grate. Can't believe I timed that out so well. First brood of mollies I've had. Had platys and tads but these guys are new to me. Biggest fry i've ever seen. not like the little specs with eyes I was expecting these guys look like platy after 2 weeks! Oh well guess i'l hook them up a little airstone tonight. the trap has a plastic open grid and the tank is in the magnum 350 flow (far side) but I still don't trust the flow on those things.

 

[Terry]

Congratulations on the birth of your new Molly babies.
Are you going to keep them in the trap or are you moving them.

 

[Scottw68TN]

I've got a 5 1/2 qt they will be moved too. I just need to fix it up some. Its been a snail breeder for awhile the water quality seems fine but I was going to upgrade to a 10 so I can maintain a more stable environment. Sand sub corner filter might put on a penguin mini with sponge prefilter I keep colonized on my Oscar tank. The oscar won't mind. She will probably have more in the larger tank but 11 will be quite enough this time round. Some of the fry are black some are a pale color (the mother has a little dalmation in her) whats the chance the pale ones will be full on dalmations?
(Looking at Terry since hes always around during the day)

 

[Terry]

There is a good chance, your babies will be a mixture of both parents or they might just take on one of the parents.
The other thing about fish is they can also be an ancesters colouration as well. It is good to move the babies into a tank of there own as it cuts down on stress. The other good thing about molly babies is there size, they are born quite big so with a little bit of feeding it wont be long before they can join the rest of your fish.

 

[Scottw68TN]

The 10 will be up and running saturday hopefully pre-cycled by using the sand from the 5 1/2 and the filter from the healthy oscar tank . I hope they are dalmations. Thanks for the response Terry. My new problem will be getting a few of them homes my tank already has:
75 gal
2 Plecs 8"
4 Zebra Danios 6"
4 BS Tetras 5"
8 Tiger Barbs 12"
1 Male Swordtail 2"
1 Male Red Wag
/ Swordtail 2"
6 Fem. Wags 6"
6 Lemon redeye 6"
3 Yo-Yo loachs 5"
1 Dojo loach 4"
1 Sm. Albino Frog 1"
1 Fem fiddler 1"
3 Black Mollies 6"
2 Blue Rams 4"
Thats 68" now however I am over filtered (which I like) which could easily handle the 11 new guys. Down side would be more fry will come and the stress for the fish who don't like the crowd. So far they are able to have there own little areas since the fish are a good mix of top middle and bottom fish. I think my LFS will give me credit on these guys 50%.

 

[Terry]

If you can get your little guys to a reasonable size you should have no trouble getting rid.

Your 75gal has a lovely selection of fish in it.

 

[Scottw68TN]

Thank you. They work very well together. Sometimes they just form large mixed schools and run around together. Usually around feeding time. They think one group is on to something and the other group has to get in on it. And not one fight between breeds. The tigers on the other hand set up dominance once in awhile. You can tell when one decides he wants to move up in rank they all go crazy for a day or so.

 

[Terry]

I know what you are saying about the Tiger barbs. They do have a bad rep, but like you have done, if you give them a big enough group and loads of room they are an amazing fish.
I am a cichlid person myself, basically if it is a cichlid i like it.

 

[myriam]

Fry

Congratulations on your Molly fry, Scott! That is so cool. They are big fry, aren't they? I've only had guppies before, years ago, and was so used to those tiny specks that the Molly fry were a surprise. I had some last week--total surprise since my tank is so new--but unfortunately I didn't get to them fast enough and they have all been eaten. Weird, because I have only Mollies, Platies and 2 Cories in my 20G. They all seemed well-hidden enough in the plants, gravel and cave, but I guess not well enough :-(

Anyhow, I found this URL with cool info on Mollies, which you may or may not have seen already: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=1101

Keep us updated on your fries...I need more first-hand info on them!

 

[Scottw68TN]

Qt tank didn't work as planned the sand went bad in about a week so I had to through it out, smelled horrible! I think the new larger qt is doing a mini cycle due to the loss of some good bac in the sand. I did however get to use a colonized bio wheel. So it has 1 platy and 2 apple snails in it. Anyone know if apple snails are sufficent to keep the tank colonized when fish aren't in it?

 

[kellie_claydon]

hi, i need help. ive had tropical fish for 2 yrs now and a couple of days ago my mum and dad bought me 2 tiger barbs and 2 dalmation mollies (one black and 1 white) and now 1 of my tiger barbs keep going behind da pump and getting stuck and hurt also he is swimming around head downwards. Whats da matter wid ? help me plz

 

[TankGirl]

kellie-claydon, welcome to Aquarium Advice! It would be a good idea to post this question as a new thread, since this thread is about molly babies

When you post the new thread, include what size the tank is and what kind of filtration you are running, and other tankmates, if there are any other than the mollies. Tiger barbs often hover in a "headstanding" position when water conditions are less than ideal, especially in the presence of high nitrItes, so it may be that increased water changes are in order. Mine also sleep like this when the lights go out, so it may not be anything to worry about. You may not be able to do anything about him getting behind the pump, other than take a filter sponge and wedge it back there to block the space. Good luck!

 

[kellie_claydon]

thankyou for the advice. i dunno wot filtaration i am running :? but i only hav a sucker fish in there and he just sits in his nest of stones all day. my mum has put sponge in now so i will just wait and c. thanks again!!