Frustrating Mollies

[daydreamer4186]

I have been breeding my mollies for quite a while now. I have heard many place that they gobble up their fry really fast...I believe it. I recently had two pregnant mollies and they were both ready to drop. I know many people don't like to do this, but I separate mine a week or two before they drop. The two were in separate tank from each other as well as from the main tank. They dropped sometime last night. Well one of the mollies is famous for eating her fry...I've maybe gotten 3 from her in the past. Sure enough....all she left me was one dead fry. The second one doesn't really eat her fry (thank god!) but she has a problem with still born. Sure enough...today there were about 7-8 fry....only three were alive but two don't appear to be doing well. So after all of that...I will most likely only end up with one little healthy fry...he/she will be very well taken care of! I do have other molly fry that are currently living happily with my many guppy fry...let's hope they are very fertile later on!

 

[dskidmore]

Have you tried a breeder box? There is a V-shaped channel that the babies instinctively swim down, and they are then safely in a seperate chamber from thier mother. This is uncomfortable for the mother though, you may see an increase in stillborn/early babies. Other altenatives include huge substrate, like marbles, the the babies can hide in, or a screen parallel to the bottom that the babies can swim through.

 

[daydreamer4186]

Sigh...All of the 3 fry died last night. They were premature so I didn't think they would live long (although I had premature guppy fry that ended up doing well in the past). I guess that's how nature works. Now I will just have to wait until the next drop and hope some survive. For now I'll stick with the 5 molly fry and 50+ guppy fry I have haha. On a lighter note...I just moved 4 of my guppy fry (little less than an inch long...not really fry anymore) to the big tank and they love it! I'll post pics later...3 double sword tails...I think...and one with a very spotted tail!