Ok, so now what?

[hsherman1986]

I am a new fish granny. I had 18 fry that i have been trying to figure out what to do with, one of my friends is taking two mollies and two dwarf platies when they get big enough for her tank, but the rest I hadn't decided yet. Well, both of my mickey mouse platies looked ready to drop a few days ago, so into the nets they went. Came home from work tonight to find lots, and i mean lots of fry in the net with them (at least 20, maybe more).

I have two questions: 1) what are the odds that a lfs will take them, and how much should I expect to get for them, if anything, and 2) are all these babies from just one, or did both of them have their babies? I am having a hard time telling if the larger female is still holding hers or not.

any advice would be great, I am still trying to get a feel for this whole breeding thing.

 

[Ky'smommy]

i dont know what lfs you have or not. But i called pet land our main one and they said they would but they are stocked up on them right now but i dont know how much and why..
Look for the black gravity spot.. i dont know what it looks like but thats what i've been told.

 

[hsherman1986]

ok, small update. After checking out the moms, only one had fry. The larger one is still holding. And after doing a head count on the fry, we counted 40 when moving them from the net into the box with the rest of the babies.

if anyone else has any words, please feel free...

 

[studmaster]

Congrats on having fry, they are lots of fun raising. Around here no LFS will buy any of the easier to breed fish. (Mollies, Guppies, platies). You can try small LFS's, and they might give you store credit or cash, but don't expect much. The big fish stores buy them so cheaply in bulk they normally don't buy them off of you. I think the going rate for mollies is like .50-$1. They turn around and sell them for $2-4. Now if you can breed some quality trait into them, they might give you more. I have a male balloon molly with huge beautiful fins, but I can't get him to breed.

 

[Guest]

if it were me, i wouldn't worry about the breeding net at this point, id just let "Survival of the fittest" take over and maybe add some floating plants for cover... otherwise you will be completely overrun!

Also you'd probably be lucky if the LFS would even take them back for free much less pay for them.. lol.

 

[hsherman1986]

well that is why i was asking, i haven't called any at this point to see what i would get. I know the Petco close to my job will take them for free, i have already talked to them about it, but that would be a last resort. I would like to try to get at least a small store credit for the fish to help with purchasing aquarium supplies, but if that won't happen, then I will just take them up to Petco (there tanks are surprisingly in nice shape, so I do not have a problem taking them there)

 

[Guest]

even if they do give you credit, like a lfs around here will give me 1/3 of what they can sell them for... so how much do platies cost??? THey go for 1-2 bucks around here so your loooking at maaaybe 30-70 cents apiece.. but the thing is even stores that will buy back certain fish usually won't buy back livebearers becuase they have so many and they are so cheap like guppies, mollies, and platies.

 

[fish_4_all]

My LFS buys them back at their wholesale prices, about 30% of sale price. It is great except they don't want them until they get about half grown. I will be breeding BN plecos as soon as I get a bigger female or when my baby female grows up. They said they would give $3.50 for the babies at 4 inches.

Until they are big enough to sell, let them scramble for survival. You will quickly be overrun if you try to raise all of them and the babies will grow very slowly making the problem even worse.

 

[Guest]

My LFS buys them back at their wholesale prices, about 30% of sale price. It is great except they don't want them until they get about half grown. I will be breeding BN plecos as soon as I get a bigger female or when my baby female grows up. They said they would give $3.50 for the babies at 4 inches.

Until they are big enough to sell, let them scramble for survival. You will quickly be overrun if you try to raise all of them and the babies will grow very slowly making the problem even worse.

hey if you get a chance send me a pm and let me know how the breeding is going, Id liek to breed my bristlonose as well, i have 3 at the moment. (1m, 2F)