Unhappy with what just happened.

[marlsar83]

Hello everyone. We had three mollies and ended up with three fry. These did very well and grew to a healthy size at 5 weeks old. I asked the local shop (where we bought ours from) about taking in the fish, they said they would. We had 9 new fry in the tank so we took the 5 week old new fish to this shop for rehoming as agreed. We were mortified to see them destroyed as they were put into a tank of non community puffers! My 2 and 4 yr olds were upset. Another staff member came along saying I'm sorry she put them into the wrong tank pointing to an empty one next to it. My problem with that is she said she had put them into a tank further along the row. My question is do shops actually rehome fish or do they just destroy them hence making out it was a mistake but actually it wasn't? I'm upset about it now and very against taking anymore there. The manager is back in on Tuesday and I'm going to complain.

Any advice from any . of what they did with surplus molly would be appreciated. They caused our problem in the first place as I asked for three female mollies as I did not want babies and they gave me a pregnant one from a tank titled "female mollies". I spent money at the store buying first bites food for them, growing them healthy and strong and they ended up like that. So the shop got my money to buy the fish, they got my money to feed the babies from their fish and at the end of the day they killed them ��

 

[Delapool]

Hi welcome, I know shops here will rehome but not sure on mollies.

 

[Autumnsky]

The shops resell the babies usually to new homes. I can't believe the employee was so untrained or ignorant to not know about basic fish compatibility.

That is an emotionally unsettling event.

Kids are really rescillient and will be fine. Just say (in a nice kid way of course) they made an error and that is an example of why baby fish can't be in a tank with just any kind of other fish and why learning more about how to keep and take care of fish (and other animals) you care for is so important. Make it a teachable moment.

As for females from a lfs housed in M/F combo tank, they are all probably pregnant -as you found with 2 batches of fry already. Raising baby fish is a fun thing for yourself and kids to do. Perhaps you might have friends who whould like to start keeping fish and would like some. Or other friends or friends of friends who would like some lovingly cared for young fish.

Just check out that the people receiving them know about their care. The what fits in the mouth of a fish might be eaten rule and compatibility and know about Aquarium Advice if they are newer to fish keeping, or might just have questions.

There are cheap feeder fish in most every lfs and it is unlikely they would purposefully put the Mollies into a tank as food fish. Feeder fish .15 - Molly $1-2+


That is heart wrenching & disturbing to see happen for you and the kiddos. Give the kids a hug and the little talk about learning about caring for the little guys and (talk to the owner about the employees lack of knowledge) and go on to raising the next batch! There are a lot of things to learn about in fish keeping - speaking to the person who put them into the wrong tank, maybe was new and uneducated.

 

[Andy Sager]

Also, in the future, if you want a guarantee that you will not have baby fish, you need to keep males only not females. All livebearers can be "pregnant" for a long time so just because they are in a tank of "all females" does not mean they were never in a tank with males. Males will not have this problem.

As for what happened, I'd talk to the manager before making a judgement. Today's pet shops don't always hire the most experienced people and so this one may very well have put your fish in the wrong tank. I'd then ask the manager who is the most educated of their staff and only deal with that person(s) to help avoid a repeat of this situation.

 

[Autumnsky]

Good point about the males only.

 

[Delapool]

For the OP: how is the rest of your fish doing? Getting any more fry?