I've got my first fry! Who's their momma?

[trustemedia]

I have fry. I caught about 15 over the course of 2 days after I noticed the first one in the tank. I put them in a baby breeder net I had that hooked to the side of the tank then moved them into a 10 gallon. I have no idea where they came from. I have been trying to identify from photos online with no success as they are all looking the same to me. LOL

I have guppies. I have Mollies (2 Dalmation and one black). I thought my Molly looked fat, but she still looks fat? Not sure. I also had a swordtail acting weird. I had a male moping around the bottom of the tank hiding and trying to buying his face. I was worried about him and rushed down to the tank the next morning to check on him and he was perfectly fine swimming around, but the female was dead - who was the one swimming around the day before looking perfectly fine. I wondered if she gave birth and died as I keep reading all over the net (if you search it) how many people have had this happen with swordtails, so I am at a complete loss with that and who's babies these are.

Can anyone help identify these fry? So far, they are doing good. Here's the best pics I could get of them. Some are darker like a dark gray and some are lighter like a white, cream, or yellow - not sure...

Thank you!

 

[kdklovesfish]

I have platys. I don't know if you know this but they are very similar to swordtails, if fact you can have them interbreed. Your fry look like my fry. And I have had a momma platy die after giving birth. Thank goodness that doesn't seem to be the norm, but it does happen sometimes. At this point your fry are pretty small for me to tell give you a for sure answer, but I would guess they are swordtails. What color was your female sword and is your male? They could be molies based on shape, but their coloring is another reason I think they are swords. Fry get more colorful the as they mature, but I would think that if you have Dalmatian and black molies they wouldn't start clear-ish. I have a rainbow of platy colors and it seems like the fry start a lighter shade of whatever color they end up being.

 

[trustemedia]

Thanks. I would love it if they were swordtails. I wondered if PetCo where I got them even gave me bad fish. I've had such a time with them since I got them. I got 2 Solar Flares (male and female.) and 2 Pineapples (male and female). Like I said above, the male was moping and then the female was dead the next morning and showed no signs of sickness or anything, but then I had fry. She was a beautiful white to orange color, so smooth. The solar flares are gorgeous. The pineapple female then started hanging around the solar flare male and now the pineapple male is moping all over the tank like he got left alone. Swims eats, but acts all weird hiding. This morning, I have been searching my tank for him all over the place and couldn't find him. I just found him dead a few minutes ago? I've had no fish ever die but these swordtails. I read they can die of break hearts, too, if they get left alone. I have no idea. At any rate, it would be wonderful if they were and she was white to orange with black edges on her tail. The male is exactly the same color.

 

[pcdebb]

honestly there's no way to tell until they grow up. all livebearer fry look the same, but as said above, I've heard of platys dying after dropping fry

 

[kdklovesfish]

Thanks. I would love it if they were swordtails. I wondered if PetCo where I got them even gave me bad fish. I've had such a time with them since I got them. I got 2 Solar Flares (male and female.) and 2 Pineapples (male and female). Like I said above, the male was moping and then the female was dead the next morning and showed no signs of sickness or anything, but then I had fry. She was a beautiful white to orange color, so smooth. The solar flares are gorgeous. The pineapple female then started hanging around the solar flare male and now the pineapple male is moping all over the tank like he got left alone. Swims eats, but acts all weird hiding. This morning, I have been searching my tank for him all over the place and couldn't find him. I just found him dead a few minutes ago? I've had no fish ever die but these swordtails. I read they can die of break hearts, too, if they get left alone. I have no idea. At any rate, it would be wonderful if they were and she was white to orange with black edges on her tail. The male is exactly the same color.

I bought a whole batch of guppies from a LFS once and all of them but one died. It could be that you did get a batch with something wrong with them. Or they could be at the end of their life cycle. Who knows how long the breeder had them before getting them to a store, plus who knows how long the store had them before you bought them. This sounds harsh (and keep in mind I LOVE platys) but there is a reason platys, molies, guppies, and swordtails (ie: livebearers) are cheap. Their life cycles aren't as long as other types of fish, and with them being livebearers mating is a constant stressor for them. They are constantly trying to mate, mating, having fry, and so on. Sad but true. Speaking of mating, you NEED to get more female livebearers. The ratio of should be three females per male. This cuts down on the females stress level because it spreads out the male mating aggression. Male livebearers will mate with a pregnant female, so the poor girls will have no chance to take a break if there is only a few of them. Livebearer gestation is around one month... so unless you have had all your livebearers more than a month the daddy could be anyone from the store.

 

[trustemedia]

Thank you for that information. I did read a bit on that after I already purchased some fish... Do you think this is something I need to do right away, or can I just keep some of my fry to set the numbers correctly?

 

[kdklovesfish]

What size of tank do you have and what's your stocking (minus the fry)?

 

[trustemedia]

Stocking

It's a 30 gallon.

I have 3 mollies. 2 Dalmation and 1 Black. I think they are all females.
I have 2 swordtails. 1 Male and 1 Female. Male Solar and Female Pineapple.
I have 4 guppies. 2 Male and 2 Female. They are tiny.
I have 1 Dragon Goby living in a cave on the bottom.

It actually looks pretty bare.


I have the fry in a 10 gallon by themselves.

I attached new fry pics as they are getting so big so fast to see if anyone can help me tell what they are yet.

 

[kdklovesfish]

It's a 30 gallon.

I have 3 mollies. 2 Dalmation and 1 Black. I think they are all females.
I have 2 swordtails. 1 Male and 1 Female. Male Solar and Female Pineapple.
I have 4 guppies. 2 Male and 2 Female. They are tiny.
I have 1 Dragon Goby living in a cave on the bottom.

It actually looks pretty bare.


I have the fry in a 10 gallon by themselves.

I attached new fry pics as they are getting so big so fast to see if anyone can help me tell what they are yet.

I still think they are swordtails! They look just like my platy fry. I haven't researched this, but I bet that the swords develop later on any males. And they look great and are growing great, so you're doing wonderful!! This is what I would suggest:

One adult female sword or platy (they can cross breed so it works for the male aggression) I say one so you have room to add a couple of your favorite female fry once they are big enough. I wouldn't put them back until they are nearly full grown because your male will try to mate with them no matter their size.

If your mollies are all female, your all good on that front.

2 female guppies. In my experience the guppies are the biggest bullies if they don't have enough women.

And I would keep the fry tank up, because your just going to add to it!!

 

[trustemedia]

I read that the males will develop tails when almost fully grown or maybe 1.5 -2 inches. Some won't develop tails if there is another dominant male around to hide their gender? Crazy stuff. I still can't match the exact shape of their fins to any other fry online so still not positive. Hopeful on the swordtails, though, as you say! Thanks for all your help with the male/female ratios. I needed that. Oh, and thanks for the positive words on the fry. They are soo cute.

 

[kdklovesfish]

No problem! When I first started I intentionally bought all female platys because I didn't want to deal with babies. But one of mine was pregnant from the store and I had surprise fry. I loved caring for them and watching them grow so much that now I buy different colors of males and females, separate the colors I want into different tanks and see what fry I get. I just love it. They are such cute lil buggers. I'm such a freak that I'll say to my family "Come see the newborns. They are only two days old!" and my family is like "Wow, they look they same as the last two day old newborns..."

 

[trustemedia]

Well, I added to the fry tank already. I was doing a water change and cleaning and found more fry! Can you believe it? Not the same ones. Different ones. All black. I caught 4 and missed 1 for sure. Don't know how many more are hiding in there. I have no idea where they came from, either! I know they aren't new born as they are not as small as the first fry I caught, but they are much smaller than the fry I have pictured. Maybe 1 week old? Oh, boy!

I couldn't get a clear pic for some reason. I'll try again later.

 

[Dyl1234]

Well, I added to the fry tank already. I was doing a water change and cleaning and found more fry! Can you believe it? Not the same ones. Different ones. All black. I caught 4 and missed 1 for sure. Don't know how many more are hiding in there. I have no idea where they came from, either! I know they aren't new born as they are not as small as the first fry I caught, but they are much smaller than the fry I have pictured. Maybe 1 week old? Oh, boy!

I couldn't get a clear pic for some reason. I'll try again later.

Is it guppy fry??

 

[kdklovesfish]

Didn't you say you have black mollies? I bet that's their momma!

 

[trustemedia]

Black Fry

That was my guess, too! My other fry (at least the gold colored ones) are starting to get some black speckles on them and some black by their tails. They are very metallic as well. They look like pure gold from the top. I managed to get a couple better shots of the new fry, too. They are so dark it is hard to focus on them.

 

[Cr85dirtbik]

They look like guppies to me! I can tell by the elongated bodies. I have a few fry of both platy and molly and neither have the length of those pictured! And the second batch would be the mollies i believe!

 

[kdklovesfish]

What color are your guppies? I think that unless you have golden or black tailed guppies, it's still a really good chance that they are swords based on the coloring of your swords and the "round" shape of the bodies of your fry. They are longer then my platy fry, but swords are longer than platys. I think your new babies are mollies. I've never seen solid black guppies or swords. Aren't fry fun!

 

[trustemedia]

Fry

The guppies:
1 yellow female
1 orange male
1 yellow/blue/red male
1 gray/blue female

Swordtails:
Yellow and Yellow/Orange Male & Female - Pineapples
Orange to Light Orange/White with Black Trim on Tails - Solar Flares

See if I can find pics of the guppies and swordtails...
1st pic - female pineapple swordtail
2nd pic - male and female guppy
3rd pic - black molly & dalmation molly in background, pineapple and solar swordtail, yellow guppy
4th pic - orange male guppy

That's everybody LOL
and yes, fry are SO much fun! I baby talk to them!

 

[trustemedia]

Another swordtail

Forgot male pineapple swordtail

 

[trustemedia]

Sorry for all the posts, but now that I look at these, would it makes sense for them to be swordtails due to the black specs and tails turning black because the black specs/spots and tails are also on the adult swordtails? Even my yellow guppy doesn't have any black spots on her (one pic looked like it, but I just checked her over - she's clean!).