molly fry?

[dee]

i just got my fish about 2weeks ago(never had live bearers before): 2 orange colored molly. 2 small sunburst platty, 6neon tetras. i noticed last thursday that my female molly looked diferent...large belly ...looked like she was gonna burst. kept my eye on her and sometime saturday evening she was skinny again. now i have all these tiny tiny litte bug looking things crawling around on the gravel...they do not look like fish. now common sense tells me that these are fry....but all the postings say that they are about the size of a grain of rice...i even saw the film of a guppy having her fry.....these things dont look anything like what has been decribed.they are now a week old and they literally look like tiny specs still...they have no fins ..no tails...just tiny specs that crawl on the gravel. PLEASE TELL ME THESE ARE FRY AND I DON'T HAVE SOME ALIEN FREAKY BUG BREEDING IN MY TANK!!

 

[MerryCat]

I dont think I've ever heard of such a thing. Hopefully some of the more eexperience people will be able to help. Just off the top of my head, 2 possibilities come to mind- They could either be really premature fry that havent fully developped yet, or mebbe your molly had worms, and these are uhm.. wormlings? I'd suggest taking a few aside and monitoring them for a while, to see what they develop into. Either way , keep us posted. Oh, and post piccies, if you can- I'd like a peek at these alien things.

 

[daydreams_uk]

did you buy some live plants also?
if you did then what it could be is tiny snails.
i bought some live plants and not long after saw tiny snails in my tank.
i believe the eggs stick to the plants.

 

[honeybee0_90]

fry look like tiny tadpoles, do you have catfish or clown loache in your tank if not i reccomend you get one or a couple because they will eat whatever they are in your tank and there good cleaners too

 

[dee]

the other tank mates that i already had are 2 albino cory cats one golden algea eater and a large(about the size of a ping pong ball) black snail. now they assured me that this type of snail would not do that. and i have no live plants. my husband thought that they might be mosquito larve (since we live in florida and one may have gotten into the house) but don't they look like little worms? i dont know i think i'm gonna grab some of the gravel out and take it down to the fish store. i'll let you know what they say! thanks for the help!

 

[bindleybird]

Any news yet?

I am interested to know what they are.

 

[abe]

I don't know if you got to the pet store or not yet, but here is a picture of my fry a few days after birth ( i think ) from a black molly & a yellow one.

 

[MerryCat]

If they are mosquito larvae theys hould start moving around ni a squiggling motion. I''m not sure how else to describe it- they kind of culr their bodies, and then propell thm selves by uncurling, and repeat as neccessary. I hope this helps you in indentificaiton.

 

[dee]

Okay...I just saw the pictures of the molly fry...I can definately say these are not fry. . they are so small that I cant even get them to show up good enough on my camera to get you a good look. Latest news is that I took them to the store where I bought the fish and they have no clue. their best guess is some sort of beetle (obviously a water beetle) layed eggs or other insect layed eggs inside the tank. all of which is possible since we have had windows open and doors open because of our mild winter this past year and kids playing. they said to just let the corys eat them as long as they are not bothering the fish but they are not going for them. Personally I have NEVER seen anything like this before and I have had fish on and off almost my whole life.(I'm 38) Although I have never had live bearers before. this just really kinda freaks me out a little! I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THESE THINGS ARE BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE BREEDING SOME BUG IN MY HOUSE!! I 'm gonna try another pet store in the area and see what they say.
thanks again for all the help!

 

[bindleybird]

Don't forget to keep us posted on what happens.This is fascinating stuff.

 

[dee]

I KILLED 'EM! i think?
two of my neons tails were looking a little raggy and just to be sure that they weren't getting sick I put a fungus clear tablet in there. the next day all of my little alien bugs were gone. but even so, after three weeks they had never gotten any bigger... just more brave...they were everywhere,not just in the gravel but floating around in the tank and crawling on the walls...you could see them eating the little specs of alge that are starting to grow on the walls and attacking the food flakes that made it to the bottom. oh well...at least they didn't morph into some monster beetle and climb out of the tank! now i can just concentrate on the mollies... but i still wonder why my female molly got skinny at the same time the aliens arived??? weird!