2 Questions For You

[paudie22]

hey all i do be away most weekends wit my mum checking on my tropical fish at weekends. ok well iv had a pregnant molly for past few weeks and iv eagerly been waiting her to give birth but to my horror i came home 2day to find her skinny and not a baby in sight is there any chance any babies survived iv sum plastice plants 2 of wich would be goood hiding spaces abut iv got other mollies guppies swordtails and zebra danios in with them.

other question is anyone ever had a golden pleco iv never saw one before so i had to get them there weird looking

 

[rabbut]

hey all i do be away most weekends wit my mum checking on my tropical fish at weekends. ok well iv had a pregnant molly for past few weeks and iv eagerly been waiting her to give birth but to my horror i came home 2day to find her skinny and not a baby in sight is there any chance any babies survived iv sum plastice plants 2 of wich would be goood hiding spaces abut iv got other mollies guppies swordtails and zebra danios in with them.

other question is anyone ever had a golden pleco iv never saw one before so i had to get them there weird looking

Hi there.

The chances are that some or all of the molly fry were eaten by your other fish. It is possible that some surived, and if you spot any, it may be a good idea to move them to a breeding net to save them from the other fish.

I have heard of golden plecs before. There are many different types, but the most common to appear in the pet trade, is also known as the albeno common pleco, which is capable of reaching 12inches in length. They idealy want a 4X2X2 foot tank to live in, though larger would be prefurable, 8X3X3 being ideal.

To confirm that it is an albeno common, I would need to see a photo, as there are other less common species that it could be

HTH
rabbut

 

[paudie22]

ok iv found 3 tiny babies rite beside each other all dead would this be all she had?? its her first lot of babies and she not that big compared to my new massive female

 

[rabbut]

ok iv found 3 tiny babies rite beside each other all dead would this be all she had?? its her first lot of babies and she not that big compared to my new massive female

Molly brith number vary greatly. You can expect anywhere between 4 and 40 fry in one go, though 30 would be about adverage in my experience. It may be that she has had a poor run this pregnancy round, and her brood consisted of a lot of still-born fry, however, things should improve for next time.
Good luck with ur breeding project

Rabbut

 

[paudie22]

thanks mate anything i can do different to help her

 

[rabbut]

thanks mate anything i can do different to help her

You could try moving her into a breeding unit once you know she is heavily pregnant, that way the babies are kept seporate from mum and the other fish untill they are at a reasonalbe size. The experience of the breeding unit will probibly be quite stressful for her though, so another option is to move her to her own tank, plant heavily to protect the young, and remove her once she has given birth. Almost all fish are canibles toward small-enough fish, so steps should be taken to prevent them from being able to eat fry, if you whish to raise a reasonable number to adulthood.

HTH
rabbut

 

[paudie22]

i have a breeding net but tink if i put a pregnant fish in there she wud be able eat them in there. have some plants in my tank tat wud be good fr hiding but dont have a second tank only hav a goldfish bowl and no heater or filter for it