A First Time "baby Fish Owner"'s Questions

[LadyHitokiri]

Note: PICTURES ARE ATTACHED, BUT THEY AREN'T THE BEST !

So, my friend's mom had a community tank with algae eaters, mollies, platys, guppies, etc. She decided to give away her fish and get rid of everything. As they were cleaning the tank out, they found babies! My friend knew that I already had betta (one male and one female) so she gave me 9 fry that she thinks were the result of her female sunset platy and her male molly. She gave them to me in a tupperware container and I've kept them there (I HAVE NOT PUT THEM IN WITH MY BETTA). From what she told me, they should be at least 5 weeks old (all 9 are still alive). I need some advice on how to take care of them and answer the following questions: thanks!

1.) When they get older, is there anywhere I can go to tell exactly what hybrid they are?

2.) My friend will give me her old 10 gallon tank after she gets it from her mom. How many of these fish should I have in there when they grow up, assuming platy/molly adult size?

3.) Is it okay to keep all males or all females/ what is the preferred set-up of sex relationships?

4.) How often should I clean their container/ move them to the larger tank? Water temp has been between 75-80 degrees

5.) How big should they be at their age?/ when do they become mature?

6.) I'm feeding them baby bites fish food, and they've been on it for over a week- how long should I keep them on it?


THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

 

[nosoup4you]

First of all, Platies and Mollies cannot interbreed. However, Mollies and Guppies can (but it's unusual). I wouldn't put more than 3-4 adult Mollies/Platies in a 10 gallon (and the ten gallon MUST be well established to even support that many). The accepted male to female ratio is typically 2 females to every male (I prefer more), I wouldn't do more than 1 male. Without any filtration/aeration running in your container, you are going to need to do partial water changes (10%) nearly every day to keep the ammonia/ nitrites down. I would recommend getting a small sponge filter/air pump if one can possibly fit into your container (it's difficult to determine the size of your container from the pics). You might want to find something bigger (cooler/ clean 5 gal. bucket). You stated that your friend's mom said that these are 5 weeks old, exactly how big are they? From the pics, they don't look like they are more than 1 week old. I'm not familiar with the "Baby Bites" food but it is most likely the same as regular fish food only smaller. You can feed this until you feel that they are able to tackle regular food.

 

[5teady_2012]

So, my friend's mom had a community tank with algae eaters, mollies, platys, guppies, etc. She decided to give away her fish and get rid of everything. As they were cleaning the tank out, they found babies! My friend knew that I already had betta (one male and one female) so she gave me 9 fry that she thinks were the result of her female sunset platy and her male molly. She gave them to me in a tupperware container and I've kept them there (I HAVE NOT PUT THEM IN WITH MY BETTA). From what she told me, they should be at least 5 weeks old (all 9 are still alive). I need some advice on how to take care of them and answer the following questions: thanks!

1.) When they get older, is there anywhere I can go to tell exactly what hybrid they are?


2.) My friend will give me her old 10 gallon tank after she gets it from her mom. How many of these fish should I have in there when they grow up, assuming platy/molly adult size?


3.) Is it okay to keep all males or all females/ what is the preferred set-up of sex relationships?



4.) How often should I clean their container/ move them to the larger tank? Water temp has been between 75-80 degrees


5.) How big should they be at their age?/ when do they become mature?


6.) I'm feeding them baby bites fish food, and they've been on it for over a week- how long should I keep them on it?



THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

1.) When they get older, is there anywhere I can go to tell exactly what hybrid they are?

Mollies dont breed with platys.

2.) My friend will give me her old 10 gallon tank after she gets it from her mom. How many of these fish should I have in there when they grow up, assuming platy/molly adult size?

In a established 10 gallon tank, you could have 10 with a good filter in it and weekly water changes of 30%.

3.) Is it okay to keep all males or all females/ what is the preferred set-up of sex relationships?

In a 10g, you should put 7 females and 3 males

4.) How often should I clean their container/ move them to the larger tank? Water temp has been between 75-80 degrees

20-28 degrees is fine for them, if you keep the fry in the container, change 50% of thier water everyday

5.) How big should they be at their age?/ when do they become mature?

Well fed n the correct foods at 9 week they should be about (----------) big at least.

6.) I'm feeding them baby bites fish food, and they've been on it for over a week- how long should I keep them on it?

just feed them crushed flake, crushed pellets, cryshed protien foods, and anything else that is small enough to fit in thier mouths

 

[LadyHitokiri]

Thanks for your help! I will follow your advice and keep you updated.

They do look like only one week old. My friend wasn't really feeding them anything so they are underdeveloped and I'm trying to get them to where they should be, but I just wasn't sure exactly what size (But the 9-week size mark from 5steady will be a good indicator). The tupperware container is about 1500mL.

 

[OldMan47]

1.5 litres is probably getting to be too small even with the fish as small as they are. You need to get them into a larger container as soon as you can. Any clean container that is waterproof and inert will work. That includes mixing bowls, pots, storage containers and the like. You want a container right now that is at least 4 litres and a larger container would be even better. The 5 gallon bucket suggestion was a good one if you have one that has never been used with any kind of cleaning products.

 

[LadyHitokiri]

Thanks! I'll move them to a bigger "tank" so to speak.

 

[LadyHitokiri]

So now, apparently my friend is saying that the parents were a sunset (tuxedo maybe) platy as the mother, and the daddy was a blue platy. So, I'm glad that mystery is solved!



Also, my friend surprised me with a 2.5 gallon fishbowl. It's not as big as you mentioned I should contain them in, but it'll do for now. All 9 babes are doing great. There's a couple runts and a couple biggies, with the rest in between. Should I separate the runts to make sure they get food and that the big ones don't end up eating them