All my Mollie Fry were eaten :(

[wer34]

the other morning i woke up and noticed that my pregnant black mollie had her babies, at the time i didnt have my big tank set up yet, it was still cycling, and sicne there looked to be a good number of fry i decided to just leave the mother and father in the tank with the fry because they all looked to have good enough hiding spots. so now yesterday comes around and i wake up and check my tank and it still looked like all the fry were in there except maybe a couple so i thought nothing of it because my other tank would be done cycling today adn i could transfer mom and dad into that tank. so now this morning comes and all f a sudden there r no more fry in the tank so now i am dissappointed, i think it was the dad that ate all my little guys, but im ot sure, so if ne 1 has ne comments on what i should do next time, they would be greatly appreciated since im still fairly new to keeping and breeding fish.

 

[snowyangel]

I'm so sorry you lost all your fry, parents and various fish love to eat fry. Next time try adding dense plants floating at the top of the tank (live moss if perfect for the fry to run to) b/c most livebearers dwell at the top so your fry will eventualy go there. For the bottom of the tank I've heard the idea of adding river stones or marbles b/c they create perfect little gaps inbetween for the fry to hide in.
Next time you see a fry though, scoop it out immediately(turkey basters work great for this). I'm surprised you had any survive after a whole day. Count yourself lucky and they will have babies again in about another 28 days.

 

[Wisperian]

*shakes head* cannabals...lol they'res ALWAYS ALWAYS a next time! trust me...they'res gonna be sooooooooooo much fry ya wanna flush some down the toilet

 

[Sasha]

I'm sorry to hear that. I sometimes find one or two fry who were born in the main tank without my notice. A few months ago, my beautiful black molly was pregnant and she delivered her fry during the night. The next morning, I only found one tiny baby hiding under a decoration. I searched the whole tank and found no more survivors.

Even if the mother is in a breeder net, the fry aren't safe. My female guppy Flora was very pregnant when I bought her, so when she started acting different I moved her into a breeder net for the night and stuffed it was lots of plants! The next morning, I only found 5 fry remaining. I know she had more, like thrity or so because she was large. Before I could scoop out the survivors, Flora devoured one right before my eyes! The remaining four were saved!

 

[jvis0606]

Yeah happens to everyone. I came home one night and just out of luck noticed a fry swimming around, a black molly. So I got it out and put it in another smaller tank using current aquarium water and an airstone. I found another and another, and the next day one straggler, all in all 7. I am sure more were born, but those were the ones that survived. Eventually I bought a breeder net to add to the tank.

 

[wer34]

yeah, at the time i only had 1 tank set up so i had no where else to put my babies so i had to leave them in there, no i have 2 tanks going and i have my 1 pregnant mollie in the small 1 with my pleco, and im pretty sure shes goint o be joined by my other female pretty soon as today i actually watched my male mollie breed, or atleast try breeding with her so ill have mollie fry galore in a few weeks cant wait!!!

 

[GuppyDude]

there will b more

 

[big_fresh]

Yup.....as everyone else says, there will be more. I know coz i don;t have a spare tank yet so all my platies and guppies have their fry in my tanks and get snapped up really quickly.

I suppose it's good so that my population is controlled. but then again, it's kind of cruel the parents eat their kiddies

 

[plysha]

I had a breeder net in my main tank ....
then I got a tank divider lol well I had to go get another 10 g tank ..... but I keep the tiny ones in the breeder net for a week and then I let them out in the main Baby Tank lol with the rest of my babies .... sorry to hear about your babies...... You are lucky for keeping them in the main tank that long.... I left one in the main tank to see if it would live, I waited two days and took it out I couldn't sleep knowing that little guy could be eaten anytime .....
made me really sick to watch the mother eat a live baby that was trying to get out of her mouth ...... ok so it was my first time seeing that i'm over it kinda now...
I let my females go at it when I find a died baby....

There will be more babies sooner then you think
Erin

 

[wer34]

funny thing is that the mollie that just gave birth got really skinny and like now (45 days later) shes getting fatter agian so im wondering if she jsut had a small batch and is goign to drop another small 1 soon again, if ne1 knows if thats possible please let me know. thanks

Nick