Apparently I brought home a pregnant Molly

[avatar0810]

i was watching my fish earlier and saw a little thing darting around inside the barrels in my tank. I realized it was a Molly fry after I saw it again. There seems to just be one. Is it possible that my Molly hasn't had all of her babies yet or is it more likely that she ate the rest of them? She is the only Molly I have.

I don't have anywhere to move this little fry to so it is going to have to stay in the tank it is in now. I couldn't catch it even if I did have anywhere to put it because it's hiding. Is there anything I need to do for it? Particular foods or anything? Any specific or general information would be great.

 

[avatar0810]

If it helps anything here are a couple pictures of her. Sorry about the one that uploaded twice, not sure why that happened.

 

[Demeter32]

It is definitely possible that the molly didn't drop all her fry. Sometimes it take a couple days for them to have them all. But it is also possible that they got eaten or sucked up the filter.
If there's any other fish in the tank, it is likely it might get eaten, but with a lot of cover like floating plants (fake or real) it and some of it's siblings might make it. As far as food goes, it should be just fine eating normal flakes that are crushed up really well. You can also boil an egg and feed tiny bits of the yoke to it, but I find micro worms to be one of the favorites for little fry. You can buy a starter culture online for a pretty low price. I've had my culture going for probably 3 years now, all from the 4$ starter culture

 

[fluttermoth]

She probably has had all her fry.

If you want some fry to survive (she will have more in a month's time, even if you have no males, as livebearers can store sperm), you need to add plenty of hiding places; fine leaved live plants are best.

The fry don't need any special care; just hiding places and good water.

 

[NickAu]

I notice you also have Tetras in the tank,
Mollies need hard water and tetras need soft water, How big is your tank? What are your water parameters?

 

[avatar0810]

She probably has had all her fry.

If you want some fry to survive (she will have more in a month's time, even if you have no males, as livebearers can store sperm), you need to add plenty of hiding places; fine leaved live plants are best.

The fry don't need any special care; just hiding places and good water.

Can you suggest any plants? I'm still relatively new to this and plants would be completely new to me. I had plastic ones on one of my first decorations and they got completely nasty.

 

[fluttermoth]

Have a look at cabomba, elodea, myriophyllum, ceratophyllum (hornwort) or Indian fern/water wisteria.

Those are the kinds of plant you want; exactly which one doesn't matter at all. See what you can find in your local shops

 

[avatar0810]

Looks like they carry most of them but they carry them seasonally so I'll have to see if they have them when I get a chance to go. It's about a 30 minute drive and I'm hoping to get some more fish the next time I go. It might be a bit cause I've got a neon tetra quarantined at the moment, possibly for neon tetra disease. I'm hoping that's not what it is but he hasn't really been improving much. Just kinda waiting to see what happens with him.