Balloon Molly Fry

[Strega]

Hi there,

I am new to this site and new to keeping fish. So please excuse me if I have posted on the wrong forum or haven't given enough info.

We purchased 2 balloon mollys, one male and one female. The female was already pregnant when we got her and about 3 weeks ago she dropped her fry. We have the fry in a breeder trap and are wondering when we can release the fry into the main tank. There are 9 fry in the breeder trap.
Our tank is a Fluval Roma 240.

Unfortunately we have lost both the male and female adult molly's.

In the tank we have one largish angel fish, a red finned shark, 2 kissing gourami's, one dwarf gourami, 2 powder blue gourami's, a male and female siamese fighting fish, 10 jumbo neon tetras and a catfish.

I am worried that if I release the fry into the main tank, my angel fish will eat them. Should I release them now, if not the how long should I wait.

Thanks for any advice, it is much appreciated.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Hi there,

I am new to this site and new to keeping fish. So please excuse me if I have posted on the wrong forum or haven't given enough info.

We purchased 2 balloon mollys, one male and one female. The female was already pregnant when we got her and about 3 weeks ago she dropped her fry. We have the fry in a breeder trap and are wondering when we can release the fry into the main tank. There are 9 fry in the breeder trap.
Our tank is a Fluval Roma 240.

Unfortunately we have lost both the male and female adult molly's.

In the tank we have one largish angel fish, a red finned shark, 2 kissing gourami's, one dwarf gourami, 2 powder blue gourami's, a male and female siamese fighting fish, 10 jumbo neon tetras and a catfish.

I am worried that if I release the fry into the main tank, my angel fish will eat them. Should I release them now, if not the how long should I wait.

Thanks for any advice, it is much appreciated.

wow..ummm I hope you have an ENORMOUS tank....and based on the tankmates I'd suggest you not release those molly fry...until they are adultsized...they'll get eaten. REALLY hope you have an ENORMOUS tank LOL. A shark and TWO bettas in the same tank? ::::shudder::::

 

[Strega]

wow..ummm I hope you have an ENORMOUS tank....and based on the tankmates I'd suggest you not release those molly fry...until they are adultsized...they'll get eaten. REALLY hope you have an ENORMOUS tank LOL. A shark and TWO bettas in the same tank? ::::shudder::::

Umm, have we done something wrong?

Our tank is 240 litres. The fish all seem to be ok with each other. If we have done something wrong, then I would really appreciate some advice.

Do I need to get rid of some fish? I really hope not.

How long does it take for the fry to get to adult size?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have never dealt with fry before.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

wow..ummm I hope you have an ENORMOUS tank....and based on the tankmates I'd suggest you not release those molly fry...until they are adultsized...they'll get eaten. REALLY hope you have an ENORMOUS tank LOL. A shark and TWO bettas in the same tank? ::::shudder::::

Umm, have we done something wrong?

Our tank is 240 litres. The fish all seem to be ok with each other. If we have done something wrong, then I would really appreciate some advice.

Do I need to get rid of some fish? I really hope not.

How long does it take for the fry to get to adult size?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have never dealt with fry before.

Im a newbie so keep that in mind!

According to the calculator, 240 liters is only a 63 gallon tank (I might be wrong, but I did use the calculator lol) ....

1 red tailed shark=6 inches adult size (6 inches of fish)
2 kissing gouramis= 6-12 inches each (12-24 inches of fish)
2 powder blue gouramis=2 inches each (4 inches of fish)
1 dwarf gourami= 2 inches of fish (2 inches of fish)
10 Jumbo neon tetras = 2 inches each (20 inches of fish)
2 Bettas=roughly 2 inches each (4 inches of fish)
1 catfish=depends on type..do you know the kind?
1 angel fish= roughly 6 inches

Not adding in the catfish because I dont know the kind...you'll have roughly 66 inches of fish (+catfish). The loose rule is an inch of fish per gallon so its not like your grossly overstocked (unless that catfish is going to get HUGE..and it COULD depending on kind)....but I really dont think you have room for those mollie babies...mollies get like 4 inches each.

But looking at your stocking it just seemed to me that you might have overcrowded the fish because of their kinds. Bettas are aggressive (I dont think your supposed to keep them together like that) plus a shark in the tank...with tetras that are pretty small. Not to mention the angelfish ....and those gouramis are gonna get enormous...I dunno....hopefully someone who knows better will speak up? Remember that I AM a newbie to fish keeping...and I didnt mean offense..I just think someone should take a look at your stocking to make sure I am wrong okay?

 

[lilfishie]

First off welcome to the forum

Right do you have any ideas why the 2 mollies died?

How long have you had the tank?

Also it is best that male and female fighters (or bettas as they are also known) are not kept together or with nippy fish like the angels and gourami you have.

I am no expert on gourami but i think the Kissing Gourami if i remember rightly get pretty big.

 

[Davo86]

hi there, You don't really appear to be overstocked however you do seem to have one or two rather unsuitable tankmates,

Firstly Angels and Neons are a natural predator/prey relationship in the wild and whilst it may be working atm, if at any point the angelfish becomes hungry then the neons will be gone.

Also male and female siamese fighting fish should never be kept alone, This always ends up with the one killing the other, it is simply a matter of time.

Also Angels can sometimes shred the fins of bettas (siamese fighters) so again not the best to mix these two,

Now onto your original Question, you really need to keep the fry in the net until they are 3/4 of the way fully grown, or simply until they are bigger than the mouths of the angelfish and the kissing gouramis.

Just a query, why did you lose the adult mollys? is it a new tank at all?

 

[greenscooby]

The inch per gallon guide is for new tanks, after about 6 months you can work by 1.5 - 2 inch per gallon guide.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

The inch per gallon guide is for new tanks, after about 6 months you can work by 1.5 - 2 inch per gallon guide.

yeah I mentioned it was a loose rule. I didnt necessarily think they were overstocked, more like have unsuitable tank mates in together PLUS not having a large enough tank to allow it reasonably KWIM? now if we were talking about 100 gallon tank or something I wouldnt have thought much of it, because they'd have room to stay away from each other...but 70+ inches of unsuitable fish in not enough room just struck me as needing advice.

 

[Strega]

Lioness, no offense was taken. I truely appreciate any advice I get seeing as I am new to this. I think the catfish is a Spotted Sailfin Sucker Catfish, however that is only according to a book I have as the catfish was given to us along with the angel, 3 sharks (we got rid of 2) and one of the powder blue gourami's in a tank that was way too small for them.

This is the third tank we have gotten. (My other half decided that he wanted a bigger tank and bought it without telling me)

The Balloon mollys got ich in the second tank that we had and we just couldn't get rid of it. We tried and tried but it just kept coming back. The female died the day after she dropped the fry. the male died the following day. It was only the mollys that were affected by ich.

We left this tank we have now standing to 2 weeks before we moved the fish into it as we were told to do this by our Local Fish Shop.

So I guess it would be best for us to take back the siamese fighting fish as I would hate for them to get nipped by others.

 

[lilfishie]

i find ich to be a pain with mollies

right leaving the tank to 'stand' for 2 weeks would of done nothing for the bacteria

since you have fish in the tank already have a read through this Fish In Cycle

this is your 3rd tank right? so you could take a resonable amount of filter media out of the other 2 (lets say a third) and pop it into the new one, this will really help the cycle as it contains the good bacteria needed

Yeah sadly the fighters will have to go out of this tank, what size and tankmates do yu have in the other 2 tanks?

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Lioness, no offense was taken. I truely appreciate any advice I get seeing as I am new to this. I think the catfish is a Spotted Sailfin Sucker Catfish, however that is only according to a book I have as the catfish was given to us along with the angel, 3 sharks (we got rid of 2) and one of the powder blue gourami's in a tank that was way too small for them.

This is the third tank we have gotten. (My other half decided that he wanted a bigger tank and bought it without telling me)

The Balloon mollys got ich in the second tank that we had and we just couldn't get rid of it. We tried and tried but it just kept coming back. The female died the day after she dropped the fry. the male died the following day. It was only the mollys that were affected by ich.

We left this tank we have now standing to 2 weeks before we moved the fish into it as we were told to do this by our Local Fish Shop.

So I guess it would be best for us to take back the siamese fighting fish as I would hate for them to get nipped by others.

I can't find a fish named spotted sailfin sucking catfish....Im thinking you might have a leopard pleco? Maybe you could do a search for a leopard pleco and tell us if that is what it is?

 

[Strega]

i find ich to be a pain with mollies

right leaving the tank to 'stand' for 2 weeks would of done nothing for the bacteria

since you have fish in the tank already have a read through this Fish In Cycle

this is your 3rd tank right? so you could take a resonable amount of filter media out of the other 2 (lets say a third) and pop it into the new one, this will really help the cycle as it contains the good bacteria needed

Yeah sadly the fighters will have to go out of this tank, what size and tankmates do yu have in the other 2 tanks?

Thank you for the link, I will certainly read it.

Sadly we don't have the other tanks anymore. The one the fish originally came in must have been real old as we found it was leaking which prompted us to get the second tank (which has now been given to a neighbour) I am sure that my other half added bacteria to the filter when he set up the tank we have now. It was a jar of black stuff, if that makes any sense.

It is a shame that we have to lose the fighters as they are so very pretty but I wouldn't want anything to happen to them so I will call the fish shop today. I will also ask them if they will take the molly fry when they are big enough as I don't think I can go through the stress of ich again lol

Thank you very much for all your advice, I truely appeciate it.

 

[Strega]

I can't find a fish named spotted sailfin sucking catfish....Im thinking you might have a leopard pleco? Maybe you could do a search for a leopard pleco and tell us if that is what it is?

Upon searching it seems it is a suckermouth catfish lol

Sorry about that. *blush*

 

[Davo86]

unfortunately the "spotted sailfin" sounds like either a Pterygoplichthys Joselimaianus or a Pterygoplichthys Gibbiceps, both of which get huge,

 

[LionessN3cubs]

I can't find a fish named spotted sailfin sucking catfish....Im thinking you might have a leopard pleco? Maybe you could do a search for a leopard pleco and tell us if that is what it is?

Upon searching it seems it is a suckermouth catfish lol

Sorry about that. *blush*

LOL aww dont be embarrassed ...I had to look up everything I posted before as far as size...

But...he's gonna get huge...dont know if the others will say you should get rid of him or not..probably


My hubby's dentist has a fish tank in his office...the pleco in it is a foot and a half long easily...its HUGE. The tank is way bigger than a 63 gallon...judging by what I've seen in our local fish store, that tank has to be at LEAST 95 gallons (probably bigger but I've not seen bigger to give an idea) and that pleco is the absolute centerpiece of the tank..he's just so big he's all you see at first