Breeding Trap Or Not?

[Doug62]

Hi all,
Ive recently set up a new tank and after cycling with half a dozen guppies for 4 weeks i was given 3 mollies (2 female and 1 male). One of the females was pregnant when i got her (a week and a half ago) and now the other is starting to look like it too. What i was wondering is wether or not to put them into breding traps when they are about to release. I have read much conflicting information about this on the net, some saying it is essential as the 3 mollies would cannibalise their own and others saying not too as it would strees the mother out too much.
Anyone got any ideas?
Cheers
Doug

 

[Annastasia]

Mollies are really too big for breeder traps. It's true, they will eat their fry, but breeder traps still aren't going to work. Your choices basically are:

1. Let her give birth in the tank. Just plant the tank up a lot, and give the fry lots of hiding places. Floating plants are especially good.
2. Let her give birth in the tank, then move the babies to a breeding net to grow them up a bit. They can't stay in there too long, but a couple weeks gives them some time to grow before they have to go back with the other fish.
3. Set up a fry tank. This is probably your best bet, as you can move the pregnant fish into here, and let her give birth without stressing her out. You can then remove her and you have someplace safe to grow up the fry without risk of stunting them.

Out of those, it's up to you. Survival of the fittest (leaving them in the tank) is often used a method of fry control too. What size tank do you have, as it's easy to get overstocked with fry.

 

[DAL]

Sorry i can't help much as i'm new to fish keeping also but the first fish we bought were dalmation and silver mollies and that same night one of the dalmations gave birth.We didn't even know it was pregnant and found loads of babies in the tank the same night.We left them in there for 2 or 3 days until we bought a floating trap and then put them in there but bascially what i'm saying is they were fine in the main tank with 2 of each of the adults until we did so and they have been fine since we took most of them out the trap and put them back into the main tank again when they got a little bit bigger

 

[Doug62]

Thanks for the replies Annastasia and Dal...well the tank is 110 litres, so not all that big. I think i'm actually going to go for a cheap little 2 foot tank or something which i can put upstairs in my study and use as a breeding tank, i'm starting to think that 2 tanks would make things alot easier anyway - in case of emergencies etc. Just have to see if i can buy it and set it up before the birth . I take it the [fry?] would be in no danger from the guppies in the tank as they'd be to big? Also, can you reccomend any particular types of floating plant as i havnt come across any in my lfs?
Many thanks again
Doug

 

[DAL]

Thanks for the replies Annastasia and Dal...well the tank is 110 litres, so not all that big. I think i'm actually going to go for a cheap little 2 foot tank or something which i can put upstairs in my study and use as a breeding tank, i'm starting to think that 2 tanks would make things alot easier anyway - in case of emergencies etc. Just have to see if i can buy it and set it up before the birth . I take it the [fry?] would be in no danger from the guppies in the tank as they'd be to big? Also, can you reccomend any particular types of floating plant as i havnt come across any in my lfs?
Many thanks again
Doug

Not sure of the name of it but we got ours which is a clear plastc type thing from pets at home and it didn't cost much,something like 3 or 4 quid i think.We have a guppy that's pregnant aswell now so same as you might go and get a small tank to put the babies in as the mollies are still quite small.It's only £20 from Pets at home but,and i hate to admit it,it's only a kids spongebob one but it's all we can afford at the moment really and we haven't got the space for anything big.It doesn't come with a heater as it's a coldwater tank but they are about £12 or £13 so not too bad.Our LFS will take our mollies when they get to a inch for 30p each and the kids school have said they will have as many as we want to give them.That was before i knew i could get 30p for them and have about 25

 

[Annastasia]

Even if you set it up before the birth, you still need to cycle it. Fry can't really handle the cycling process that well. Your best bet would be to get the filter running in the main tank to seed it with some bacteria. This ususally gives you a big kick start on your cycling. You're definitely going to want a heater in there too, just to prevent large temperature swimgs that may be stressful. Most any floating plant is fine, but hornwort seems to be a big favorite amoung Livebearer keepers. It's very good for fry hiding places. The fry shouldn't be in much danger from the Guppies, but it still might be possible for them to be eaten if you have larger Guppies and teeny fry.