Damn Those Impulse Buys!

[nikez2k4]

Hey guys,

I have been reading a few posts on here before I joined, it seems like a really friendly place and I need some comfort right now!

Me and my boyfriend were in Focus (UK DIY Shop) and we saw a Bio Orb. He started to reminisce about his goldfish bowl and how he always wanted some tropical fish. Next thing I knew we had spent nearly £200 on a 60 litre tank and some attractive looking purple plants lol!

Im not here to bore you with all the details...but Rich (my b/f) only has experience with goldfish and like the look of them so we are a little bit in at the deep end. Now don't get me wrong I'm not just putting fish in willy nilly and hoping they live... we have been talking to some people at Pets At Home (UK pet shop chain) and we know what we are doing with our little Mollies now!

I do have a few questions though as it is all starting to go a little faster than I thought it would...

We decided on Monday to get a couple of fish to start off with. So we ended up getting a black male Molly and a female dalmation Molly - who seemed a little fat. They settled in nicely and were swimming around exploring Rich's purple and red placstic plants. This morning I came to feed them and noticed lots of tiny fish swimming about...so it turns out she was pregnant not just fat. Here endeth the beginners chapter!

So we are now breeding about 5 little baby Mollies - silver from what I can tell.....will they become dalmation Mollies like their mother???


WHAT DO WE DO NOW?! lol


Like I said its all a little fast. I am at work now and I'm reading worrying stories that the adult Mollies eat their young? How cruel! Can somoene explain what happens now she has given birth? I have seen a few posts that say you need a breeding tank or net?? Do they go in the tank or is it a self contained thing? Also what should we be feeding the babies? Do they need a nutrient mix or something?

I do have some more general tank questions but I feel I have rambled a little too much already - I hope you don't mind helping me help my fish...I feel like god at the moment...responsible for all my fish and their needs!

Thanks in advance.

James x

 

[kewskills]

you don't need a breeding net if there is plenty of hiding places for the fry which it sounds like you have.
mollies are best kept in single sex or they will continue to breed like crazy, i would take the male back and swap it for another female.
usually all females you get from local fish shops are always pregnant.
if you want males it is best to keep them in a group of 5 or more this will spread out any aggression between them all and stop too much bullying.
if you are going to keep opposite sexes then i would suggest 1 male to 2 females otherwise the female will get harassed and usually become stressed and ill.

Please feel free to ask any more questions or PM me if you want

oh yeah to the forum

 

[community begginer]

i agree. to save any possible casualties you should really go out and buy a breeder net or something to put teh fry in or otherwise risk teh babbies being eaten.
congrats on the babbies as well.

as far a food for them. they will gladly accept well ground tropical flakes and eventually when they are older i suggest you change it up a bit and give them (all) an occasional dose of brine shrimp or blood worm. they love the stuff.

if any more help is needed simply pm one of us and we will gladly help you out.
regards, community.....

P.S. wlcome to the forum and enjoy your stay.

 

[nikez2k4]

Hey. Thanks for the welcomes - it's nice to have a place where I can go for some advice.

We have a couple of plastic plants and a live plant with some rocks and a log. It does look a little empty to be honest so I am worried about the little fry (fries?? ) Do you have any suggestions for tanks/nets, as we are new to all this I'm not really sure what's out there and the quality of things. Do they go in our tank or are they stand alone?

I have been reading up on the brine shrimp...aren't they a bit of a faf to setup and breed? I might sound a bit lazy here but I just couldn't be bothered trying to breed them. I have heard about blood worms but what exactly are they? Are they live or is it like a pellet that you can pop in the water?

I have also read (I must sound like a right swat lol) that Mollies like algae and getting them some algae flakes would provide some variety in their diet?

In regards to the breeding... how "crazy" are we talking here? I want to have a variety of fish in the tank (I know I need to check what goes together) but if I leave these male and female Mollies breading away will the tank get over crowded with them? I guess what I am asking here is how long is the lifecycle of a Molly?

So males are quite predetory (spelling) then? If I kept a few together without a female will they start fighting? Interesting to watch but not that humane!!

Thanks for your advice so far, it has been very interesting.

Take care,
James x

 

[kewskills]

i have never used breeding nets so i cant help you there, i always leave nature to do its thing, some always survive.
feed fry crushed flake or liquifry which is fry foOd you can get from any local fish shop (lfs)
if you want to vary their diet they like peas and cucumber as well as flake
they breed every 4-6 weeks and they can have up to 60ish fry, the first time they give birth usually 2-5 after that it just keeps increasing.
The males are not predatory they are just male, and bully each other cause they wanna be top dog

hope this helps

 

[community begginer]

i agree with kewskills. ive never used a net or box for my breeding. the breeder trap or net sits in your tank and has small holes small enough for the fish to not escape but big enough to let in an adequate ammount of fresh water with oxygen.

of coarse you loose some (if you choose not to go with a net or box) but what the hell. they give birth to plenty of them and its cheap food. hehe. i at one stage when i was breeding guppies had around 150 at the same time. from 8 females and i only had one male in the tank.

liquifry is good stuff. i used it for several months untill they were big enough for ground flake...... for the algea/ mollie thing some spirulina flakes work a treat....

and for the blood worm. they are ugly but a great food source. just dont feed too much of it witrhin a short time frame.... its a redish black looking worm and is very thin. you can buy it froizen in blocks that snap apart and are placed in teh tank or you can buy them live which is much more fun to watch get eaten. hehe. which ever you prefer. you can also buy brine shrimp live in little bags at any serious lfs. the water will contain salf so all that is needed is for you to grab a fine net and pour the bag through it and into a small container so as to not make a mess. then add your net to the tank and swish back and forth several times to make sure they arent stuck in the nets webbing.

i hope this has helped you out.
regards, community

 

[nikez2k4]

Hey,

Interesting read actually. I have been doing some more research and it seems that the female can give birth to up to 60 at a time!?!? As you mentioned kewskills. I have a few questions about the fry if that's ok?

Firstly, I understand that some might get eaten but just say for arguments sake that she gives birth to 20 Mollies and 10 of them survive. Suppose they all grow up and survive for several years, won't that over crowd the tank? As you know I am new to all this and I keep reading that it's best for the tank to be undercrowded rather than overcrowded. How many is too many? Like I said in my first post, we have a 60 litre tank and I want a variety of fish in it but I don't want to overcrowd it. Is there a general rule of thumb about how many you should have in a tank?

kewskills, you mentioned that they like peas? Would it be ok if I put in common frozen garden peas from a supermarket? How nutritious are they compared to the flake? Should I put in a hand full say, or will 4 or 5 be enough per day?

Also on the feeding note, I have read numerous reports saying feed the fish 2-3 times a day, however many of the employees at Pets At Home say only feed them once a day or maybe every other day as it keeps maintenance down. Any advice on this? I understand you don't want to over feed but I also don't want to underfeed....my gosh I worry too much don't I?

Thanks again,
J

 

[Esfa]

Hey,

Interesting read actually. I have been doing some more research and it seems that the female can give birth to up to 60 at a time!?!? As you mentioned kewskills. I have a few questions about the fry if that's ok?

Firstly, I understand that some might get eaten but just say for arguments sake that she gives birth to 20 Mollies and 10 of them survive. Suppose they all grow up and survive for several years, won't that over crowd the tank? As you know I am new to all this and I keep reading that it's best for the tank to be undercrowded rather than overcrowded. How many is too many? Like I said in my first post, we have a 60 litre tank and I want a variety of fish in it but I don't want to overcrowd it. Is there a general rule of thumb about how many you should have in a tank?

kewskills, you mentioned that they like peas? Would it be ok if I put in common frozen garden peas from a supermarket? How nutritious are they compared to the flake? Should I put in a hand full say, or will 4 or 5 be enough per day?

Also on the feeding note, I have read numerous reports saying feed the fish 2-3 times a day, however many of the employees at Pets At Home say only feed them once a day or maybe every other day as it keeps maintenance down. Any advice on this? I understand you don't want to over feed but I also don't want to underfeed....my gosh I worry too much don't I?

Thanks again,
J

Your tank is about 15 US gallons i think, and the gerneral rule is one inch of fish per gallon, so you could have 15 inches

as mollies get to about 3", you can have about 5 mollies in your tank.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Okay the big question since no one has asked it yet....is your tank cycled?

 

[nikez2k4]

Esfa...15 inches would be nice

Hmmm....so having just has a batch of 5 born is probably not going to be good for the tank. I will have a think about this

Aphotic...yes. We did everything the lovely Tetra DVD told us to do and then some. I managed to get that little pill that speeds up the bacteria growth in the filter. We got the water tested at PAH and they said everything was fine. They also did a pH test and that came back fine too!

I think I might leave the fish to their own devices and let nature take it's course. It's a little cruel to see them get eaten but I guess it's survival of the fittest! On that note - does anyone know what kind of nurishment does eating their fry offer? Will it do for the daily feed or should I just carry on feeding them flakes and peas )) as normal?

Just a quick question... I have (again!) been reading and Mollies seem to be quite peacful fish and live in harmony with other community fish. This seems to be true with Neon Tetras and Black Neons. I want to get 5 or 6 of each, will they be ok with the Mollies?

Thanks,
J

 

[Esfa]

just feed them as usual. and yup. I think a group of 8-10 neon tetras would be quite nice as would 15".

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

I would recommend purchasing your own test kit. API Freshwater Master Kit is a very good one, should last you a very long time, and would save you from traveling to the pet shop every time you want to get your water checked. If you ever have a problem in the future, one of the first things we (or any other forum will ask) is for basic info like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH levels. Having your own test kit also helps you spot problems in your own tank early.

Mollies are kind of an exception in the regards that they do actually do better in more brackish conditions (i.e. hard water with salt). You can keep them as freshwater fish, which you would have to do if you decided to get tetras or almost any other FW fish, but be forewarned that they are more disease prone in FW tanks. Here is a good article on Mollies: http/www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm

Mollies and Neons should be okay together, but just be careful about overstocking the tank with all those fry. ^^

Also, if you haven't yet, take a glance at the weekly maint thread that has been sticked since it tells you exactly what to do to keep your tank nice looking.

 

[Nina W]

Seems i'm not he only one who's had a shocking delivery.
Exactly the same thing happened to me James, unfortunately i lost all of the fry. i panicked and went and bought a breeding net and i think i stressed the fry and they all died, but i only saw about 4/5 of them. If it happens again i'm will leave them to swim free in the tank, they have quite a lot of places to hide so fingers crossed they'll be fine

 

[kewskills]

I feed them frozen peas once a week, boil them for a couple of minutes and squeeze the skins off then put a pea in on its own.
I only feed my mollies once a day and sometime once every two days.
I feed my fry 2 times aday if possible.

remember it is really easy to over feed fish, mollies really have small stomaches about the size of their eyes, so one flake is enough for a good meal.

i think most of your other questions have already been answered, good luck