Fry Survival Rate?

[saffholly]

How many of your fry survive to be adults?

My first guppy fy (8 which i fished out of the tank) all survived.
1st lot of baby Mollys (10 fished out of the tank) and only one survived.
2nd lot of guppies (12) seem to be disapearing and a few seem to be deformed so i dont expect many to survive.
2nd lot of Mollys (i have 20+) only a few days old and all ok so far.

How many should i expect to survive from my 20 mollys?

Is it normal to lose quite a few?

Trying to work out how many females i should have (guppies and mollies) to keep all my tanks stocked (2 large tanks and 2 fry tanks). At the moment my guppy fry tank ony has a few in

 

[Fish Lover Forever]

It is very normal to lose fry. Some of them will die at birth wich nearly always happens and some wont survive. I cant tell you if they are going to survive or not but out of 20 fry I would think you would have at least 10 left. I think as long as you keep feeding and looking after them properly they will survive. Just make sure that you dont let them into the big tank until they are at least 1.7cm depending on how big the other fish are. If you want the babies to breed then you need 2,4,6,8,10,12 females because as far as I know you need 2 females per male to breed. So if you want ALL your females to breed you need twice the amount of females as males. Once the fish has become pregnant don't put it in a breeding trap as it will stress her out. Only put her in the breeding tank if she is being bullied/chased by the other fish. When you see the gravid spot becoming quite dark it is time for her to go in the breeding tank. Once the fish has got pregnant once she will keep having fry every 2 to 7 months. This is only with platies, mollies and guppies as they are the only livebearers, any other fish will lay eggs and maybe 5/50 will survive as the eggs float about and often get eaten.

Hope this helps
Fish Expert

Personal Contact: [email protected]

 

[slimeneo]

First time, I only found 2 platy fry and they both died
A few days ago, I found 4, and I have 3 left. I hope they survive!

 

[lolobunnz]

My first batch I found 3 fry and all survived. My second and third batch (birth on same day) out of the 20 or so three died. Two by the next morning and one died 4 days later. These 3 that died I knew there was something wrong with them when I first laid eyes on them. They had sunken in bellies and despite having full active spread fins it was a struggle for them to leave the floor. I suspect they could not initially fill their swim bladders or had ssome swim bladder issues. All fry are all from parents that were bought from the pet store. I expect to see no further complications as such from the 2nd generation in my tank.

 

[coyemuse]

It is very normal to lose fry. Some of them will die at birth wich nearly always happens and some wont survive. I cant tell you if they are going to survive or not but out of 20 fry I would think you would have at least 10 left. I think as long as you keep feeding and looking after them properly they will survive. Just make sure that you dont let them into the big tank until they are at least 1.7cm depending on how big the other fish are. If you want the babies to breed then you need 2,4,6,8,10,12 females because as far as I know you need 2 females per male to breed. So if you want ALL your females to breed you need twice the amount of females as males. Once the fish has become pregnant don't put it in a breeding trap as it will stress her out. Only put her in the breeding tank if she is being bullied/chased by the other fish. When you see the gravid spot becoming quite dark it is time for her to go in the breeding tank. Once the fish has got pregnant once she will keep having fry every 2 to 7 months. This is only with platies, mollies and guppies as they are the only livebearers, any other fish will lay eggs and maybe 5/50 will survive as the eggs float about and often get eaten.

Hope this helps
Fish Expert

Personal Contact: [email protected]

just pointing out, swordtails are livebearers too. (Love my sword babies!)

 

[snazy]

Where do you guys keep your fry when you separate them? Fry don't die for no reason. I even raised premature fry with bent spines to adulthood that one of my guppy gave birth to and they didn't die(not that I would recommend anyone to raise deformed fry but mine just lived so I couldn't kill them). A separate bowl/tank without a cycled filter, no matter how many water changes, is bound to kill a lot of them. Any ammonia/nitrIte, even to the least measurable amount will either kill them or they'll die shortly after from ammonia or from disease that will wipe out most of them.
If you keep them in breeding traps inside the main tank, the holes on them never provide enough cycled water from the main tank, so pouring tank water into the breeder trap a few times a day and removing left over food each time before putting new food is best. Also, adding a bit of substrate, live plants, java moss, moss balls, etc.. to the breeder trap gives the fry somewhere to hide and nibble on micro creatures as well and keeps it safer for them. Make sure there's floating plants to block the light as well if the breeder trap is on top of the tank as this stresses them.
When I was raising livebearers, it was always in a cycled tank and I did water changes daily or every other day. I can't say I lost any bar a few I accidentally killed myself when fiddling with the tank. If kept properly, all of them should survive.

 

[LucyB]

I found out the hard way that keeping my fry and trying to raise them in a breeding trap never works. They would all die within a matter of days, 0% survival rate.

I now have a 7 gallon tank full of happy platy fry, 100% survival rate, I'm overrun with them!

The moral of the story in my case is to never, ever keep fry in a breeding trap

 

[slimeneo]

I found out the hard way that keeping my fry and trying to raise them in a breeding trap never works. They would all die within a matter of days, 0% survival rate.

I now have a 7 gallon tank full of happy platy fry, 100% survival rate, I'm overrun with them!

The moral of the story in my case is to never, ever keep fry in a breeding trap

Why is that, do you think?
@snazy: even with the breeder net, should I do more water changes? I always do sort of a water change in the breeder net, dumping water outside of the breeder net for circulation and what not. Is that enough (& 1 real 25% water change per week) or do they require more?

 

[snazy]

I found out the hard way that keeping my fry and trying to raise them in a breeding trap never works. They would all die within a matter of days, 0% survival rate.

I now have a 7 gallon tank full of happy platy fry, 100% survival rate, I'm overrun with them!

The moral of the story in my case is to never, ever keep fry in a breeding trap

Why is that, do you think?
@snazy: even with the breeder net, should I do more water changes? I always do sort of a water change in the breeder net, dumping water outside of the breeder net for circulation and what not. Is that enough (& 1 real 25% water change per week) or do they require more?

Yes, even with a breeder net you need to do water changes using the tank water. Actually especually with a breeder net as it catches all the stuff from the tank on its outsides and literally restricts the flow, getting clogged,flushing with tank water is a must. I prefer the plastic ones for small fry, but it's on the same principle. If you have too many you need to eventually move them to something bigger but for most fry you can grow them big enough not to get eaten by the adults if the breeder box/net is big enough. You need to pour tank water into it(not remove water)(quite a bit of it) a few times a day(3-4 times) I just do it when I pass by the tank, it only takes a minute, and final time before I go to bed, also first thing in the morning. I also remove clumps of dirt or food with a syringe, carefully not to suck any fry in it if they are still small. Uneaten food stays in clumps if it falls to the bottom. This is to avoid catching all the fry and manually clean the breeder net as they get stressed, but if it gets way dirty, then it has to be done once a week or two weeks. Feed more times, but less food a day rather than a big ammount couple of times a day.
Also, fry that I've kept in a breeder net/box get as much "real" water change as the adults in the same tank, which is once a week and I never pour new dechlorinated water straight into the breeder net, although when you keep them in a separate tank, the more water changes, the better for the fry supposedly. But it works either way for me, so whatever you manage.
And again, floating plants on top, some moss and substrate is a must(or whatever you have at the moment) The bare bottom develops bacteria that can kill fry and in my opinion covered is best.

 

[slimeneo]

hmm, do I still need substrate on the bottom if its a breeder net? wouldn't that make it harder to clean the poop with a syringe?

 

[snazy]

hmm, do I still need substrate on the bottom if its a breeder net? wouldn't that make it harder to clean the poop with a syringe?

The substrate is to prevent the fry from getting to the very thin layer bacteria/slime that develops on the bottom. It's up to you whether to use it, otherwise make sure to wipe the bottom quite often. Livebearer fry don't hang on the bottom so it's safe enough without substrate I guess. I use sand as it's easier to clean.

 

[slimeneo]

What should I wipe it with? (Sorry for asking so many questions) sand would probably just slip through the holes of the net for mine

 

[snazy]

What should I wipe it with? (Sorry for asking so many questions) sand would probably just slip through the holes of the net for mine

I missed that you meant a net, sorry. I was thinking about a plastic breeder.

 

[lolobunnz]

I have 2 large breeding traps send never keep more than 6 fry in each and they only remain in the breeder for 5 days before I release them in the baby tank. I do water changes weekly and my water is PERFECT. I also siphon the baby nets after each feeding. My fry didn't die for no reason snazzy. There was something genetically wrong with them and it wasn't bone structure which they could survive.

 

[saffholly]

I now have around 50 fry, another molly gave birth and a guppy (all gave birth in the tank), i only found around 10 guppys though (i think the rest were eaten).

One of my guppy babys (from my last lot of fry) has a bent spine, i thought he would have died but he's a few weeks old now and seems happy.

I moved some of the molly fry from the net into my fry tank yesterday, i have covered the filter with some tights as i think i lost my last molly fry in the filter.