Help Please - I've Got Baby Fish

[Tracy J]

Yesterday i changed the water and didnt notice any babies. Tonight i have just gone to turn out the lights and give them some food and there is 2 little black babys and 5 tiny clear/white ones swimming at the top of the tank near the heater & filter. Hiding in the gaps.

I think they must have came from 2 mums because of the colours but not sure. Hockey stick tetra and maybe a black mollie? (I thought they were getting fatter because i was feeding them to much )

Should i try to take them out and put them in a bowl/ tub as i dont have another tank? The shop i could buy one at wont be open till noon tomorrow?

What do i need to buy for them? I have just fed the big fish at one end of the tank to keep them away from the babies for a little while. And i just crushed some dried flakes and let it float in the babies direction. But the bigger fish keep going back to where the babies are hiding unless i go to the other end of the tank and then they will follow me. I dont want them to get eaten. And i cant sit at the end of the tank all night.


I have never had babies before and the man in the shop sold me all females apparently!

Any ideas/ help/ advice is appreciated as i am a complete novice here

Thanks

 

[kelly528]

Livebearers can typically store sperm for up to 3 months, so even if you got all females they could have gotten pregnant in the store.

If you want to keep them you will have to separate them from the other fish. Anything, even a rubbermaid bin willl do as long as it is heated and filtered. You will want to get a sponge filter because the babies can't get sucked into the intake.

On a side note, check the inside of your filter. there might already be some babies in there.

You could also purchase a tank divider. That would work.

Feed them crushed flake for now, but look for some fry food/frozen food to feed them as well.

Here's a relevant link:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=115318

 

[Tracy J]

Livebearers can typically store sperm for up to 3 months, so even if you got all females they could have gotten pregnant in the store.

If you want to keep them you will have to separate them from the other fish. Anything, even a rubbermaid bin willl do as long as it is heated and filtered. You will want to get a sponge filter because the babies can't get sucked into the intake.

On a side note, check the inside of your filter. there might already be some babies in there.

You could also purchase a tank divider. That would work.

Feed them crushed flake for now, but look for some fry food/frozen food to feed them as well.

Here's a relevant link:
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=115318"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=115318[/URL]

Thank you for replying.

I dont have another heater/ filter so will have to leave them in the tank tonight and hope they dont get eaten. I have got frozen food for the bigger fish, would that do them as well or should i try and crush it for them?

I will get my hubby to dismantle the filter tomorrow as it a sealed unit i think at the top. I have put a stocking over the end of the bit with gaps so hopefully it wont suck any up.

Thank you for the link & your advice

 

[OldMan47]

For an overnight emergency measure until you can get a proper breeding net to put into the main tank, go to the kitchen and find the biggest clean Pyrex or glass container that you have. The fry can live in that for a day or two until better arrangements can be made. Fill your container with tank water then refresh the water levels in the main tank. The molly fry will be fine in the small container for that long.
You can think of your temporaray arrangements like using a sleeping bag for yourself. It is not something you would make a steady practice of but is better than nothing.

 

[Tracy J]

For an overnight emergency measure until you can get a proper breeding net to put into the main tank, go to the kitchen and find the biggest clean Pyrex or glass container that you have. The fry can live in that for a day or two until better arrangements can be made. Fill your container with tank water then refresh the water levels in the main tank. The molly fry will be fine in the small container for that long.
You can think of your temporaray arrangements like using a sleeping bag for yourself. It is not something you would make a steady practice of but is better than nothing.

Thanks for the advice I moved the settee so i was in front of the tank all night and im shattered now! I found all the old plastic plants i had bought for different tank colour schemes / displays, and left quite a few just floating in the top. I tucked a few round the heater and the filter where the babies were hiding and it seems to have worked . However i have now found another 4 babies! And reading the link provided i definately have 2 more pregnant fish!

Can see this costing me a fortune in nets!

Thank you for all the advice

 

[Haych]

if you can get to a fish shop today, buy the biggest net feeding trap you can find and they'll do just fine all together in there

 

[craig855s]

survival of the fittest method.....just treat the tank the same now as you did last week. The strongest and luckiest fry will make it to adulthood.. Thats what i do. I have 4 female livebearers in my tank and they have all dropped at least one brood each in the tank...Can't see any fry but im confident there are a few in there (They'll show up in a few weeks when they've scavanged enough food to grow)

Taking livebearer fry too seriously will cost you a lot of money (feeding,housing,and the eventual giving away of them)

 

[Tracy J]

if you can get to a fish shop today, buy the biggest net feeding trap you can find and they'll do just fine all together in there

Brilliant thank you x was going to buy a few for the different colours of fish incase they didnt like each other just now

(yes i am a bit of a sap lol)

 

[Haych]

dont worry, we all learn somehow

but i'm the same as craig, i do survival of the fittest, but some people like to keep their fry, so you do what you feel is beat, its your tank at the end of the day

 

[OldMan47]

I am a bit different. When I don't want any fry, I just leave the females in the main tank and seldom see any. When I want some fry to rear and sell, I isolate a female in her own tank with lots of cover and just wait until she is done delivering them all. Usually I get around 30 to 40 fry from a mature female, which is plenty for me. After I start raising them, I might leave the next 3 or 4 drops in the main tank and don't even bother looking for them until I am ready to raise another batch. If you are selective about the livebearers that you raise, they can pay their own way for food but unless you go crazy raising fry, they will never pay for a new tank setup.