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tigger1

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I have just set up my first aquarium and 2 weeks ago introduced my first fish (2 black mollies and 1 dalmation molly). This evening, to my delight (and horror), I have discovered approx a dozen babies! So far I have just been amazed that the 3 fish I have are still alive - everyone told me not to get too attached as I was new to fish and have a new tank. I am not really sure what to do and have been surfing to try and find info but have not found much. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Well how lovely! Have you read the cycling threads? I should do frequent small water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites down. You need to add water conditioners to water that you put in ie:aquasafe to neutralise chlorine and chloramine. Your mollies were probably pregnant when you got them, most livebearers are. Livebearers tend to eat their young so some may not survive. Make sure there are plenty of hiding spaces like plants and rocks for the babies. Good luck. :thumbs:
 
Livebearer fry are not too hard to take care of. When you feed them, grind up the flakes into a fine powder. You're lucky, molly fry are born big enough to eat ground flakes.

Keep your adults well fed, but don't overdo it. If they are not hungry they will be less likely to eat the babies.

Keep your water as clean as you can. Do at least weekly, preferably more often, changes. If you siphon, look through the bucket before you dump it, you might have sucked up a baby or two.

Make sure you have plenty of places for them to hide. Plants, real or plastic, doesn't matter so much, are best for letting them get away from the big guys.

Congradulations! Enjoy watching them grow.
 
thanks people

I am looking forward to watching them - as I'm sure my cat is also (I've never seen her so mesmerised).

Can anyone advise me of a good general book?
 
OR you could buy a fry tank... Aclimatizing fry will NEED to take longer than adult fish, as they are more fragile.

You can go to a local walmart and buy a $30 10g kit with NO GRAVEL!!! The only thing you should get is a heater and a CHEAP thermometer. If you buy a HOB heater, you will save close to $10. DONT BUY HEATER FROM WALMART!!! They are expensive. Look around and try to find a cheaper one.

Another thing you need to get is 1 breeder net, so you can tie the actual net around the filter intake hose.

Daily water changes are a must with babies, atleast for the first few weeks (1-2 weeks) then do them 1x weekly after that. They can eat ground flakes for a while, but will do better with a baby brine shrimp snack every so often

Feed the atleast 2x daily, or 3 would be great if you can wing it.

Edit: do water changes with spare piece of airline tubing, OR tie breeder around the gravel vac (be sure to turn filter off before removing the net from it).

Thats about all I can think of...
 
Everyone else has pretty much mentioned all of it, but I'll add a few things...

If you want to grow these babies up, you can either put a breeding net in the main tank, or get a fry tank, as Mlee said. It's best to start them out on Hikari First Bites, or TetraMin Fry food, or Baby Brine Shrimp. Then you can move on to crushed flakes, and freeze-dried foods..like Daphnia, Bloodworms...etc. And you can keep feeding BBS through this too...preferably not the whole time though. Try to give them a varied diet. Mollies like veggies too, so once they are big enough, you can try putting in a VERY small piece of lettuce, or cucumber. Blanched.

Be careful though...if your fish are breeding, you can quickly be over-run with babies. Full grown Mollies can have 100+ fry each MONTH. :crazy:
 

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