Lots Of Pregnant Girlies :)

[fishlette]

hiya

im reasonably new to keeping livebearers and have been asking a lot of questions about how to deal with the babies and whether i can leave them in their own tank with their mums etc

i have set up a decent size tank to hold my livebearers and have bulked it up pretty well with plants, upturned shells and other ornaments where the bubs can hide. in the tank i have 4 female guppies, 4 female platys, 1 female sword, 1 male platy and 2 neon tetras. my mollies and sword are pregnant cause i bought them home from the pet shop where i work. no males yet. the only livebearers in my tank that arent pregnant that i know of yet is the two dalmation mollies my hubby bought home yesterday.

i have added a couple of pics of the tank (the green look in the back left corner is just from the plants. the water is clear)

should i put more plants for hiding to increase fry survival? sorry about the pic quality

i have multiple questions to ask about this:

what are the chances of bubs surviving being left in the tank with the adults? i know a lot will be eaten but on the other hand ive been told that these guys are usually good mums and shouldnt eat their young unless they have no other food available. i dont want them all eaten but at the same time i dont have a suitable set up for babies. in a pinch i do have a 20L tank i can put them in but im also wondering if i can move the babies as i find them or if that would be bad for them too. at work the babies that are born do survive but only some however the tanks have no plants and nowhere to hide.

can the fry swim fast enough to get into the places where there is cover? will they know to seek cover or just swim around?

im getting so much conflicting information about these things so id like to get more opinions from people

emily

 

[theotheragentm]

If you have multiple pregnant fish, I would not add any more. Livebearers store sperm and can give birth up to six times, approximately every four week, even without the presence of a male. All those fish will eat the fry. It sounds cruel, but unless you have plans to upgrade or add another tank, it gets overcrowded very quickly. Fry really aren't that fast, but they stay near cover.

Keep asking questions.

 

[fishlette]

yeah im not adding anymore at this stage. im not too worried about over crowding as i work in a fish store and all bubs will be going there when old enough if not beforehand if too many actually survive. i didnt set out to breed but its gone that way if i do get males later any breeding will be a little more controlled. i have my larger tank that i have my gouramis in that the live bearers will be going into soon and its about double the size of the current tank which will help with the population boom until they go to the shop. i asked this before but can i move the fry when i find them or should i just leave them be and whoever survives, survives? i dont like this idea as i want to save everyone but i guess thats not always possible

 

[theotheragentm]

You can move fry to a safe tank or breeding net as you find them. That's not a problem. You can net them up immediately and move them. As far as joining them with the rest of the population, oversize them or they get eaten and you get sad. Local fish stores normally don't take livebearer fry as they can't guarantee the colors, but if you work at one, please ship some fish to me. Haha. That's good that you have a place to take the population explosion though.

 

[fishlette]

hmmm i could try and ship to you but im probably miles away (australia) hehe

ive played around with all the plant life in the tank and made a few caves out of big rocks etc that the fry can get into but the bigger fishies cant

first one is a front view. you cant see all t he little hidey holes well but they are there

this is from above

http/i156.photobucket.com/albums/t8/fish...bum/tank036.jpg

ive basically just tried to make one big area of cover rather than a few areas of smaller cover. i figure all the bubbas can hang out in there and plot there eventual take over of the tank hehe

im keeping a really close eye though and if i see them still getting eaten i will remove them and put them either in my 20L tank with wtaer from the main tank or take them to work and use one of the spare already cycled tanks there.

i wish i wasnt such a fussy pants about everyone surviving lol means i spend a lot of time worrying and fiddling around trying to fix the coverage in the tank

the second pic didnt work so ive added it again

 

[theotheragentm]

That is plenty of cover. It's not going to ensure 100% survival, but it's really good.

 

[Jozlyn]

Where abouts in Australia? You might be able to ship some to me or maybe I could interest you in some Mollie fry! My Mollie is pregnant and I have nowhere to keep the fry and LFS doesn't want them either!!

 

[fishlette]

Where abouts in Australia? You might be able to ship some to me or maybe I could interest you in some Mollie fry! My Mollie is pregnant and I have nowhere to keep the fry and LFS doesn't want them either!!

im in brisbane. where are you? if its viable i could always raise the fry and sell them at my shop that would be fine how does the shipping process work for bubba fish?

That is plenty of cover. It's not going to ensure 100% survival, but it's really good.

excellent! thats what i like to hear

 

[fishlette]

Where abouts in Australia? You might be able to ship some to me or maybe I could interest you in some Mollie fry! My Mollie is pregnant and I have nowhere to keep the fry and LFS doesn't want them either!!

also if i have any little ones survive and ones you are interested in i could ship to you.

pregnant females are:

silver molly (father unknown but possibles are another silver or dalmation)
chocolate molly (father unknown but same as above)
orange swordtail (father was a red and black sword)
red platy (father red and black platy)
yellow platy (father same as above)
speckled blue platy (father unknown)
mickey mouse platy (father red and black platy)
2 dalmation mollies possibly pregnant but came from lfs yesterday in a mixed tank so its highly likely but not showing yet

thats my girls hopefully will be swimming in little babies soon

 

[fishlette]

just realised i said 4 female guppies in my original post and i meant mollies lol

 

[helterskelter]

Thats a loverly set up good to so loads of plasnts in their, their good fro fry as the fry find tiny food amongst the plants and plents of hideing placed to surive.

Befor long you'll have to many fish, but enjoy rearing them

 

[fishlette]

Thats a loverly set up good to so loads of plasnts in their, their good fro fry as the fry find tiny food amongst the plants and plents of hideing placed to surive.

Befor long you'll have to many fish, but enjoy rearing them

yes soon i will be in the midst of too mnay fish for the tank. am going to do up my 165L tank for the livebearers but i have to wait until i get enough plants cause its going to need heaps in comparison to the tank they have now. am probably going to bring home a bunch from work tonight and make a start on it. then ill put my gouramis in the tank the livebearers are in now. the bigger tank will be much better all round for these guys

 

[fishlette]

fishies are born and 12 surviviors yay hehe they are using everything i have supplies as cover so i feel good about it they are even using the wine bottle i submerged in the tank as an idea my hubby had they go in there and the big ones cant get in there. however i am noticing that even those out and about arent being bothered by the bigger fish now and even those seeming to be chased are quick enough to get away yay