Mollies Surpirses.. Great.

[Bubbles =]]

So, my Mollys have just given birth
Dont get me wrong i love having babies in the tank, but i need some help!
the baby culprits are an Red sailfin Molly [Male] and a black dalmation molly [female] i have 1 other molly in my 22 gallon tank, a smaller white one which i am not sure which gender. [for any of you who need reasurrence about this, i thought i had gotten all males seeing as they were all larger, but i saw my sailfin [paul] and my dolmation [was rocky, but am not sure now..] going at it earlier this morning, Paul chasing rocky before the tail fin on the bottom of his stomach going forward blah blah blah...]
anyways back to the point, i had earlier found 1 small fry when i had first bought the pair, buying them from seperate tanks at the fish mart and only finding one fry, i was a little confused. anyways iv had them for about 8-9 months now, and was feeding them one day, before noticing a small black and white spec swimming towards the bottom of the tank. so far i have captured 12-20 and there are more hiding in the live plants, rocks, and the large cascle in the tank. in the tank i also have, two cory cats, 1 dojo loach, 2 guppies, one head light tail light, and a small fancy goldfish [which i plan to move to the pond later this summer], i have not had any problems so far with housing the goldfish along with my other tropical fish. my question is
1. i put them in a small plastic breeding net in the tank equppied w/ a sponge filter, is that okay
2. what do i feed them?
3. how long does the gestation period last?
4. should i put them in a seperate tank?

please answer these questions, and any other advice would surely help!

 

[fishnterrapins]

Congrats on the new additions helter's probably the one to ask but I'll have a go at answering a few of those questions.

1) You should be ok with the fry in a breeding net in that tank but don't forget as they grow larger depending on the size of the net you will have to think about re-homing them. A breeding tank is a good alternative (which I'm just setting up for my fry) especially until they're at least 1/2 inch or too big to fit into hungry mouths filtered by a simple sponge filter (or a hang on back filter)

2) There are lots of things you can feed them on. I'm currently feeding on a mixture of (crushed to tiny micro flake) tropical flake, herbivore flake and freeze dried daphnia about 4 times a day. You can however also feed newly hatched brine shrimp or there are some special foods on the market such as liquifry designed for (surprisingly) fry.

3) Not 100% sure on this one but when doing some research I seem to remember it being between 35 and 42 days.

4) See 1. However the tank you have at the moment sounds quite good for them with all the hiding places etc. and if some have survived since birth in there then theres a good chance they may be ok let loose in the main tank.

I'm not saying what I am doing is right but for my fry tank I have a sand substrate (although some people prefer to leave the bottom of the tank empty for ease of cleaning) with some mopani wood (soaked / boiled to get rid of the tanin) and some very bushy plants.

Hope this helps

 

[theotheragentm]

Gestation period lasts approximately 4 weeks at a temperture of 76-78F. It can vary on the long side, normally not on the short side.

There are special fry foods like fishnterrapins mentioned, but I just feed crushed up flake and they go at it pretty well.

They don't need their own tank as long as they can grow large enough not to be eaten in whatever they are in currently.

In the future, you may not want to save them as you will end up with a population explosion and a lot of headache. I currently just let natural selection take its course in my tank. Those that are not eaten, grow up to adulthood.

 

[Bubbles =]]

Okay thanks for the help, and a couple more questions..
how long does it take for them to grow atleast half an inch [in general]
how many times a day do i need to feed them
do there colors change over time?
again, thanks for all the help!

p.s. so far they are doing great, swimming around happily, and eating like crazy! so far i have found atleast 25-30. theres more in the tank, but im not planning on capturing them.

 

[theotheragentm]

Okay thanks for the help, and a couple more questions..
how long does it take for them to grow atleast half an inch [in general]
how many times a day do i need to feed them
do there colors change over time?
again, thanks for all the help!

p.s. so far they are doing great, swimming around happily, and eating like crazy! so far i have found atleast 25-30. theres more in the tank, but im not planning on capturing them.

They will start showing their colors at about 3 months. I have fry from a yellow fish that have started showing black spots from the father. If you can feed them 6 times a day, that is a good number. I can't find the time to feed my fry that often and they normally get three times a day, approximately every eight hours. To grow half an inch is probably in the same 3 month range to show colors. Depending on what you feed them, it may be sooner. Baby brine shrimp are high in fat content and may allow for faster growth of your fry.