Molly Due to Give Birth Soon

[Jephex]

My gold lyretail molly looks like she is about to explode, any day now she'll give birth. I can see the eyes and everything, it's really cool. Any preparations I should make before they are born? I have this fry food "HBH" fry bites, so foodwise I believe I'm ready, plus I also have numerous live plants in my tank for them to hide around in...will the molly just give birth in the open? I don't have any caves or anything of the sort, but I do have a lot of plants, as I said earlier.

 

[bball4life]

Before they give birth they will hide, well thats what some of mine do. But I have always had them give birth in the open.

 

[Annastasia]

Yep, she'll just give birth in the open. Glad to hear you have lots of Plants, because that will greatly increase the chances of fry survival. Fry are smart, they'll figure out how to hide. Sounds like you have the food all worked out too. Since Molly fry are pretty big when they are born, you can move on to finely crushed flakes and other small Freeze-dried and frozen foods pretty soon. Week or two. Live Baby Brine Shrimp seem to be a favorite too. Also, remember to give the mother lots of high-protein foods after she gives birth, so she won't be as inclined to eat her fry, and to help her get her energy back up.

Good luck, and have fun being a Daddy (sorry)!

 

[Jephex]

lol you mean a daddy

 

[Jephex]

My molly gave birth! I came back from the mall and saw babies! Only see about 10 though...maybe they wont survive, but I think its cool and I got next month

 

[bball4life]

Cool congrats, does your molly still look big? If so then she could have more in a couple days. Thats what happend to my platy she gave birth to about 15 babies and she was still looking pregnant so in a couple days she had a few more and then a week later she had about 3 more then she was done. So maybe the fry did survive and there were only ten, so she could have more in a couple days.

 

[Jephex]

oh alright Ill wait then...how do you feel about those breeding net things for the babies?

 

[bball4life]

I like them thats what I put my fry in. I have grown up some platy fry and molly fry to a mature age in them.

 

[Jephex]

all right Ill pick up one of those as well...thanks for ur help...any other ideas?

 

[bball4life]

Oh sure no problem. Umm... no other ideas really, but when you have the net my guppies and platies tend to get caught in between the net and the glass of the tank so watch out for that, but thats the only thing I can think of right now.

 

[Annastasia]

The only thing with Molly fry and Breeder nets, is they overstock them quickly. Molly fry are born pretty big, and they grow fairly fast when you feed them right. So just look for overstocking...you don't want to squish them in there, and have them stunted. But I generally like breeder nets for growing them up a bit.

And Congrats on the fry! I'm sure there are more in the tank, because fry are old (Okay...young) pros at hiding. Perhaps you'll see some more once they have grown a bit.

 

[woodie]

congrats i dont use breeders nets i have small tank full of plants and bog wood, and i pop my babies in there to grow on till there big enough to go back in the larger tank.

 

[Jephex]

alright thanks guys, yeah there's a small group that hangs out at the surface, and a bunch near the bottom swimming around...they seem to be eating, so all seems well. Should I worry about them getting sucked into the filter? They look small enough.

 

[Annastasia]

Yes. You can put a small piece of sponge in the intake area, or put a breeder net or pantyhose over it. That should help keep them out.

 

[Jephex]

alright thanks, I bought a small netbreeder, and they seem to be doing very well, eating and swimming, and looking healthy. From the ones that were born, I have about 10 healthy ones, and the rest were eaten I think, but 10 is a lot so im happy. I might pick up a 2.5 gallon tonight to put the babies in, so for the next birth I can put the new babies in the netbreeder...thanks everyone for the help.