Need Advice On Molly Fry Care. Urgently!

[sami the cichlid]

Well, i bought 3 pregnant females on the weekend, 2 gave birth on sunday. The black molly had only 8 babies in the morn and the multicolured molly had 20.
I put them in a seperate 2 gallon tank with no filter. on tue and wed 3 babies died altogether (only the multicoloured mothers babies) so i added a filter (fluval U1).
The next day (2day) i found 4 dead babies (all multicoloured mother again) so i thought the filter pressure/current was too high fo a smallmoved them into a larger tank. During the move 12 multicoloured babies died!
i think it was the stress of the move. the the next day 8 more died so i
moved them into a larger tank. During the move 12 multicoloured babies died!
i think it was the stress of the move. the the next day 8 more died so i only have 1 left in a net in the main tank. all ths happened over 5 days! Was it the sudden filter current?? Or the change of tanks?? here r some test results after i found 1 living 2day....:



ph = 7.2 - 7.6
Nitrates= 5.0 - 10ppm
Nitrites= 0ppm
Ammonia= 0ppm



well here we go! any advice greatly welcome. i need advice as i have another pregnent molly who will blow soon!!!!

 

[Jenste]

Hi! I am so sorry about your babies
You said you got the mama's on the weekend...The stress the mother's under went during the move from the petstore to your home and then going into labor could have distressed the fry...and then the repeated moving into new tanks could simply have been too much.
When ever I have had a mother give birth so soon after being brought from the LFS, I have lost the majority of the fry as a result of the stress the mother under went.
I recommend moving the new mama into a birthing tank with lots of hiding places for the fry. Let her relax and drop her fry with out other fish around.
After she drops her fry, move the mother back into the main tank and let the fry stay where they were born - it stresses them alot less and being alone should make the birthing easier for the mama

I hope this helps you!

 

[sami the cichlid]

Thank you!

well i will clean out the birthing tank full of dead babies and put her in it.

 

[Jenste]

I wish you luck for the next mama!!! Let me know how her birthing goes! PM if you like
I will keep my fingers crossed for you

 

[OldMan47]

Your best bet to care for the new fry is to use an established tank with the right size filter and a proper heater. Feed the fry food that is high in veggie content, like a good spirulina flake food. Several daily very small feedings are better than one larger one. Lots of water changes are a must for decent growth of new fry. A tougher question for you is what kind of water you have in your tanks. Really hard water, what people will describe as far too hard for keeping fish, is ideal for mollies in general. My own tanks run at a pH of about 7.8 and a hardness of around 10 german degrees. By most accounts that is terrible fish water, but my mollies thrive and I almost never lose any fry. With proper feeding and adequate cover in a tank, it can look like this 4 or 5 weeks after a birth and you lose no fry at all during that period.

You can see the big looking filter in the background that these guys lived with from birth until the picture was taken. The tank that they lived in is a 10 gallon, about 38 litres, and the filter is an internal one intended for that size tank.
This particular female, RIP, was very gentle with her fry and lived with them quite often until they needed to move to larger quarters. I have a few dozen of her fry to raise and see if I can get another great female like she was. Right now there are about 30 of them in a 55 gallon tank with a few tank mates and another 30 in another 55 gallon tank that she dropped just a month ago in that tank. Unfortunately she died of apparent old age at about an estimated 3 years old. That was shortly after her last drop and I had put her into the large birth tank hoping against all hope that she would live long enough to give me that drop. As it turned out, she lived a good 2 weeks after the drop and, as usual, spent the time with her fry.

 

[sami the cichlid]

thanks,
lovely fry and molly btw. well the prego mother is in the cleaed birthing tank with a filter cover in tights so the dumb babies dont get sucked up and a heater making a warm 25.5 degrees C. and a lot of fake plant cover for the fry when she blows!!!!

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds like you have the situation well in hand. If you can keep that female well fed, you may have no trouble from her after the fry drop. I used to just leave my female with her fry and she ate almost none of them. When you are not hungry, you don't go hunting food, after all.

 

[sami the cichlid]

thanks, i hope she will be settled in her own 5g tank, my other molly ignored her babies when i used a net!!

 

[sami the cichlid]

Hello! at least 30 babies or more! no stillborns, 4 eggs (which she ate!) i was going to leave her in their but she started chasing them after a while!
How did she have 30+ babies when she is only 1" long, and want even huge (she was v big, but not a big as my longer black molly who only had 8 babies)! she looks to thin now s im feeding her a tad bit more. i was up for 2hours in the early morning watching the babies come! How come their dealing with the filter current much better than the previous batch that died? is it the plant cover? oh well im happy and hope they all pull through. im goin to do a water change dalliy for the first week. is this safe?

 

[Jenste]

Congrats!!!
And fish are full of surprises when it comes to how many babies they have!

I wish you all the luck with your new little babies

 

[OldMan47]

A daily water change is a good idea. You just need to be careful not to suck up the fry. I use a bucket and inspect it thoroughly before I dump it out. That way if any fry take a ride, I can put them back into the tank.

 

[Harlequins]

Congrats on your fry

 

[shi24137]

ive actually sucked up a fry before while doing a water change, suprisingly the little guy swam out! i did daily water changes for the first week. now i do one every other day. good luck with the fry and keep me updated!

 

[sami the cichlid]

um well its day 1 in their new tank,
there is a little poo from the mother at the bottom but the filter is on and i dont want to stress them on day 1 so sud i do a water change or wait til tommorow??? i need a reply soon plz

 

[OldMan47]

I would say it depends mostly on the water chemistry on day one Sami. If the chemistry is good with 0,0 and less than 20 nitrates, it could wait until tomorrow and give the fish a chance to settle in. Lots of water changes are the key to getting good growth from livebearers, so don't delay too long.