Ok Let's See If I Have This Right

[corpse fish]

my two mollies are pregnant, and i am expecting one of their births soon, so i went to petsmart today and bought all the supplies i could think of. i bought:
-freeze dried blood worms
-daphnia
-breeders net
-power filter for breeding tank (now being cycled in main tank)
-dense plants for the fry to hide in

anything else i could need?

 

[Annastasia]

Lots of patience. It takes time for them to give birth, and it takes time for the fry to grow. Be patient through all of this.

And also, it might benefit you to read the 2 articles on the top of the Livebearer forum, they are very helpful. What did you finally decide to do with the fry?

And a water testing kit, for the breeder tank, to make sure all is well.

 

[Bryan1957]

my two mollies are pregnant, and i am expecting one of their births soon, so i went to petsmart today and bought all the supplies i could think of. i bought:
-freeze dried blood worms
-daphnia
-breeders net
-power filter for breeding tank (now being cycled in main tank)
-dense plants for the fry to hide in

anything else i could need?

I feed my fry Sera Micron Powdered Fry Food. Perhaps something like that, or liquifry is another I've heard of. The fry will be too small for large food for the first few weeks. I usually feed fry food for the first two weeks then gradually introduce something larger.
It sounds like you have a good plan.
Best of luck with the babies.
Bryan

 

[corpse fish]

Lots of patience. It takes time for them to give birth, and it takes time for the fry to grow. Be patient through all of this.

And also, it might benefit you to read the 2 articles on the top of the Livebearer forum, they are very helpful. What did you finally decide to do with the fry?

And a water testing kit, for the breeder tank, to make sure all is well.

I decided to first put them in the breeder net, and as they get older and the tank gets more cycled to put them in the breeder tank. I bet you right now I am anything but patient with the fish lol, I keep looking in the tank to see any small black or silver things in there

I feed my fry Sera Micron Powdered Fry Food. Perhaps something like that, or liquifry is another I've heard of. The fry will be too small for large food for the first few weeks. I usually feed fry food for the first two weeks then gradually introduce something larger.
It sounds like you have a good plan.
Best of luck with the babies.
Bryan

I tried to find Liquifry, but I couldn't find any, so i just went with the two things I could remember hearing about. The other night when i was bored too i crushed up some flakes for fry food, thinking they would come that night, but im just weird and crushed up more after deciding they wouldn't

 

[that smell fishey]

wat i did is i put my babies in a breeding trap net after catching them and fed the normale tank and broke the flakes up for the young ones

 

[Annastasia]

Lots of patience. It takes time for them to give birth, and it takes time for the fry to grow. Be patient through all of this.

And also, it might benefit you to read the 2 articles on the top of the Livebearer forum, they are very helpful. What did you finally decide to do with the fry?

And a water testing kit, for the breeder tank, to make sure all is well.

I decided to first put them in the breeder net, and as they get older and the tank gets more cycled to put them in the breeder tank. I bet you right now I am anything but patient with the fish lol, I keep looking in the tank to see any small black or silver things in there

Okies, that sounds good. Remember, she will have them at the most in-convinent time for you...that's just the way they are. Not very considerate, eh?!

As for feeding, the fry will eat crushed up flakes. Mine go crazy for them. But I usually start them out on some kind of fry food. Hikari Fry Bites or Tetramin Fry Food are my favorites. If you don't want to go for those, you can just crush up the flakes really small and alternate in the bloodworms. Oh yes, and when they are first born, don't be afraid if you don't see them eating. Usually they are too shy and scared to come to the top of the breeder net when you are there. I have to walk to the end of the room for them to feel comfortable enough to eat. They'll get more and more confident as time goes on. But I'm just warning you so you don't get worried! And remember to feed them often.

Best of luck!

 

[paulthegreat]

With my recent batches I have found that they will even pick apart the uncrushed stuff, think about it, where do they find crushed flakes in the wild? Crushing it just makes it easier for them to eat faster and grow faster. The fry I got two weeks ago even ate a bit of red Russo lettuce I had put in the trap as cover.

 

[Annastasia]

With my recent batches I have found that they will even pick apart the uncrushed stuff, think about it, where do they find crushed flakes in the wild?

If we want to go down that road, where do they find flakes at all in the wild? It's much more natural for them to be raised on veggies and Live/Frozen foods. Flakes are just a convience for us humans.

It is true, they do pick apart the bigger flakes though. I've accidently dropped bigger flakes in my fry tanks, and they pick off little pieces, but they don't tend to get as much food overall. They can't chew, so they spit it out and eat it again and again to get smaller pieces. I don't know if I have lazy fry or what, but mine have always given up on that after about 30 seconds.

 

[millym]

hi
we also feed our fry on cucumber & lettuce - drop it in boiling water for a few mins, cool & drop a bit in our fry love it (although ours are a couple of weeks old) crushed flake (powder size) is good as said if you cant get liquifry . i floated some little plants in our breeder box when we had fry there - to give them a bit of cover/hiding spots, they also nibbled on the algae that was on the plants at the time too.

 

[Annastasia]

i floated some little plants in our breeder box when we had fry there - to give them a bit of cover/hiding spots, they also nibbled on the algae that was on the plants at the time too.

Yeah, live plants are also great. As you said, the fry will nibble on the algae, and also on planaria and other yummy little buggies.