Ok, So The Babies Have Arrived...what Now?

[Ruth1969]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, not knew to keeping fish, but this is our first live birth. Yesterday, I decided that I thought my female dalmation Mollie was ready to drop, so rushed out to get more plants. Checked on her this morning, no change, so off I went to work. Came home and thought, she looked a tad thinner. Next thing, zoom.... 5 or 6 tiny babies shoot by. Noticed that Dad is practically hanging under mums vent, ready to catch what falls next, so I've taken him out. She then did as I thought abd went and settled herself in the plants, and continued to have her fry.
However, now I don't know what to do. Poor Dad is in. A bucket! Temporarily of course, Mum has gone back to her original size, abd I have numerous babies that I can't catch nor count hiding in every nook and cranny!
Q. Do I put Dad back and let nature take it's course?
Q. Do I try to take Mum and fry out?
Q. Do I try to move the fry?
In my 25 gallon tank I have :
1 Swordtail
4 Neon Tetra
2 Harlequins
1 baby Molly from earlier batch, 3/4 size of a tetra
Plus Mum & poor Dad in his bucket!
Will be off to the aquarium shop tomorrow, but what fo I need and what should I do? Or do I do nothing?
All thoughts gratefully received, abd whilst I love having the fry, I can see this getting out of hand every month and I don't have the room nor the money for tank after tank!

Many thanks in advance

Ruth :0)

 

[fluttermoth]

If you don't have spare tanks to raise the fry properly, then put dad back in and let nature take its course. I know it seems harsh, but livebearers only have so many babies precisely because so many of the fry get eaten in the wild.

 

[Ruth1969]

Thank you. That was my initial thought, but I suppose the maternal part of me wanted to give them a chance.
It may still happen that a few survive, as with our one survivor who arrived within hours of us first getting the mollies. As you say, it's down to nature and survival of the fittest I suppose. Plus thus really could just go on and on and on couldn't it, abd Dad ain't all that chuffed in his temporary home! I think I'll pop him back and see what happens. She'll probably do all this again next month anyway! Many thanks again, Ruth :0)

 

[Ruth1969]

My god! I think my male think he's Hugh Hephner! He's only been back on the tank 5 minutes, and already, his fin is fully up and proud, and he's following Mum around like a dog on heat!! Here we go again. Glad I'm not a female Mollie, I'd never keep up, poor thing! Lol ;0)

 

[mattbleasby]

Unfortunately you will just have to let nature take its course. Next time get a breading box for your tank, and pop mommy in there when shes ready too drop This way the fry will be in there and safe OR get lots of plants, and they will hide away untill there big enough to look after themselfs.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Ruth. I moved your duplicate post to the junk pile, in case you wonder where it went.

The male molly is doing exactly what he should do. The female is at her best in terms of his genes being the ones to be passed on. Almost all livebearers have the same response to a recently dropped female. She will get all the attention in the tank even if there are 15 other females to choose from.

 

[Ruth1969]

Really? Wow! Nature is a weird & wonderful thing.
Well, I've come down this morning and it doesn't appear that we've lost any fry. So, we shall see what the next few bring.
Ps thanks for moving my duplcate post, I was on my iPhone and hit "post" too early.
Thanks for all your advice guys, very much appreciated.

Regards

Ruth

 

[OldMan47]

The thing is that a female can use stored sperm packets to start a new drop of fry growing but a male that can breed with her right away will have his sperm used instead. Since breeding pressure of any species, even humans, is all about passing on the male's genes, any strategy that improves that potential will be followed by the males. In lions, a new male that takes over a pride will immediately kill all of the immature lion cubs so that the females will come into heat sooner. The theme of improving the chances of passing on their own genes is repeated over and over again in the animal kingdom. Since typical livebearing fish can sense that the female has recently dropped fry by her odor, they attempt to mate before any other source of sperm can reach that female. Viewed in the larger context that includes things like mammals, it makes a great deal of sense for a male to be displaying and trying to entice the female to mate.

 

[Ruth1969]

Indeed it does. Fascinating stuff it really is. However, today I have counted 14 fry and I cant afford for this to keep happening, although a friend has suggested that the shop I bought the adults from would take fry off me. I will see how things go, but if mum starts to look a podgy again I'll need to do something. Perhaps give the male to a friend. Although if the female stores fry, then perhaps I might need to think about passing her onto someone. Just wish I had the space and money to do this properly! Shame really. Still I'll enjoy what I have for now and see how things turn out. Thanks for replying, it really is amazing stuff. :0)

 

[OldMan47]

The female is far more economical than to store fry. She will store enough sperm packets to repeatedly let her drop fry for about 6 months. If you are not prepared to care for those fry, simply leave them in the tank full of adults. The survival rate of fry in a crowded tank is very low. Most of them will be eaten instead.

 

[amy1994]

What i did when i got some fry...
I had to leave them in the tank for a couple days to fend for themselves as i had nothing to put them in. I got a breeder trap and got as many i could and put them in there. Went on ebay and got a small tank 60l, gt it bk cleaned it put some of the original tank water in to it, and filled the main tank up as though a water change. When the fry were big enough i put them in the 60l. (When they know how to find food)
For food you have quite a choice, you can either crush up crisps/flakes/dried food which is wat i do, or you could try i have heard of fry food which you can get like liquifry(for livebearers) which i haven't tried so i don't know what it's like.

 

[Ruth1969]

Ooh now I feel guilty! It's not that I'm not prepared to look after the fry as in I don't care, I'm literally "not prepared"! :0(
Amy's idea of seeing if I could get stuff on eBay sounds like a plan? As fir feeding I put the normal size flakes in at the side of the tank the adults always cone up to when it's feeding tine, then I've been crushing flakes into dust and popping that in on the other side where the fry hide out. I didn't realise they couldn't get food yet, I hope they managed to get a wee bit! I'm gonna see if I can get a breeder trap and cheap tank now! I couldn't bear it if people thought I didn't care, I really do, but just wasn't prepared for all this. If I can manange to look after 2 kids, 1 husband, 1dog, 1 budgie, 10 adult fish and 2 dumbo rats, I'm sure I can make the effort to try to give these poor wee things a chance! V sad and guilty now! :0(

 

[seizethecupcake]

Don't be sad or guilty! I certainly don't think you don't care about your new fry

 

[OldMan47]

Reality is that we all reach a limit on how many fry we can raise. The average survival rate of fish born in the wild is that one survives to adulthood for each adult parent. That is how a stable population is reached. By comparison we often can increase our own fish tank populations by a factor of well over 100 in a single year. In the wild that would mean starvation on a wide scale in a very short time, until the population crashed back down to where the environment could support the population. There is nothing cruel or mean about limiting the total number of fry that survive in your tank. They will still stand a far better chance than they would in the wild and you will still have some surplus to dispose of by selling them to shops or giving them to friends.

 

[Binge]

between the mollies and guppys we have around 40 living fry in my tank right now about 10 of those are from the first batch they gave us. I figure once these are adults it is game on for the next batch. That and my male crayfish may get an occasional visit to the tank to thin it down some. had to get him his own tank running because he got crazy agressive. Female is all calm though . Course this will all be after the evil; ick petsmart sold us with our platys is gone! But yeah dont feel bad if the majority do not make it if they all lived you would need a public aquarium in no time.