Picked Up Some Mollies

[kribensis12]

So, I was at petsmart and they are having a sale. Black Mollies, White Mollies, Dalmation Mollies, Red Wag Platies, Sunset Platies, guppies (male and female) all 1 dollar per fish. So, I picked up some Black Mollies. One female is literally going to pop any day. I have her in a 10g for birthing :

Here are two pictures of the other mollies (the male is stunning, but he wont stay still long enough for a picture!) in their 47G home:

There is a female in that tank who will birth sometime in the next 12 days. Another in the next 20 or so.

 

[kribensis12]

Still no fry. I am surprised, I figured I'd be swamped with fry by now.

 

[FWFishLover]

Do you think you can post a more accurate picture (closer/Clearer)? i'll be able to give you a accurate prediction if you do
also in the two pictures of the tank it seems as if they are laying on the gravel?

 

[kribensis12]

I've dealt with enough mollies to know when they are close to giving birth. That's as good as pictures as the camera will allow. The fish are not laying on the gravel, they are swimming around.

 

[kribensis12]

She gave birth sometime this morning. I only saw about 12 fry. I think she may have eaten most of them. She looked fairly skinny, and she did not show signs of still being in labor. There are two more pregnant females in my bigger tank, so I'm hopeful for more fry. I will have pictures of the fry soon.

 

[OldMan47]

Krib, if you only got 12 fry from a mature female, you can be certain that something ate her fry. If she is alone in the birthing tank, my guess is that you have followed the advice of people who restrict their feeding too much. I find that I get about 30 fry who survive in my molly drops and I live in an area where we share almost identical water conditions. My females always leave behind at least 30 fry per drop no matter what their previous history might be. I know I have seen you at our local club auctions, you know who I am. If you are getting into livebearers to the extent that I am, it is time to stop listening to people who encourage an environment for the fry where you are more concerned about the adults than the fry. Those people will regularly worry more about avoiding any kind of nitrate rise than they will about the survival of fry. If you have matured to the point where you vary your actions based on desired outcomes, that is a big step, you can choose what approach you use when managing your fish and their feedings. I feed what is considered by some people as a heavy feeding for my fish, because I prefer the outcome to a light feeding that makes nitrate control easy. It is all about your personal perspectives.
You are a young but maturing person who needs to face the fact that nobody, me or anyone else, can dictate the methods you use to manage your fish. Instead, you need to decide what factors are important to you and what you will take into account with tank and fish management. That means deciding what you find important and it may mean you completely ignore my advice because your own priorities are completely different to mine. I find that prospect as one that I welcome because it means that you are moving forward in determining what factors are important to you as a newly mature adult. I have my own personal agendas and priorities but, as a true adult, I do not demand that they match your own. That determination is completely up to you, as it should be.

 

[roadmaster]

When I was much younger,I had much more success with survival rates of fry by preparing a tank for the fry in advance. I saw to it that there were floating plants as well as clumps of Java moss which gave small fish a place to hide from adults as well as a source of food from infusoria that developed.
I placed the female(s) in this tank when they began to square off (get much fatter) and removed them usually within ten days of giving birth. I fed the small fry vegetable flake food with occasional brine shrimp usually three times a day, but for the first few days to two weeks,they stayed in the floating plants for the most part or quite close to the clumps of java moss. At four weeks,the fry were usually large enough to be placed with adults and not be viewed as food.
The upturned mouths of these fish suggest that they feed quite a bit from the surface and young fish seem instinctively drawn to the surface. In the absence of floating cover in the form of plants either real or artificial ,many of the fry are eaten by adults up to and including the female that produced them.
Should also note that temp,pH,and hardness or lack thereof,,will affect birth and survival rates of most of the livebearers.

 

[OldMan47]

Roadmaster, you could have been then who I am now. I am very concerned about fry survival and growth potential. What that means to me in the 'here and now'] is that I focus more on fry survival priorities than on things that directly benefit the adults or that make my job easier as a fish keeper who must maintain the tank holding my fish. Where I end up is a position that makes fry survival easy but does indeed add to my own work to maintain the birthing tank. I am not crazy enough to do all that I can to provide fry survival conditions and then let my female drop fry in a large highly populated tank. Let's get real. If you focus as much as I do on fry survival, you cannot afford to think of anything less than a separate birth tank for common poeciliids. I find that goodeids are quite different. They can be very successful in a colony situation with fry survival relying mostly on the mere size of the fry that they bear.

 

[kribensis12]

Hey,
I figured that there wouldn't be to many fry that made it. I fed her the night before she dropped. I should have put a bit more cover in the tank, but I didn't have any on hand unless I took it from another tank. I bought these mollies for 1 dollar a piece, so I don't see that the exact number of fry is imperative. I know how to maximize my chances of getting more fry. It can start with feeding your fish higher protein food before they mate, as it increases the viability of the females eggs. Placing the female in a container or tank with plenty of hiding places and feeding her before she drops will increase the number of fry that survive.

I am always trying to maximize growth of fry. I am feeding the fry "Triple Growth Combo". It's a mixture of Earthworm, Plankton Krill, and Egg flakes. Here is a link:
You can purchase a pound for like 10 dollars. It's great stuff. All of my fish like it. My older silver mollies (got them for free) have shown an increased growth rate being fed this than other flakes. I always feed a tiny bit of Spirulina flakes as Mollies like a lot of vegitable matter in their diet. The only true reason I picked these mollies up is because they are selling very well at the auctions, I got them for almost nothing, and I needed a filler fish for my 47G until I find something interesting at the next auction.

 

[roadmaster]

Never much worried about growth of the fry with proper foods. as mentioned infusoria that inherently is found in and on plants water sprite,java mosss,eloeda,and even unchecked algae often provide for the fry in the first hours,days,after birth. I favor Omega one veggie flakes and powdered spirulina brine shrimp as they continue to grow.
Warm temperature of 82 to 84 degrees with twice weekly water changes seemed to produce better growth rates along with Alkaline waters.
I believe many of these fish(molly's) are kept in water that is too soft and too cool IME.

 

[kribensis12]

My tanks pH is 8.4 and the tank is at 82 degrees. The tank gets once weekly water changes.

 

[OldMan47]

In my own case, I would ease the tank temperature down to about 78F Krib. My own mollies run a bit cooler than that at about 76F.