Pregnant Dalmation Molly

[Lyra0727]

Really glad to hear that That's one of the things I always worry when it comes to fry.. rather or not their eating. I have 5 fry right now about a day old. 3 swims at the bottom 2 at the top and none of them are near the plants I spent 30 bucks on to keep them safe But the others dont try to eat them either! They'll swim by and swim away. Guppies are weird.. maybe thats why the fry that survived actually survived? Maybe the fish dont really go after the fry unless really really hungry? hmmmmmm.....

What are you feeding your fry?

 

[OldMan47]

With poor cover, not many fry will survive in a tank that houses zebras. The fighter is not hard for a fry to escape but the zebras are fast and always hungry. The female zebra in your picture looks like she has been eating well so I can guess what happened to the rest of the drop that you can't account for. Since she was sharing the trap during the drop, she probably gobbled up a few while the drop was happening.

 

[Althamon]

Since where I am getting the fry food is a bit hit and miss I ground the normal flakes really fine and feed them the smallest pinch as I read that is ok to do.

the zebra that got into the trap was my long finned one and still looks quite lean so I don't think he/she got much of a chance.

I am going to hazard a guess but I think the fry may be a little too big for the zebra mouths and getting that way for the adult molly's in just a few days since they were born O_O will try and get something to show the scale.

 

[Min8040]

Congrats on your fry Althamon. I just started reading this post today as I have just purchased 3 so called mini mollies today for my son. You actually had me worked up a waiting to see what the outcome was going to be with yours. 1 of the ones I got to day looks a bit squarish. I might do what you did and record when I purchased it and do a count down.

Min.

 

[Althamon]

Thanks, you weren't the only one waiting though lol. But I definitely recommend reading oldmans post regarding "one drop to the next" and the first time I thought she would drop matched up with what he said about being the "false drop" to the beginners and this thread benefited me as it helped me understand what to look for.

If you look at the closeups of my Molly you will see a little White lump which is her backside (I thought it was breeding tube) and hours before she dropped I noticed by mistake a slightly pink hole above it and overnight they arrived.

Also I have learnt that not all livebearers are the same as she kept eating and didn't feel much of a need to hide away from the others but I did notice her pick a corner of the tank and she went up and down it like crazy then skimmed surface and back to the corner.

And finally the fry are now HUGE and starting to gain some black spots and light pigmentation.

 

[Althamon]

Molly 2 gave birth today to 1 fry which I thought is quite strange, no still born or otherwise, but then again she didn't square up much at all, and dropped it on time too.

 

[Lyra0727]

Are you sure most of them didnt get snacked on?

 

[Althamon]

I haven't a clue as I just found this one hiding below the heater. Only after wondering how long she had left and realised did I start to check. I do know there weren't any last night or up to 30mins before i checked as I had my arm in there getting the cucumber remainder from near the heater.

 

[Lyra0727]

They probably just got snacked on. I know with my guppies I tend to lose around 75% of my fry due to being snacked on the night after being dropped. But since they were large drops I still get at least 4-6 left

Maybe yours was a smaller drop causing you to only have one survivor? Or maybe you have more but dont see them yet! Keep a close eye out for a few days. They are very good hiders!

 

[Althamon]

I think it was a small drop anyway as I was doubting her being square enough to even be pregnant. I guess this was just her first batch as she was quite small when I got her

 

[OldMan47]

A very young female may have a drop of only a few fry. In the wild, livebearers drop far fewer fry than we usually see in our tanks. A typical wild guppy, for instance, may drop from 3 to 7 fry while we often see 30 or more from a single drop. The mature and well fed females that we rear are simply in good enough shape to carry far more fry than a young female or poorly nourished mature wild fish.