Pregnet Platys/mollies

[angelzz303]

how long exactly are mollies pregnant

how ong exactly are platies pregnant

 

[5teady_2012]

how long exactly are mollies pregnant

how ong exactly are platies pregnant

4-6 weeks

 

[helterskelter]

This depends on the temperature mainly.
at 78f it's around 30 days.

Lower the temperature the long the gestation period.

 

[OldMan47]

Well put Helterskelter. I find that in my tank a molly will carry fry for about 6 weeks from drop to drop. I run mine a bit cooler than many people and expect two things to happen. First is the longer gestation period but second is a longer life. In warmer water, the fish live a high speed and shorter lifespan. Everything is accelerated including maturation and growth.

 

[5teady_2012]

Well put Helterskelter. I find that in my tank a molly will carry fry for about 6 weeks from drop to drop. I run mine a bit cooler than many people and expect two things to happen. First is the longer gestation period but second is a longer life. In warmer water, the fish live a high speed and shorter lifespan. Everything is accelerated including maturation and growth.

Longer life?

Your acutally putting fish in more danger when running tropical fish tanks at lower temps, the reason being, This will make them vulnerable to illness and other health problems. A tropical fish's metabolism is designed to function in warm water, as soon as it gets cold this metabolism slows down and they become lethargic, stressed, and become sick eaiser, In addition to this, a lot of parasites thrive in cooler water "hence the reason we up temps when fish gets disease cos it speeds the process up". Since the fish are already weakened due to cooler temps, they can easily be infected with them as well.

Healthy fish need a good temperature for their water and its a known proven fact, the cooler the water, it slows their systems down and can cause a lot of stress and problems.

I would of expected you to already know this information oldman47!

The warmer the water, the better the health of the fish and less chance of disease and sickness.

 

[OldMan47]

I have heard those theories before, but I believe my own eyes when it comes to fish health. Mine do run a lower metabolic rate as you suggest, but they are not sickly and I have not seen any disease in my tanks since I got back into the hobby about 8 years ago. Warm water may be a typical disease treatment because it speeds the life cycle of the offending organism but it is not a routine maintenance preference for healthy fish. The oxygen content of cooler water is far better and many of our "tropical" fish are stressed by temperatures as low as 26C. They have ranges of normal acceptable temperatures from about 20 to 27C. Most of the commonly available cories cannot thrive at all in water over about 25C. The common livebearers we keep do great at 22C and the goodeids that I keep fail to thrive at as low as 24C when it is sustained for any period of time. I know that you have raised lots of livebearers over the years, but high temperatures is a commercial breeder's preference because it gets the fish out of his ponds and onto store shelves faster, not because it is better for the fish.

 

[5teady_2012]

I have heard those theories before, but I believe my own eyes when it comes to fish health. Mine do run a lower metabolic rate as you suggest, but they are not sickly and I have not seen any disease in my tanks since I got back into the hobby about 8 years ago. Warm water may be a typical disease treatment because it speeds the life cycle of the offending organism but it is not a routine maintenance preference for healthy fish. The oxygen content of cooler water is far better and many of our "tropical" fish are stressed by temperatures as low as 26C. They have ranges of normal acceptable temperatures from about 20 to 27C. Most of the commonly available cories cannot thrive at all in water over about 25C. The common livebearers we keep do great at 22C and the goodeids that I keep fail to thrive at as low as 24C when it is sustained for any period of time. I know that you have raised lots of livebearers over the years, but high temperatures is a commercial breeder's preference because it gets the fish out of his ponds and onto store shelves faster, not because it is better for the fish.

I bred fish for my own enjoyment not to sell on..

You cant just ignore proven facts oldman just because it works for you, its about giving people the best advice possible not the best advice that works for one person.

parasites thrive off cooler water, and parasites and a fish with a slowed down metabolism is a killer combination, you said fish live longer in cooler water, but that statement is way of course, there is plenty of proven facts out there to read on about this and i suggest people cautious about this read them and learn more about temperatures and the probelms it can cause and the pros and cons of temps. im not saying this to have a dig at you or anyone but just to make people aware that sometimes proven facts that come from people who dedicate thier lives to provide us with this information should not be overlooked by one person wh does the opposite and it works (surely that u understand)

Again this forum is about gicing people the best advice possible, and sometimes i even give people the best advice i can even if something different works for me, we share our experiences, but still should always still to the common facts of things to from the experts.

 

[OldMan47]

I would be happy to read the writings of researchers into temperatures best suited to livebearers. Where can I obtain such information? I am well aware of the folly of believing anything that I read in a Wikipedia type of location and find that no two forums agree on anything to any significant extent. Authors of books in the typical pet shop have no more scientific background than you or I do and draw on their own experiences as each of us do. I do read scientific papers from time to time and find very little reliable research done on longevity. I suspect that the mere fact that our fish live a long time when given proper care has prevented it being a major subject of research. Many researchers are operating on funding that is good for a given school term or maybe a whole year but not nearly long enough for a longevity study. Where that leaves us is mostly on the experiences of individuals like you and I who have kept fish with some success and with decent observations being made. I do not take my responsibility lightly in this matter and would love to find actual research into longevity and water temperatures. I am far from unwilling to change my opinion based on actual research into a subject. I do know for a fact that many of the fish that I keep will not survive being kept regularly at "tropical" temperatures but that does not include most of the common pet shop fish. Most of those can survive temperatures as high as 26C or a bit more.

 

[5teady_2012]

Your completely missing the point, 1 persons opinion is all good and well and should be taken on board, but still we has people who provide the best information possible for others should not just be on our own experiences but also others who have sucessfully accomplished something, i as an individual who has dealt with fish for many years give my opinion on what i think, but also add what other peoples views are so the person needing help can make up thier own mind and decide on the best information possible.

The statment you made about them living longer is something i persoanlly think was not really good advice, simply cos the information has a lot more cons than pros... someone like wilder who knows a lot about fish diseases and parasites will tell you that the cooler the water, the more things like parasites will thrive, so where your thinking your giving your fish a longer life (which is not even a certainty) your actually making it vunrable do such diseases. also slowing down its motabilism which is far from a good thing.

Tropical fish are designed to live in higher temperatures and there is a lot of cons and very little pros doing otherwise.

This is 2 perfectly good reasons and logic reasons why cooler is not better (just because you seem to think your fish live longer which im sure a few fish in a fishtank dont really prove that).

My whole point is, in this situation, your information was not the best at the time, and better information (and overall common answer) was not given.


I just think sometimes you get to technical and beyond a simple answer.

"hence my original answer of 4-6 weeks (which simply covers the gestaition periods warm or cool)"

 

[helterskelter]

Your completely missing the point, 1 persons opinion is all good and well and should be taken on board, but still we has people who provide the best information possible for others should not just be on our own experiences but also others who have sucessfully accomplished something, i as an individual who has dealt with fish for many years give my opinion on what i think, but also add what other peoples views are so the person needing help can make up thier own mind and decide on the best information possible.

"Missing the point!"
"Provide the best information possible for others"

And not listening to other's and hammering home yours, is one of your skill's. Sorry!
Your taking the pee m8

If it was printed in an article that tou have to put 6 inch nail's through your eye lids would you?
Were not talking about keeping guppies at 10oC here!
Temps of 16-27 are perfect

Their was no need for your attack on oldman here. and yes i mean attack.
When it was me who brought temperature in to the equation here.

 

[5teady_2012]

Your completely missing the point, 1 persons opinion is all good and well and should be taken on board, but still we has people who provide the best information possible for others should not just be on our own experiences but also others who have sucessfully accomplished something, i as an individual who has dealt with fish for many years give my opinion on what i think, but also add what other peoples views are so the person needing help can make up thier own mind and decide on the best information possible.

"Missing the point!"
"Provide the best information possible for others"

And not listening to other's and hammering home yours, is one of your skill's. Sorry!
Your taking the pee m8

If it was printed in an article that tou have to put 6 inch nail's through your eye lids would you?
Were not talking about keeping guppies at 10oC here!
Temps of 16-27 are perfect

Their was no need for your attack on oldman here. and yes i mean attack.
When it was me who brought temperature in to the equation here.

If you think it was a attack then thats your problem, it was not an attack whatsoever.

Read up on parasites, read up on keeping fish at low temps and what it does to them, read up on matabolism, then get back to me...

And yes, he is missing the point, one persons advice is not always the best advice, but many peoples advice thats the same is better. NOW DO YOU GET MY POINT?

ps, how can u make out that when im giving someone information on pletny of cons to cooler temps is a bad thing?

[Mod Edit - Please watch your language]

If people want to take mt advice or opinions personally, thats not my problem, its not my intentions to come across nasty

 

[helterskelter]

Oh I do know the pro's and con's and not arguing over this.

However your attaude is OTT here and not welcome.
I used to like bantering with your replys and never felt like they was an personal attack on any person, however not being here for 2 months now you have changed.

Read your post and hope fully you see we was only backing and adding to your original post.
Should we of just left it that you post was the only one.....

Grow up!

 

[Harlequins]

I don't know what your problem is livebearer-master,why are you trying to annoy people tonight and make a big hoo-ha on good advice from helter & oldman.

Oh dear i hope i'm not [Mod Edit again...] as well!!

 

[Tolak]

Let's play nice, consider this a warning!

Thank you in advance!

 

[5teady_2012]

Oh I do know the pro's and con's and not arguing over this.

However your attaude is OTT here and not welcome.
I used to like bantering with your replys and never felt like they was an personal attack on any person, however not being here for 2 months now you have changed.

Read your post and hope fully you see we was only backing and adding to your original post.
Should we of just left it that you post was the only one.....

Grow up!

So let me get this right, he quotes my post and give his opinion, i do the same back, and im the one OTT (maybe its just you taking it wrong way?)

Since when have i ever personally attacked anyone on here?

And im not welcome? what by you and maybe 2 or 3 others? sorry but who cares? i help many on here and get many people asking for help, dont get complaints from them.

The minute someone with a lot of knowledge is challenged, you get all on the defensive???

maybe your the one with problem?




Only thing i can see what i think maybe could of been worded different is when i said he gets technical rather than straight to the point with a simple answer.

Thats just a opinion and not meant to come across in a attacking way at all