Unexpected Molly Babies Help!

[thedragonreborn]

hEY JUST FOUND YOU WHEN RESEARCHING WHAT TO DO BUT NOTHING SEEMS TO HELP MY SITUATION. I'VE ONLY JUST BOUGHT MY MOLLY 3 DAYS AGO! IT'S A BRAND SPANKING NEW TANK AND JUST HER AND 3 NEONS. SHES ONLY A JUVENILE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK PREGNANT WHEN I BOUGHT HER BECAUSE THE SHOP DIDN'T EVEN KNOW OBVIOUSLY. AND I WOKE UP TO FIND LIL BLACK MOLLIES SWIMMING AROUND! THEY'RE SURPRISINGLY BIG. EVERYONE SAYS THAT THEY HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF FRY BUT SHES HAD 7(NOW 6 1 DIED AND CANNOT BE FOUND) 5, DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY AND 2 LASTNITE. NEITHER HER NOR THE NEONS SEEM BOTHERED BY THEM THEY SEEMS QUITE HAPPY AND EATING FLAKE FOOD. I DONT THINK SHE WILL HAVE ANYMORE AS THERE WOULD BE NOTHING LEFT OF HER. SHOULD I LEAVE THEM WHERE THEY ARE? DO I FEED THEM SOMETHING DIFFERENT, AS I SAID THEY SEEM HAPPY ENOUGH. ALSO I USED TO HAVE 4 NEONS COULD SHE HAVE ATTACKED IT IN HER ANGRY IN PAIN GIVING BIRTH STAGE THAT EVERY LADY GOES THROUGH?? SHE SEEMS FINE WITH THE OTHER NEONS. PLEASE I NEED ADVICE!
MUCH APPRECIATED
X

 

[scorphonic]

You can leave them where they are, they will survive if they are supposed to if you know what I mean. Let nature go its course if you dont feel comfortable with looking after them. I would research fry rearing if you want to keep the next batch of fry alive. The mollys and most other live bearers store sperm inside them and can become pregnant for up to 8 months on their stored sperm (no males needed at this stage!!) You will get more fry in about a month or so I would assume.

 

[thedragonreborn]

You can leave them where they are, they will survive if they are supposed to if you know what I mean. Let nature go its course if you dont feel comfortable with looking after them. I would research fry rearing if you want to keep the next batch of fry alive. The mollys and most other live bearers store sperm inside them and can become pregnant for up to 8 months on their stored sperm (no males needed at this stage!!) You will get more fry in about a month or so I would assume.

THANKYOU I WANT THEM TO SURVIVE BU THEY ARE SURPRISINGLY BIG FOR HER SO I THINK THEY WILL THERE NOT FAR FROM A CENTIMETRE. THE FIRST LOT HAVE GROM ALREADY THEY ARE SO CUTE AND THEY'RE SURPRISINGLY STRONG AND FAST SWIMMERS! I HOPE THEY SURVIVE. HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT BEFORE ADDING MORE FISH? I WAS GOIN TO GET GUPPIES, A SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH, COOLIE LOACH AND MAYBE A SMALL VARIETY OF PLEC. i HAVE TO WAIT A WEEK - 10 DAYS ANYWAY BUT HOW MUCH LONGER NOW THAT I'M A GRANDFATHER LOL.

 

[scorphonic]

Haha, grandfather!!

Since you have cycled your tank (I hope!!) you should wait at least a week between adding new fish. This isn't a set time wait though. I was able to stock my tank fully in one week but that was because I had seeded my filters with loads of bacteria before finishing my fishless cycle.

Your best adding small amount over time (say a week or so) if you are uncertain about the bacterial colony in your filters. Since you will probably have fry again, get some food for fry. I would highly recommend getting brine shrimp eggs. These can be hatched relatively easily using a salt water solution (not household salt however, i'm using Marine salt) and aeration using a cheap cheap cheap air pump!!. Search the web for brine shrimp hatcherys...they can be made at home from small bottles of your choice!!

Also you can buy a solution called "Liquifry #2". This is good to use in the first few days of fry life and then you should introduce them to the brine shrimp and then slowly ween them onto finely powdered flake food and then onto the same size flake food that you use for your other fish!!

If you can think of a nice clean way to powder the flake food....let me know!! I'm still learning myself.

 

[Jozlyn]

THANKYOU I WANT THEM TO SURVIVE BU THEY ARE SURPRISINGLY BIG FOR HER SO I THINK THEY WILL THERE NOT FAR FROM A CENTIMETRE. THE FIRST LOT HAVE GROM ALREADY THEY ARE SO CUTE AND THEY'RE SURPRISINGLY STRONG AND FAST SWIMMERS! I HOPE THEY SURVIVE. HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT BEFORE ADDING MORE FISH? I WAS GOIN TO GET GUPPIES, A SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH, COOLIE LOACH AND MAYBE A SMALL VARIETY OF PLEC. i HAVE TO WAIT A WEEK - 10 DAYS ANYWAY BUT HOW MUCH LONGER NOW THAT I'M A GRANDFATHER LOL.

Please don't type in all capitals, it's difficult to read and is considered to be shouting on the internet!

You can't have a Betta with the neon's, as the neon's will nip at his fins. Betta's and guppies can not be kept together as the Betta will fight with them and you will have fish carnage! There's not too much that can share a tank with a Betta! You need to up the amount of neon's you have to at least 5 as they are schooling fish and need to be in a group. I believe the loaches need a sand substrate so if you have gravel you either need to change to sand or not get the loaches. A nice small plec is the Bristlenose Catfish.

As for the shop not knowing she was pregnant, I could say a whole lot of things here about LFS's most of which are not pleasant! You can pretty much guarantee that any female live bearer (ie Mollys, guppies, platies, etc) you buy will be pregnant! And they can have lots and lots and lots of baby fish without having a male anywhere near them!

scorphonic pretty much covered the molly fry question for you, be prepared tho, she'll have more next time and could have up to 60 fry every two months or so for the next 8 months or so. So if you can't find homes for the fry you'd be better off taking her back to your LFS.

You say in your first post that it's "A BRAND SPANKING NEW TANK" have you cycled it? What are your water stats? Also how big is it?

 

[thedragonreborn]

Sorry about the caps, yes i have cycled it i had it fish free for about 4 days with a bacteria powder that supposedly speeds the breeding of bacteria.i was told to add the hardyist fish first as they can deal with the ammonia spike of a new tank having fish. in regards to the betta and guppies i posted this in the betta forum aswell there is alot of contradictions with that some books say they can others say they can't. that place where i got my stuff actually has them together and they seem happy (with guppy males that is) And with the neons nowhere have i read or heard that they would do that. i didn't know that they where fin nippers! my ph is 7 and temp at 26/27 degrees c so about 75f i think i dnt know conversion at all!, i'm buying a nitrate and ammonia test today

 

[Jozlyn]

If you can think of a nice clean way to powder the flake food....let me know!! I'm still learning myself.

Use normal fish flakes and grind it with a motar and pestle, that's how I made the fry food for my molly fry, loads cheaper than buying a tube of "fry food"!

 

[thedragonreborn]

Use normal fish flakes and grind it with a motar and pestle, that's how I made the fry food for my molly fry, loads cheaper than buying a tube of "fry food"!

thats good because that what i've been feeding them. thankyou all so much you've been really helpful. i think i'm going toi be on here alot and hopefully i'll be able to help people like me to, when i've got a bit more experience. cheers x

 

[Jozlyn]

Sorry about the caps, yes i have cycled it i had it fish free for about 4 days with a bacteria powder that supposedly speeds the breeding of bacteria.i was told to add the hardyist fish first as they can deal with the ammonia spike of a new tank having fish. in regards to the betta and guppies i posted this in the betta forum aswell there is alot of contradictions with that some books say they can others say they can't. that place where i got my stuff actually has them together and they seem happy (with guppy males that is) And with the neons nowhere have i read or heard that they would do that. i didn't know that they where fin nippers! my ph is 7 and temp at 26/27 degrees c so about 75f i think i dnt know conversion at all!, i'm buying a nitrate and ammonia test today

You need to get a NitrIte test kit as well, very important

I think you'll find that your tank is not cycled, 4 days is nowhere near long enough and unfortunately most of the "bacteria" that you can get from the LFS doesn't work very well if at all. Post your stat's when you get your test kits. In the meantime do a big water change, around 50% each day, just to be on the safe side.

Have a really close look at the guppies and Betta's fins at your LFS, I'm sure you'll find that they are a bit tatty from nipping.

Neon's are not hardy fish! Quite the opposite in fact! The fact that your still cycling your tank may be why your neon died. As for the neon's being fin nippers, I can tell you for a fact that mine are, they love nipping at the guppies tails I've seen them do it, the gupies will be moving to my other tank this weekend as their tails are starting to look a bit tatty.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

jozlyn's right the tank is unlikely to be cycled yet, have a read of this which should help you through it

 

[scorphonic]

I think he has cycled the tank, he said that it was fish free for 4 days and during those 4 days he was putting in a "powder" (I know for sure that this probably did nothing for the cycling process) and then he got hardy fish to cycle the tank...

So he did do a fish aided cycle. (or so his post reads)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I think he has cycled the tank, he said that it was fish free for 4 days and during those 4 days he was putting in a "powder" (I know for sure that this probably did nothing for the cycling process) and then he got hardy fish to cycle the tank...

So he did do a fish aided cycle. (or so his post reads)

yup while i can see that a cycle with fish can take a very long time, much longer than a fishless cycle as the levels of ammonia are a lot lower. they also said the tank is brand spanking new. for it to have been cycled with fish it'd be maybe 3/4 months old. depends on your definition of brand spanking new of course but i think it's possible it's still cycling.

 

[scorphonic]

Ah, 3 to 4 months...there in lies why it was said he is not cycled!!

My mistake! I did a fishless cycle so 2 weeks was the max!!

I stand very much corrected!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Ah, 3 to 4 months...there in lies why it was said he is not cycled!!

My mistake! I did a fishless cycle so 2 weeks was the max!!

I stand very much corrected!

np, not only is fishless cycling safer it's also quicker and easier than cycling with fish

 

[thedragonreborn]

Ah, 3 to 4 months...there in lies why it was said he is not cycled!!

My mistake! I did a fishless cycle so 2 weeks was the max!!

I stand very much corrected!

np, not only is fishless cycling safer it's also quicker and easier than cycling with fish

WOAH WOAH slow down! too much info! Are my fish in danger? Noone else has died i left it for four days fish free with the bacteria building powder (i'll get the name of it if that helps?) then i bought my neons and molly, 1 neon died but thats it, everyone else is alive and eating (btw the babaies have grown! They're so cute!) Right my stats for my tank are as follows: It's 35l tank at 26 degrees so (75f) my PH is 7, KH is 6, GH is 7 NO2( nitrite/nitrate, cant remember) is 0.5mg per litre and the NO3 (again nitrite/ nitrate) is 10mg per litre. according to the test they're all fine. and i've heard that nitrite is more important than nitrate coz my g/f is doing chemistry Alevel and said that nitrite is the toxic stage before it turns to the less harmful nitrate (or the other way round i can 't remember). Should i change anything? My mate keeps guppies and a betta together and they're happy together, will i ever get a straight answer?
cheers x