Regular Member Trico Posted January 8, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 8, 2008 Okay, I want to save as many of these guys possible... I tryed to make a little fish catcher but it backfired in my face...the thing didn't work it was too wobbly and left open areas where mollies could get trapped under. I want a safe way for my mollies to have fry, but I want as little stress as possible (which is why I'm staying away from confined plastic/net breeders) any ideas? Any help would be appreciated! oh and heres a pic of my idea, for better conceptual understanding; Pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trico Posted January 8, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 8, 2008 No one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Petperson04 Posted January 8, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 8, 2008 I am by no means an expert on fish breeding, but this might work, provided you have an extra tank: Take the mother fish out of her tank and put her in a separate tank, let her birth the fry, then move her back to the normal tank. Then you can raise the fry in the separate tank, and there's no chance of any getting eaten/hurt. If there aren't any more replies, I would try reposting the topic in another section of the message board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 8, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 8, 2008 Put a lot of plasic plants on the bottom of the tank for the babies to hide in. There are also things at the pet store that you can buy that sepatates the babies from the mother after their born. Your idea might also work. Give it a try. In fish keeping a lot is learned by trying different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trico Posted January 9, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted January 9, 2008 I have an extra 5 gallon, I think it would be an appropriate baby tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 123456789 Posted January 9, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 9, 2008 a 5 gallon will be ok for the fry growing up in, to speed up their growth, you can raise the temperature up abit and of course feeding it live and healthy food. I do not breed mollies so i dont know what advice to give you, i breed guppies, even though guppies and mollies are alot alike, but you can just have floating plants and plants either fake or real in your tank so the fry can have place to hide. During the dropping of fry the female wont be moving around much. If you have a seperate tank, keep her in there, sometime the male mollies can be stressing her out. if you know the day when they mate, in about 20 - 30 days after that depends on the enviroment, temperature and foods, she should be dropping fry. I am not sure if Mollies carry multiple shacks of sperms like guppies does, but after guppies drop their fry, they might be dropping a few more becasue they stored the sperms. During the dropping time, you can turn off the light so she cant see the fry and not so stress out as well. Sometime if you are lucky you will catch her dropping it, in almost 3 years of breeding guppies (and giving most away) I only seen one time my female dropping fry. lol If you want a filter for the tank, then use a net and wrap around the filter so it would not suck in the fry. But I suggest not using a filter during its dropping. Also something, think about it before breeding, do you think there will be a LFS that would take your fish, or do you have enough space. If not then I would say get atleast 3 tanks, one for fry, female, and male. when the fry growing up, start classify them male or female right away before they mate early, which can be abit crazy because sometime if it's to young like a few guppies i got, died from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kusackaid Posted January 9, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 9, 2008 I just want to say that I know the fry are supposed to go to the bottom, but both my mollie and platty fry always seem to hang out at the top of the tank. My tank has three bunches of live plants that have grown to the top and across the top of the water so there are lots of places the fry can get into to hide that the bigger ones can't. I think they tend to find the best hiding spot and stay in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 9, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 9, 2008 The best filter for a fry tank is a sponge filter. Sponge filters are Ok to use when she's dropping babies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member devinzbaby Posted January 13, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 13, 2008 one more thing is that the fry are VERY easily stressed, do not give them gravel in the new tank, and do only water changes as needed, they are very sensitive to water changes as well as movement. I usually only do one small water change a week and all my mollies are doing amazing. So just dont get carried away with water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 14, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 14, 2008 Water changes don't hurt the fry if your careful. I do 50% daily water changes in my fry tanks. I also don't use gravel in my fry tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member balashark Posted January 14, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 14, 2008 Why so heavy on the water changes? Are your fry tanks unfiltered or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 15, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 15, 2008 I keep a sponge filter in my fry tank. I start the daily water change the day after they're born/free swimming because I feed large amounts newly hatched brine shrimp 2-4 times a day. Much more than the fry could possably eat so the uneaten brine shrimp need to be syphoned out. At first their fed twice a day and one daily water change. As they get bigger they get more feedings and more water changes until I stop feeding live foods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member balashark Posted January 16, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 16, 2008 Ohh ok, that makes sense then, you're doing it more to remove the uneaten food. The reason I asked was sometimes you'll get people that do large water changes every day on their normal established tanks, not realizing that the small benefit is outweighed by the stress to the fish and the possible elimination of some beneficial bacteria. Do you breed mollies or something else nick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member nick11380 Posted January 16, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted January 16, 2008 I've bred several different kinds of fish over the years. Mollies, guppies, swordtails, patties, Oscars, convicts, angels, white clouds, and goldfish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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