Here's what happened, My two black mollies decided to spring a surprise on us when they gave birth to 18 fry. I skipped work in excitement and went to an acquarium shop to pick up a tank and all accessories. I bought some small river stones washed them thoroughly, inserted a water heater (to 28 degrees centi) and popped all my rescued mollies in it. Two days later all of them are swimming funny (that is those that have survived -about 8). I might mention here that I had inserted 4 pregnant guppies into the same tank as well (capacity about 20 litres). Aprt from the 7 dead mollies, 3 guppies died. I added a general treatment dose for itch etc. the bottles u get in the store. All the remaining fry seem to be swimming funny, almost as if they are exhausted. I feel morally responsible for the fish and desperately need your help !!!
2007-01-31 09:10:50 · 9 answers · asked by Shalak 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
Sorry to hear about your loss of fish, but don;t feel too bad as any and every breeder has lost plenty of fish. Sometimes it is your error, but sometimes not.
A surprise brrod like that is tough to save unless you are always ready for it. I think you probably did the best you could and gave it a really good try. The problem you ran into was that your new tank wasn't cycled and the ammonia built up to a toxic level.
Here's a few tips for when you get babies. Try to spot the pregnant female in time to set up a tank in advance and move her into it. Alone is the best. Move her out once the babies are born. Change water in the baby tank big and often. 50% evey day is not too much. Babies leave lots of uneaten food around and that fouls the tank really fast. Those simple thing will increase you chances of success 10 fold at least. I would suggest you grab a basic aquarium book the covers breeding a little and read up as well as checking out some websites about breeding livebearers. There is so much more you will want to know before you get more babies to care for.
As far as the rest swimming funny, they probably always will due to the ammonia poisoning, but maybe not as well. Give them time.
Best of luck and don't let it get you down, like the rest of us you liv and learn.
2007-01-31 09:43:33 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mollies and guppies are very fragile fish, in other words, they will be the first fish to tell you that the water has to be changed. Also, female mollies will develop a sort of grey spot underneath their bellies near the end of the body when they are pregnant. This will become darker the nearer they get to giving birth.
The symptoms they have can also be a result of temperature shock, because you put them in the new water straight away. Next time, put them in a plastic bag with some water from the previous tank and let them bobber about 15 mins in the new tank. This will get them used to the new temperature and they will not get the shock from a sudden change in temperature.
Another thing is that tap water, especially when you have hard water is very dangerous for fish. Next time, buy some water conditioner, if you have not already, add this to the tank 15 mins before adding the fish. Otherwise, just fill the tank like regular and leave it to settle for about a day. I do not know exactly why, but the water loses some of its toxicity.
Mollies are very cute and all, but can be very canabilistic. When they breed next time, immediately take out the fry after mom has given birth, because mom and dad will eat them like there's no tomorrow. Or put some dense vegitation in the tank to help them survive till you get back from work.
Another good idea is to get a fry tank, when you see that the female is about to give birth, put her in the litte fry tank. This tank will allow the baby fish to fall through to the bottom so mom cannot get to them. Then when she is finished, take her out and remove the cover, allowing the babies to take their first breath of air. This is very important.
Good luck.
2007-01-31 10:14:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
huy, sorry about your fish buddy, you should test your tank and see if everything is ok.My expierence was quite the oppositte, when the fry born I added them to a small tank using the same water of the parents, no one die and they are all living right. Maybe your tank was not ready to receive the fish, you have to get your cycle done and measure all that stuff(ammonia, nitrates, ph temperature etc.).well if u still have mollies and guppies I'm sure you get new frys in a couple of months or less. Prepare your tank from now.......
2007-01-31 09:55:27 · answer #3 · answered by mmmmmm 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Surpise fry are hard to save, as they probably didn't get the right nutrients in the womb and you may not know the contion of the parents pre-baby. Please don't be sad if these ones don't make it. Keep the nursery tank running while you mollies (and guppies) try again. And perhaps you should read everything you can on the internet and in books about breeding live-bearing fish. It's an amazing cycle. But in all honesty, it's best if not all survived, otherwise in a matter of months you would no longer have a home. Just a roof over tons of aquariums.
2007-01-31 09:16:13 · answer #4 · answered by EYoungmom88 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
new tanks could have ammonia spikes. if you don't check your ammonia (i never do) if the water smells a little off do a partial change. its hard with fry in the tank but it actually is thought to help them grow faster if the water is fresh. i assume you had some kind of fry food? uneaten food will make your ammonia go off too. mollies often give birth so read up and be prepared for the next batch.
2007-01-31 10:29:17 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your tank was too small. Do you know anything about the nitrogen cycle in tanks? You should look for an article about cycling a tank. The water may have had toxic levels of ammonia and nitrites because it was overstocked.
Other things to note are that you should quarentine new fish before adding them to the tank. And don't go treating for things not present. Ich is a parasite that looks like salt grains on the fins. You didn't have this. What you had was classic symptoms of water toxicity.
2007-01-31 09:21:33 · answer #6 · answered by bzzflygirl 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I am so sorry about you mollies!!!!!!! But there is a possibility that they died because of the nitrogen cycle. If the tank wasnt running for at least 2wks then put some media(filter,gravel) then it was properly cycled and that might of been why they died, not to blame you of course, I hope you have better luck w/ fish!!!!
2007-01-31 11:19:08 · answer #7 · answered by Dani K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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2016-12-03 07:13:09 · answer #8 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The babies should always be kept where they were born!!!!
2007-01-31 09:39:52 · answer #9 · answered by lilgman424 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋