baby fish!?

Question

my fish just had babies!!! 14 that i found. i seperated them and put them in the ten gallon tank i had been reserving for them as i have been anticipating this event. im not sure whether they are mollies platys or guppies. (i have three pregnant ladies in my tank) anyway i know your are supposed to grind the fish food into a powder and do frequent water changes every other if not daily untill they are big enough and can be put in the community tank but does anyone have any other advice? this is my first batch of fry so i need help!!! they are so cute!! thanks ahead of time for your help!!if you want to email me directly


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Answer 1

Here's some suggestions that would apply to any of those livebearers.

Raising the babies: Feed the babies fairly often, 4-5 times a day isn't too often and change 40 - 50% of the tank water every 2-3 days. The larger the babies get the more often you will have to change water until the babies are adults. Install a tank divider in the baby tank as soon as possible and once you can tell males from females start to seperate them. Most serious breeders end up using two tanks, so you might want to plan on that in the future. Seperate them as soon as possible! Also do not give up on the water changes! They are critical for proper growth! I cannot stress this enough!

Culling: Culling is removing undesirable fish from your stock. Remove any deformed fish you see as soon as you see them. It's not uncommon to have a few deformed fish. Humanely kill these as you certainly don't want them breeding. Once the babies are nearly grown you will be able to pick out the best looking male and best lookig females. This is where color choice comes in. You will most likely have fish of two or three different colors. Return you original fish and the extra babies to the pet store or donate them to another fish keeper, to a school, whatever. Place your best male and three best females in the now empty main tank. and let them do what come naturally. Then you will start the whole process over.

While you are raising the babies, you will have babies from one of the other females too if not both of them. You will have to choose, set up another tank for them or leave them with the adults to do as well as they can. Your call. As you can see, you could end up with tanks all over the house in no time at all, so be aware you can't keep them all! LOL

Answer 2

dont separate the mother from the babies!!!!!!!!!!