Taking care of babies?

Question

I have baby swordtail and molly fish. What I am wondering is, what steps do I need to take to keep their tank clean?

Answer 1

This was written specifically for guppies, but it works just as well for mollies and swords. Congrats of the babies and best of luck witht them


Tank requirements: You need to have two tanks at least 10 gallons in size. The first one should be cycled and all settled ready for your new breeding stock. The second should be filled with water and have a sponge filter running. It should also gave a heater and lots of hiding places for the babies. Set up both tanks and keep the temperature in both about 74-78 F, swordtails and mollies will do well in that range. pH, hardness and other water conditions are not very important to either kind of fish. They tolerant a very wide range of parameters.

Feeding: For the adults you need to feed a good basic flake food as well as the occasional treat of frozen foods. Buy a couple of them to swap between, blood wroms, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp are all good. For the babies you need baby brine shrimo to feed for the first few days and some cruches flake to start mixing in after that. Yes, you can just crush the flake yuou use for the adults.

The Fish: Get 1 male for every 2-3 females. No need to get many, after all you expect to breed plenty! Most you find at pet stores will already be pregnant so if you are really serious about getting just the right color you will need to by from a serious breeder or be prepared to work at it a while.

The mating: Just put them together and they will do the rest.

Once the female is very gravid (pregnant) move her to the empty tank and leave her there until she has the babies. Once she has them you can more her back to the main tank. 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.

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 looking 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

Hope this helps

MM

Answer 2

For small fish a sponge filter(air powered) is nice and gentle.It helps if it's been running in a well cycled tank for a few weeks to start a nice bacteria colony. It's also easier to keep a fry tank clean if there is no gravel to deal with. A bare tank bottom is easier to siphon clean with a small diameter hose,(like a 3' length of air line).Again a sponge filter that already has a bacteria colony is a big help in providing the stable water conditions that promote healthy fish and a fast and steady growth rate. The temperature should be in the high 70's F. Small water changes to siphon out the stuff on the bottom should be done almost daily.Small feedings are important to help keep the water clean. There are some good, and inexpensive, books on raising live-bearers that describe how to set up a fry tank and the care and feeding of fry.-------- Isn't it fun?---Good luck,PeeTee.