How long before I have fry all over the place?

Question

I recently(within the last 2 weeks) aquired several livebearers. (Mollies, Swordtails, & Guppies) As many as 12 of the females appeared pregnant already. Now a few of them look ready to explode. I'm trying to figure out how long I have to get them separated. My tank is 55 gallons with plenty of plants and hidey holes

Answer 1

There really isn't any way to know for sure how long you have until they start having babies. From what you describe it could be any minute. Unless you have a plan that incloudes something to do with all thesse babies when they grow up, I would suggest you leave them in the tank and allow only a few to survive. Each female will have babies about once a month and unless you have an outlest to get rid of them you will have more fish than you have tank space in no time at all.

MM

Answer 2

You can really never tell when live bearers are going to "pop" Be prepaired. Set up breeders nets and buy or make your fry food.
The last time my fishy had babies i bought one of those cloth hang-on nets, i would reccomend getting one of the hard ones because they fry would get stuck between the cloth and the frame, they would even get stuck in the seams. Plus after one month algae began to grow and it's impssible to get it off, although sometimes i saw the fry eating it. The hard plastic ones have two containers, the lower one with slits so that the baby fishes can fall through and be safe from their mothers.
If the fry can fit in the moulths of the other fish, they will be eaten.
if you are aiming to keep breeding nets out of the picture, which you may with 12 pregnant females, i suggest getting different types of mosses and plants which have very fine leaves and would be good hiding places for your babies. These plants make all the difference, plus the mosses will grow along the bottom of your tank and look really kewl.
To feed the babies in the "free swimming" method i reccomend soaking the fry food in water and, using a turkey baster, squirt it on the plants where they like to hide.

Answer 3

Hi
they do make special small tanks for just this purpose you put the female in it and at the bottom there are slats or holes in which the fry drop through into the tank so the mother won't eat them.you can put the females in pretty much right away
It's probaly best to have a separate tank for the fry till they mature enough or get big enough so the others won't eat them also expect a few of them to die it's just a thing that happens.