[Randa]

Hello all, I was hoping I could get an answer for a friend of mine, she has a very pergant female, she got a male for her while she was pergant (we think) and she bashed him to death... so she was wondering are mollies usally like this? and how does the female get pergant? I'm used to breeding egg laying fish the only fish that are live barers in my tank are my krebensis, and they take care of themselfs.

Randa.

 

[Fishboydanny1]

kribensis arent livebearers, they're egglayers; you just dont see the fry until they are free swimming. as for the balloon mollies (though I dislike the balloon variety) if you want to save the babies, remove the pregnant mom, or the babies WILL get eaten. If you don't have another tank to put her in by herself, a breeding trap will be ok, temporarily.

If you do have another tank, then set it up using the original (the one the mom fish is in now) water to fill the new one. leave it bare, as it's easier to suck up the wastes during the weekly water changes. a ten gallon tank could raise a fair sized batch to adulthood. feed the babies crushed flake food. glad I could help!

 

[Randa]

Thanks, her bollon mollie (which she dislikes also) ended up having babys in her community tank and she seperated them to a different tank.

I honestly didnt know that about kribensis, I just figured they must have been live bearers because like you said, you just see them swimming around by themselves. Might have to start paying more attention to them...

 

[eaglesfan3711]

I love the balloon mollies. The fry come in such a diverse variety. I currently have a batch of about 15 fry. No two are alike. Good Luck with them. Just remember they get a lot bigger faster if you feed them several times a day.

 

[Watertiger]

I'm as far from an expert as one can be, however, I have a pair of Balloon mollies, they had babies and didn't eat a single one!! In fact, I was HOPING they would, because the last thing I need is MORE fish that eat and poop as much as my two adult mollies do! As the fry grew, I put them in my other community tanks where the fish did eat them. I saved three of the fry, feeling guilty for having fed the others "to the lions!

 

[roc-aquarium]

I saved three of the fry, feeling guilty for having fed the others "to the lions!

Big fish eating little fish isn't cruel, it's nature. I've had lots of people make comments to me about using feeder fish and how inhumane it is. My response is usually something about what would they eat naturally.

I think feeding the fry to other fish is more humane then raising unwanted fish in overcrowded conditions.

 

[Watertiger]

I think feeding the fry to other fish is more humane then raising unwanted fish in overcrowded conditions.

That is exactly how I feel - creating aquariums as close to nature as possible means allowing nature to take its course. Thanks for the positive feedback!

 

[eaglesfan3711]

Unless you are trying to save them, you will quickly overpopulate the tank. Just remember, the less you keep, the more you save the other fish. Remember, with all animals the more they populate, the more prone they are to disease.

 

[Watertiger]

I'm going to put the "happy couple" in the 55 gallon we will be tanferring many of our fish too - this way they can "do what comes naturally" and the rest of the tankmates will take care of the population by eating the fry. As my ole buddy Steve Irwin always said, "It's nature's way!"

 

[djrichie]

I hear you all saying naturally... in nature the fry wouls have 1000's a gallon of water to hide in.... In an aquarium setting they have a very small amount with generally more fish than you will find in that amount ofwater, in their natural water..... I'm not saying anything wrong with using fry to feed your fish, I just wanted to clear up the term natural. So it really not fair to say let nature take it course, be cause the odd are even more slanted againest fry in an aquarium than in natural habitat

 

[Watertiger]

I was being facetious, not literal. OY VEY!