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Molly babies! (Help is appreciated)

975 views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  Anitax3x 
#1 ·
Okay so I woke up yesterday to five spunky balloon molly fry! I put them in a breeder because I had school all day. I came home and my momma molly still looked pretty pregnant! so I set up my 5 gal tank with water from the 20gal they were born in, a sponge filter I have it about half way filled,an adjustable heater set at 79 F, some anacharis and cabomba. I googled what those little mollies will eat and most said crushed (almost into powder) fish flakes/pellets will do since I have no live food available. I tried it and they all ate twice yesterday. (YAY) And later last night the momma popped out more babies, alot were deformed, stillborn, bad eggs, and most can't seem to swim, they swim as hard as they can for about 30 seconds and then sink to the bottom. So I'm sad because I don't think they're going to make it :-( The mom is in the breeder floating in the 5 gal, She's in there seperated from the fry, because I don't want her stressed in my 20 gal. I did a water change today (gradually because I read if I shocked the fry by changing the water too fast they could die). They are SUPER active! And mom is still kind of acting weird like she did when she needed to drop more babies so I'm keeping an eye on her.

So I have questions

I have frozen brine shrimp I got from petsmart, When could I introduce that as a food source? I also have frozen ( not freeze dried!!!!) blood worms.


I saw on here some of you guys use snails to keep your grow out tanks clean, and eat the dead fry from the bottom of your tank, If this is true, what type of snails do you recommend?

I am feeding them twice a day, and changing some (not all.. around 1/3) of the water every day, is this a good schedule to follow? If not, pleasee tell me what I should be doing, I want them to live.

If I have missed something, or am doing something wrong tell me. I've never raised fry before.
 
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#2 ·
This was not planned, I bought the mollies last saturday, based on what I googled, they are both females , and since they are balloon mollies I figured she was just extra fat, LOL . So she came home from petco pregnant!
 
#4 ·
I tried that, not many people answered, should I try a different forum? I figured you guys know so much about breeding I could get some pointers on raising fry lol!
 
#5 ·
I can't speak for other people, but I've only owned a Molly once in my life. Rofl. My guess with the fry is plenty of live food, plenty of clean, warm water and they'll eventually grow. This forum is a sub-forum of FishForums.net. You can try looking here under the different categories.
 
#6 ·
HAHA! this is literally my 6th day owning mollies.. how funny right! Would any stores like pet stores like petsmart or petco carry live baby brine shrimp?
 
#7 ·
First the food. The dried shrimp will be fine in about two weeks, but they do not provide much nutrition. Neither do the bloodworms. give them normal flake food ground down into powder for most of their food. You should be feeding them eery 4-6 hours for th first 2 weeks, then twice a day after those two weeks. Lots of water changes and yes, snails make great cleaning crews. Sounds like you'll be fine.

Sorry if i miss-spelled a lot. Netbook keyboard... ug
 
#8 ·
They arent dried they are frozen in water baby brine shrimp. I don't buy dried, Ive been flamed for feeding freeze dried anything because it causes constipation. If the shrimp don't give much nutrition why do breeders recommend them? This is the package I bought

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8890&cmpid=03csegb&ref=3312&subref=AA

They are not dried they are in water. The package says they are ideal for fry so I bought them, the fry loved them, if they arent okay I will stick to the crushed fish flakes. They seemed to really love these lil guys.

Thanks, someone yelled at me saying the snail will kill my fry and leave a huge mess.. I was confused because most betta breeders use snails as cleanup crews LOL but the fact they were a new member made me skeptical of their information. Sorry if that makes me rude XD I just want to know from more experienced people.
 
#12 ·
Mollies can have a brood of fry about every 30 days. They can retain sperm, so your molly might surprise you with a couple more broods before she quits. Balloon belly mollies are a deformity of a standard molly. Something in their genetics causes a drastic curve and shortening of their spines. Same difference between comet and fancy goldfish. baby livebearers will sink to the bottom of the tank for the first few days while they absorb what is left of their eggsacks. Afterwards, they may still stay in the gravel for safety. I wouldn't add a snail until after they're free swimming. As for types of snails, any that work for bettas will work for the mollies. Crushed flake, frozen or live baby brine shrimp, green water all make good foods. As was stated, frequent small feedings coupled with small frequent water changes will help them grow quickly.
 
#13 ·
YAYAYAAYAY! So the ones who dart around and then sit at the bottom wont all necessarily die? oh wow my boyfriend and I are SO happy to read this! I'll hold off on the snail, I corralled up the ones who arent free swimming into my breeder (the female molly is back in my 20 gal) Thank you so much for that info! I have the flakes (crushed) and frozen baby brine shrimp which they absolutely LOVED! I'm so happy, Hopefully I can be a good first time fry mommy :) I'm going to post pictures soon!
 
#14 ·
You're welcome. If they're darting around then resting, that's normal behavior. The hardest part with fry is keeping the water clean because of the frequent feedings. If you remember that small fish = small stomach and perform a bunch of small water changes to keep up with any leftover food, then you shouldn't have any issues.
 
#15 ·
Okay, yeah they eat and poop ALOT! I've been doing bigger and bigger water changes and the babies who were sitting in the breeder are swimming fine now :) the rest are moving around the bottom ( about four or five) I have pictures I'm making a new thread in the pictures section. yay!
 
#16 · (Edited)
This is a betta forum, you will get little to no response here.
Try logging on to Tropicalfishkeeping.com - it's the "mother" of bettafish.com. You can use the same name in both forums. TFK has a livebearer section where you will get more response on mollies or any other livebearers - about care, breeding, etc.

You can also go to bettafish from the TFK forum

Livebearers can store sperm for a few months. They only need to spawn once and will probably give birth every month. I once had a guppy that gave birth 6 times (6 months) before she stopped. My mollies were without male only for 3 months so I can't say how long she before she stops.

Mollies give birth monthly up to 15 - 40 fry (depending on their size). After the first day, fry are fairly independent and will eat almost anything you feed them. Unlike betta fry, livebearer fry is very adaptive. Just don't over feed and foul up the water. They are easy to keep and grow and before you know it, they will reproduce like crazy.
 
#17 ·
Thank you! I have been keeping up with watwr changes and feeding them. About 4-5 times a day. I think ill be selling most of my fry as I dont have money to keep all of them. But I do want to keep one. He has been swimming and eatig well but he is missig an eye since birth. So i think he will stay with me lol. Thanks all for uour help!!!
 
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