Fun surprise for my wife and I

drew54

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So, I just realized that my wife's female Molly is pregnant. She is freaking out at the moment because we don't have an extra aquarium to separate her. So, looks like we are going shopping and waiting patiently for our little babies to come! I'm super excited!

Any advice on this as it's been a long time since I've had to deal with pregnant fish?
 

EllieMay

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So Molly is a fish and a name???? I don’t know anything about fish so all I can say is congrats!! Lol
 

drew54

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So Molly is a fish and a name???? I don’t know anything about fish so all I can say is congrats!! Lol

Mollies are a type of guppy. No, my wife hadn't named any of her fish, but our girls named every fish in there though. I couldn't tell you which is which, but they can. It's actually impressive. Lol
 

KarenSoCal

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I've never had mollies, but sure got loaded up with platies for a while! I would think they would be similar.

I did not separate Ruby. She had about 30 babies each time, and they were all in a 20L community tank. I don't believe any of the other fish or the platy parents ever bothered the little ones. I do have lots of plants and hiding places on the bottom of the tank, as well as bunches of anacharis floating on top.

The babies did not grow as fast as Ruby put out new ones, so that's when I started putting them in my other tanks to grow a bit til I could take them to the fish store for sale. I had 90 of them when, much to my relief Ruby died unexpectedly. I was sad, but also rid of a big problemi.

Eventually took them all to the store to be sold.

Now ask me how it went when I decided to raise the eggs my mystery snail kept depositing on the glass of the tank!
 

Toddrickfl1

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Just have a lot of plants and places to hide for the babies and a few of them usually survive to be big enough to not be eaten. Also you can take a piece of small netting and put it over your intake for your filter so the fry don't get sucked up.
 

Yvonne G

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Buy some plastic, bushy aquarium plants that you float in the tank for the babies to hide in.
 

drew54

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Thank you all for the info. I think we have some good hides in the tank now. I will look into getting some bushy plants to let float. What do you think about live moss balls for hiding?
 

drew54

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I've never had mollies, but sure got loaded up with platies for a while! I would think they would be similar.

I did not separate Ruby. She had about 30 babies each time, and they were all in a 20L community tank. I don't believe any of the other fish or the platy parents ever bothered the little ones. I do have lots of plants and hiding places on the bottom of the tank, as well as bunches of anacharis floating on top.

The babies did not grow as fast as Ruby put out new ones, so that's when I started putting them in my other tanks to grow a bit til I could take them to the fish store for sale. I had 90 of them when, much to my relief Ruby died unexpectedly. I was sad, but also rid of a big problemi.

Eventually took them all to the store to be sold.

Now ask me how it went when I decided to raise the eggs my mystery snail kept depositing on the glass of the tank!

Platties give live births like mollies. They are pretty similar. Yes, how did that go? Do the other fish eat them? I have a snail and I keep teasing my wife that it's going to start laying eggs anytime. She doesn't like them, but I think they are very neat.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Thank you all for the info. I think we have some good hides in the tank now. I will look into getting some bushy plants to let float. What do you think about live moss balls for hiding?
Moss balls work ok. When I was breeding livebearers I used to use a plant called Hornwort. It provides good cover, it floats and grows like a weed. You can get some from eBay.
 

drew54

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Moss balls work ok. When I was breeding livebearers I used to use a plant called Hornwort. It provides good cover, it floats and grows like a weed. You can get some from eBay.

I've seen these being sold in a few pet shops I went to last month. I will look for those again as I hope I can keep as many of those babies alive and feeling safe.
 

KarenSoCal

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I agree hornwort works very well too. Just don't put so much that you block your light to the other plants. You may want to make an airline "corral" to keep it away from your filter intake, and keep it floating.

I found that at first the babies stayed on the bottom, and only darted up for food. Marimo balls didn't work well for me for hiding. Plain anubias did, or take some hunks of java moss and weigh them down in the bottom tank corners for hiding.

My fish did not eat them. I had cories, glowlight tetras, the platy parents, ghost shrimp, and Amano shrimp. I did however provide my betta with a treat or two, but he is in his own tank.

The mystery snails...I ended up with about 200 of them! Had them everywhere til they got big enough to sell, when I took them to the fish store.

Parents...
20170130_103043.jpeg

At 8 days...
20161027_131315.jpeg

Snails everywhere!
20161109_131742.jpeg

A newborn, and one that's getting bigger...
20170209_122808.jpeg

An egg clutch...
20161005_083029crop_PerfectlyClear.jpeg

Hello, son...
20161209_173946.jpeg
 

drew54

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I agree hornwort works very well too. Just don't put so much that you block your light to the other plants. You may want to make an airline "corral" to keep it away from your filter intake, and keep it floating.

I found that at first the babies stayed on the bottom, and only darted up for food. Marimo balls didn't work well for me for hiding. Plain anubias did, or take some hunks of java moss and weigh them down in the bottom tank corners for hiding.

My fish did not eat them. I had cories, glowlight tetras, the platy parents, ghost shrimp, and Amano shrimp. I did however provide my betta with a treat or two, but he is in his own tank.

The mystery snails...I ended up with about 200 of them! Had them everywhere til they got big enough to sell, when I took them to the fish store.

Parents...
View attachment 258042

At 8 days...
View attachment 258043

Snails everywhere!
View attachment 258047

A newborn, and one that's getting bigger...
View attachment 258048

An egg clutch...
View attachment 258049

Hello, son...
View attachment 258050

What's airline "corral"? That's a lot of snails! My would kill me if she found a cluster of snail eggs. I wouldn't mind though. How fast do they grow?
 

KarenSoCal

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Not fast at all! But they did speed up some when I put them into a large plastic bin of around 12 gal. I think I had them around 16 weeks to reach 1/2 in.
20161027_131315.jpeg
20161217_161631.jpeg

I still have a few of those babies.
20181124_133021.jpeg

Keep in mind these are mystery snails. You could safely have nerite snails. They lay tiny white eggs everywhere, but they will not hatch in fresh water. The eggs can just be left in place...they eventually dissolve. (unless you are an obsessive neat freak...then you can scrape them off. Be prepared to scrape a LOT!)

Corral...take a length of ordinary tank airline, put the 2 ends into an airline connector, or one way valve. This circle of line will float. You can let it float free, or hook it to something at the surface. It will keep your floating plants where you want them. Make it any size.
1543096243737.jpeg
 

drew54

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Not fast at all! But they did speed up some when I put them into a large plastic bin of around 12 gal. I think I had them around 16 weeks to reach 1/2 in.
View attachment 258059
View attachment 258060

I still have a few of those babies.
View attachment 258061

Keep in mind these are mystery snails. You could safely have nerite snails. They lay tiny white eggs everywhere, but they will not hatch in fresh water. The eggs can just be left in place...they eventually dissolve. (unless you are an obsessive neat freak...then you can scrape them off. Be prepared to scrape a LOT!)

Corral...take a length of ordinary tank airline, put the 2 ends into an airline connector, or one way valve. This circle of line will float. You can let it float free, or hook it to something at the surface. It will keep your floating plants where you want them. Make it any size.
View attachment 258063

That is s great idea with the airline. I will have to tell my wife all this fantastic info!
 

Tom

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So, I just realized that my wife's female Molly is pregnant. She is freaking out at the moment because we don't have an extra aquarium to separate her. So, looks like we are going shopping and waiting patiently for our little babies to come! I'm super excited!

Any advice on this as it's been a long time since I've had to deal with pregnant fish?
I wouldn't move the Momma or disturb things too much. I agree with everyone else about adding lots of plants top to bottom for cover and hiding areas. I'd also add a bit of sea salt if you haven't already, since mollies are brackish fish.

What other fish do you have in the tank?
 

drew54

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I wouldn't move the Momma or disturb things too much. I agree with everyone else about adding lots of plants top to bottom for cover and hiding areas. I'd also add a bit of sea salt if you haven't already, since mollies are brackish fish.

What other fish do you have in the tank?

Mostly mollies, but a glass fish and a couple tetras. I will not separate her and I'll just add lots of plants. Will the males essentially mate her to death?
 

KarenSoCal

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I love this idea! Who do you sell your fish and snails to? Well is the pet shop a commercial shop like petsmart?
It's a privately owned tropical fish store. I did not sell fish or snails. I was just happy to find a place to unload them, however, the owner gave me a few fish in exchange.
 

Tom

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Mostly mollies, but a glass fish and a couple tetras. I will not separate her and I'll just add lots of plants. Will the males essentially mate her to death?
If you have one female and several males, she might be in trouble. If you have a mixed group, a larger tank and plenty of hiding areas, she should be okay, but keep an eye on things.
 

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