I am lucky to have my fourth batch of mollies this morning. The lone surviving silver molly delivered fry today. The others are black young adult mollies. This batch had about 40 small sized babies unlike in my earlier case where I had 10 but strong and fairly energetic babies.
I have few points to share with fellow molly fans, particularly those who don’t have or cannot afford to have special equipment to get baby fry. I had few challenging conditions in which the silver molly delivered:
1. I had problem with water. I mean, I couldn’t get rid of planaria (or nematodes) out completely. Planaria in water is a problem because of its possible impact on the fry.
2. I do not have a breader tank or any other special equipment to have the delivery done safely.
3. I do not even have a spare tank to keep the mother or fry separate from the original tank
One fortunate thing is that I could witness the start of the delivery process. I woke up at 3 AM to feed my new turtle put in another tank and the mollies.
This silver mother which is the biggest of my mollies usually used to grab all possible food it can grab but this time it didn’t touch at all. I observed its eyes are little upward and it appeared weak. The belly was larger than what it was the previous night. Its back, from where the fry and poo comes out, is larger and dark in colour than what it used to be.
The mother just used to move to and fro at the surface. After about 20 minutes or so, it can to the bottom of the tank and popped out a baby. It used to come back to the surface, move to and fro for some time and then the process repeated. Almost all websites say that fry will be eaten by the mother or other fish. But in all the four delivery cases I have seen, the fry are untouched and often ignored by the fish. To be safe, I decided to move it to a water bucket. Unfortunately I am not prepared for this and by the time I got the bucket, it delivered 6 more. So there are 8 fry in the larger tank. I got a large tumbler and safely and without touching the mother, moved it to the bucket. I earlier have removed some water from the larger tank along with some shells and decorate to create a similar ambiance to the extent possible in the bucket.
The mother continued to deliver the fry and within 20 minutes, I got about 25 odd. Now it appeared that there are more fry and the mother is having disturbance with the babies moving to and fro. So I decided to move the mother to another larger bucket. I know this is a bad idea. But I am helpless. My intension is that I do not want to lose the fry and the mother also needs to survive. From my previous case, I lost the mother in just 3 – 4 days. Hence I am more cautious. Also all this process is unplanned. I got 15, 20 and 10 batches of fry earlier. I am definitely not prepared for 40+. So finally I got the mother to another bucket with a similar ambiance.
I think the mother didn’t like this transfer process and it stopped delivering. However its belly is still larger than usual. I fed the mother and it happily came to the surface and picked the food. I think it had a special kind of attachment to me coz it always used to come to the surface or look at me every time i come near to the tank. This used to happen at non-feeding times as well.
I think the mother wants to fill the newly formed empty space in its belly with the food. Of course, too much food at this juncture will kill it.
I carefully transfer about 10 odd fry from the larger original tank to bucket. I got some new fresh water to the original tank. I tried my best to retain the water from the original tank to both the fry bucket and the mother bucket without transferring any planaria to the extent possible. I have put some well crushed flake food for the babies and they are already coming to the surface and try to grab a bite. Majority of them are still hiding in the shells. Ours is a tropical country and because it is summer, the water temperatures rise hence there is no necessity of a heater. I do not have additional equipment of an air filter so I am thinking of doing 5-10% water cycles every 3 hours for the next few days in the fry bucket without disturbing the anything in side the bucket. This way, I can give them fresh water and fresh oxygen. We generally do not have problems with nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. So this way, I am a little blessed. I cannot afford another tank coz i already have 3 at home and 2 in office
.
The whole process took about 4-5 hours and I am constantly busy with fishes and water that I lost track of time. I am finally happy I got the fry to a safer place.
I now have three challenges:
1. Make the fry survive. Because the mother delivered so many fry, the babies are too small. I think the smaller the baby the few are the chances of its survival. This is evident from my previous experience.
2. Make the mother survive. I read, and also strongly feel, that unless the mother is properly taken care of, it will die, possibly in 2 – 3 days of delivery. I lost all three mothers in my previous cases and hence I do not want this to happen again.
3. Ensure planaria effect on the fry and the mother is minimal
Just a final word. Most of the fry are black and silver colored meaning the silver mother actually mated with the black mollies that I already had in my tank. Few others are silver colored meaning the mother didn’t mate with any orange colored partner it shared that tank at the pet store from where I bought 2 months ago.
Appreciate your time in reading this post. Welcome your comments and suggestions.
I have few points to share with fellow molly fans, particularly those who don’t have or cannot afford to have special equipment to get baby fry. I had few challenging conditions in which the silver molly delivered:
1. I had problem with water. I mean, I couldn’t get rid of planaria (or nematodes) out completely. Planaria in water is a problem because of its possible impact on the fry.
2. I do not have a breader tank or any other special equipment to have the delivery done safely.
3. I do not even have a spare tank to keep the mother or fry separate from the original tank
One fortunate thing is that I could witness the start of the delivery process. I woke up at 3 AM to feed my new turtle put in another tank and the mollies.
This silver mother which is the biggest of my mollies usually used to grab all possible food it can grab but this time it didn’t touch at all. I observed its eyes are little upward and it appeared weak. The belly was larger than what it was the previous night. Its back, from where the fry and poo comes out, is larger and dark in colour than what it used to be.
The mother just used to move to and fro at the surface. After about 20 minutes or so, it can to the bottom of the tank and popped out a baby. It used to come back to the surface, move to and fro for some time and then the process repeated. Almost all websites say that fry will be eaten by the mother or other fish. But in all the four delivery cases I have seen, the fry are untouched and often ignored by the fish. To be safe, I decided to move it to a water bucket. Unfortunately I am not prepared for this and by the time I got the bucket, it delivered 6 more. So there are 8 fry in the larger tank. I got a large tumbler and safely and without touching the mother, moved it to the bucket. I earlier have removed some water from the larger tank along with some shells and decorate to create a similar ambiance to the extent possible in the bucket.
The mother continued to deliver the fry and within 20 minutes, I got about 25 odd. Now it appeared that there are more fry and the mother is having disturbance with the babies moving to and fro. So I decided to move the mother to another larger bucket. I know this is a bad idea. But I am helpless. My intension is that I do not want to lose the fry and the mother also needs to survive. From my previous case, I lost the mother in just 3 – 4 days. Hence I am more cautious. Also all this process is unplanned. I got 15, 20 and 10 batches of fry earlier. I am definitely not prepared for 40+. So finally I got the mother to another bucket with a similar ambiance.
I think the mother didn’t like this transfer process and it stopped delivering. However its belly is still larger than usual. I fed the mother and it happily came to the surface and picked the food. I think it had a special kind of attachment to me coz it always used to come to the surface or look at me every time i come near to the tank. This used to happen at non-feeding times as well.
I think the mother wants to fill the newly formed empty space in its belly with the food. Of course, too much food at this juncture will kill it.
I carefully transfer about 10 odd fry from the larger original tank to bucket. I got some new fresh water to the original tank. I tried my best to retain the water from the original tank to both the fry bucket and the mother bucket without transferring any planaria to the extent possible. I have put some well crushed flake food for the babies and they are already coming to the surface and try to grab a bite. Majority of them are still hiding in the shells. Ours is a tropical country and because it is summer, the water temperatures rise hence there is no necessity of a heater. I do not have additional equipment of an air filter so I am thinking of doing 5-10% water cycles every 3 hours for the next few days in the fry bucket without disturbing the anything in side the bucket. This way, I can give them fresh water and fresh oxygen. We generally do not have problems with nitrate, nitrite and ammonia. So this way, I am a little blessed. I cannot afford another tank coz i already have 3 at home and 2 in office
.The whole process took about 4-5 hours and I am constantly busy with fishes and water that I lost track of time. I am finally happy I got the fry to a safer place.
I now have three challenges:
1. Make the fry survive. Because the mother delivered so many fry, the babies are too small. I think the smaller the baby the few are the chances of its survival. This is evident from my previous experience.
2. Make the mother survive. I read, and also strongly feel, that unless the mother is properly taken care of, it will die, possibly in 2 – 3 days of delivery. I lost all three mothers in my previous cases and hence I do not want this to happen again.
3. Ensure planaria effect on the fry and the mother is minimal
Just a final word. Most of the fry are black and silver colored meaning the silver mother actually mated with the black mollies that I already had in my tank. Few others are silver colored meaning the mother didn’t mate with any orange colored partner it shared that tank at the pet store from where I bought 2 months ago.
Appreciate your time in reading this post. Welcome your comments and suggestions.
