View Full Version : Advice needed
I have a community fish tank with various species. I bought a pregnant Mollie on Saturday and she looked fit to burst so I put her into a breeding box. As she has been in it so long and I was worried about her been confined for so long I let her out into the main tank 5 hours ago.
Since then the other female mollie in the tank who we also believe to be pregant (just not as far on) was chasing her about so I have put her back into the breeding box.
She is now swimming around hectically in the box and I think I have totally stressed her out!
What do I do now?????:confused:
Please help I am so worried about her and her babies.
:help:
ChrisK
04-22-2009, 7:02 PM
She's not gonna drop the babies if she is stressed. I would put her back in the community tank if you don't have anywhere else besides the breeder to put her. Things should calm down after a day or so, and she won't be as stressed. She'll have the babies, just watch for fry, and if you want to keep them net them out and put them back in the breeder.
maxthedog123
04-22-2009, 10:33 PM
I think the breeder boxes do more harm than good. All they do is freak out the fish. If you have hiding places in your tank then some of the fry will survive and you can decide to leave it to Darwin or move the fry.
My son's tank originally had several guppies. They did what guppies do and had numerous batches of little ones. One day I ended up taking ~15 to my local fish guy to sell as feeder fish. How many survive if you leave them alone will depend on how much cover is in there and how persistent your fish are at finding them. If you have a bunch of small tetras and livebearers, then some will make it.
Thank you for the much needed advice. I have taken her out of the box today.
I have a male guppie who is chasing her around and trying to bite at the bit where the babies come out and she is sweeping sideways across the stones at the bottom of the tank which I guess means she will probably go shortly.
She is cetainly getting alot of attention from the other fish.
Just hope they don't stress her out anymore than I already have as she is having trouble hiding.
I guess one of my fish had babies, cuz i have one little fry that hides under a piece of slate at the back of the tank. He won't come out and just stays in there hidden. I thought he had died so I rearranged things last night and there he was... made a new hiding place for him and dropped in some daphnia for him to eat... he is a bit bigger now, but probably will remain hidden for a while. No other fry have been seen so I assume they became snacks.
I am so glad you have one that survived. I had about 20 fry one day when I got up but didn't know that the guppie was even pregnant. I managed to get 3 of them into a breeding box although I lost 2 of them. The one that I managed to save is now big enough to swim in the main tank (although he keeps himself to himself). Hope you get to see yours grow up as it is so rewarding.