Baby Mollies

bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#1
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#1
I just got a 10 gal tank a little over a week ago,(first tank) i stocked it from the local pet store with 3 platies 2 mollies and 1 rainbow shark. 2 days ago i noticed some baby fish, and the female mollie was dead. i am not 100% sure the babys are mollies but that is what i asume. I bought a baby saver thing to hang from the side of the tank and got them all in there. I was wondering how long before they could be taken out and feeding arangements, right now i have been putting food in a zip lock and crushing it into a powder. is that the right thing to do? anything else i should know?
 

Kissyboots

Kissyboots

Superstar Fish
#2
Dec 17, 2007
1,889
1
36
Arizona
cid-461aece5d238e494.spaces.live.com
#2
My swordtail fry (similar to mollies and platies) ate crushed flakes as well as Hikari First Bites. My first batch died. They only got the flakes. The second batch however survived; I fed them the flakes and the Bites.

Since you're already close or at your stocking limit (how many fish you can put in your tank), you probably won't have enough room to raise the fry. They need to be away from their parents until they can no longer fit in fish mouths. So either you get another tank (they can't grow up in that breeder container thing) or you feed them to your fish...

I'm assuming you didn't cycle your tank? :) When you first get a tank, you have to cycle it, as in, establish bacteria. And putting in all six fish at once (if you did) is probably going to stress them out.

The mollie either died of giving birth or being stressed out by something.

If you don't have a water test kit yet, you should get one. The liquid tests are more reliable than the strip test. Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Supplies at AquariumGuys.com has a cheap one (cheaper than Petco and Petsmart.) API Freshwater Master Test Kit is what I use. That'll test for ammonia (not good), nitrates (good to a certain level), nitrites (not good), and pH (as long as it's stable, you're fine.)

Good luck and welcome to the tank! :D
 

bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#3
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#3
No i didnt cycle it, i just did what the pet store said, (set it up add start zyme wait 2 days) i asked them if it was going to be to many fish they said it sould be fine, i was not expecting the babies. i did get a test kit liquid ph (7.4) nitrate ( 0 ) and ammonia ( 1.5 and i just did a 50% water change)
 

Kissyboots

Kissyboots

Superstar Fish
#4
Dec 17, 2007
1,889
1
36
Arizona
cid-461aece5d238e494.spaces.live.com
#4
Keep in mind, petstores sell things and their goal is to get as much money as possible...so when they give you advice on how many fish to buy, it's usually too many. :) Chains usually don't have knowledgable employees either, so don't believe everything they say.

So I guess now you're stuck with a cycle with fish. I'm not an expert on that, so it's probably best you do your own research. You could get some BioSpira and pour it in there to get some bacteria going. That will also solve your ammonia problem. It should be at 0. pH looks fine, nitrates could be a little higher. What about nitrites?

By the way, do your fish have clamped fins?
 

bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#5
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#5
i am not defending them but the store isnt a chain fam owned store, like i said first tank kinda just going with what people say thats why i got on here. "the pet store" said nitrites were not toxic to fresh fish so there was no reason to test for it. and i dont know what you mean by clamped fins.
 

Kissyboots

Kissyboots

Superstar Fish
#6
Dec 17, 2007
1,889
1
36
Arizona
cid-461aece5d238e494.spaces.live.com
#6
bmill00 said:
i am not defending them but the store isnt a chain fam owned store, like i said first tank kinda just going with what people say thats why i got on here.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound that way...:eek:

bmill00 said:
"the pet store" said nitrites were not toxic to fresh fish so there was no reason to test for it. and i dont know what you mean by clamped fins.
Click to expand...
Hmm, nitrites are non-toxic to freshwater fish? I've never heard that before. :confused: It's one of the main things one should test for. I think maybe they meant nitrates, that might have made more sense. Let me see if I can find the link that explains all this...

By clamped fins I mean that they keep their fins close to their body instead of swimming around with them open and stretched out. Clamped fins usually indicate that they're stressed. Possibly by water parameters (high ammonia or nitrites.)

Brb with the link. :)

Edit: Here we go: Cycling a Tank

"Unfortunately, the nitrite levels in your tank will also rise and will also kill your fish. So, to eat all this nitrite, "nitrate" starts to grow. Nitrate is much less harmful to fish."
 

Last edited:
bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#7
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#7
The fish seem to be acting fine very active with their fins wide open other than the rainbow shark he just stays in his cave, i have noticed that the shark turns more grey when he is stressed, then black otherwise (he is black now) the lady seemed to be confused when she sold me the NITRATE mabey i got the wrong one?? i didnt really undrestand when she was blabling on what does what, she just told me what to buy. who knows!!! lol by the way THANKS for the help
 

bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#9
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#9
I have a few more questions, I read the link. My ammonia is high and my nitrate is low. and i dont know what the nitrite is. I have been doing a 50% water change quite often. should i be doing this, does the water change reduce the ammonia? or should i let is go and let the nitrate build up a little?
i will get a nitrite kit as soon as i get to town.
 

Kissyboots

Kissyboots

Superstar Fish
#10
Dec 17, 2007
1,889
1
36
Arizona
cid-461aece5d238e494.spaces.live.com
#10
Water changes are probably the best way to get rid of ammonia/nitrites. Which reminds me, what water do you use? Tap water with dechlorinator or RO water, etc.?

Once your tank is stable, you could probably switch to 25% wc (water changes) once a week, including vacuuming the gravel if you have any.

Btw, if you have an HOB (hang on back) filter with cartridges, you can save tons of money by just rinsing the cartridge off twice a month or so. With dechlorinated water of course as to not kill the bacteria.

And if you have some pics of your tank, we'd love to see them!!! :D
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#11
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#11
welcome to the tank.. Looks like KB has it about covered, just remember as KB mentioned regardless of the store they are out to make money, doesnt matter if it is mom and pop or petsmart for them to keep the doors open they have to sell products, read thru as many threads as you can about cycling, bio spira, anything you can do to make the cycling process easier on your fish. As for stocking you are technically overstocked using the 1in of fish per gallon of water guideline, Each Molly has the potential for 3in to 4in thats 6G used, the platies take up the other 4G's, rainbow shark another 6in, this tops you off around 16in of fish in 10G's. Now since you lost a molly that brings you down considerably except for the fry that will push you way over the limit if they survive. Point I am getting at is to not add any more fish. What size filter are you using? If your using a HOB filter in the size range of 5 to 15G capacity tanks I would upgrade to atleast a 20G or 30G filter it will help some of that bio load that your going to be experiencing very soon, the problem with small tanks is they can go from having good water params to terrible over night so you want more filtration than you need.

Alright I think that is about all I have got for now..again welcome to the tank..
 

bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#13
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#13
sorry internet was down, no i dont have a filter that hangs on the back, all i have is a under gravel filter. yeah it has only been 2 weeks and i want a bigger tank, the reason i got the small one is that i wanted to make sure this is something i wanted to do before spending a ton of money. i am going to try and get some pics on here for you. thanks for all the help!! i know if i decide to get a bigger tank i will get on here and ask for some advice so keep your eye open Thanks
 

tom91970

tom91970

Superstar Fish
#14
Jan 2, 2007
1,305
5
38
Tejas
www.myspace.com
#14
bmill00 said:
I have a few more questions, I read the link. My ammonia is high and my nitrate is low. and i dont know what the nitrite is. I have been doing a 50% water change quite often. should i be doing this, does the water change reduce the ammonia? or should i let is go and let the nitrate build up a little?
i will get a nitrite kit as soon as i get to town.
Click to expand...
Your nitrAte level will show up and stablize once the tank is cycled, so you can expect it to show low readings.

NitrIte will rise once the ammonia starts to build up then drop off to 0; at this point you're cycled. Ammonia will also drop down to 0.

Think of it this way:

ammonia --> nitrite--> nitrate

all are lethal, but nitrate is only lethal in higher amounts
 

Kissyboots

Kissyboots

Superstar Fish
#18
Dec 17, 2007
1,889
1
36
Arizona
cid-461aece5d238e494.spaces.live.com
#18
I find mollies and platies really hard to tell apart. Here's some pics of fry, see if you can guess what they are! lol



Nice tank btw. I always wondered how those really colorful caves fit nicely in a tank, but it looks like you matched it up with the plants and gravel! It's more intersting than my 55g atm. It looks borrrrrrrring.

Edit: have you tried a black background on it? Like a trashbag? I think that would make the colors stand out even more! :)
 

bmill00

bmill00

Small Fish
#19
Dec 20, 2008
24
0
0
43
Lyons, ohio
#19
I got all 4 test now, ammonia,nitrate,nitrite,and ph. i planned on changeing the water today but i tested it before

amm~1.0 Changed water 2days ago but didnt seem to bring amm down, staying consistant.
nitrate~0
nitrite~0
ph~7.6 or more
temp is76
No clamped fins and fish are active
How about some advice on fill tubes... it states use clean fill tubes, how does everyone clean the tubes? i have been just rinsing them out with tap watter (well water)

i got some frozen brine shrimp for the fry.
One of the female platies (sunny) has seemed to get about 25% bigger in the last two days. Could it be??? i hope not yet!! i am going to change the water later on hopefully i get some feed back befor i do it. or mabey i should wait till tommarow, if i dont hear anything i will change it tonight. Thanks for all the help!! Brad
 

I

iapetus

Large Fish
#20
Jan 15, 2008
572
0
0
34:09:39N, 118:08:19W
#20
bmill00 said:
One of the female platies (sunny) has seemed to get about 25% bigger in the last two days. Could it be??? i hope not yet!!
Click to expand...
A female livebearer? Yes, it could very well be. In fact, it probably is.

A few other points that come to mind:
  • Baby fish really like baby brine shrimp; consider getting a kit and hatching some for them to eat,
  • keep on changing that water!,
  • and, yeah, I just rinse my tubes with tap water and let them dry.
 

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