Freshwater fish that eats platy/molly fry?

[bac240sx]

Background:

About 10 months ago me and my g/f are walking around Lowes when we spot this:

http://penningtonaquagarden.com/index.php?id=3

We bought it on impulse despite the fact that neither of us has ever owned anything more than a beta bowl in our lives. After spending the entire weekend setting it up and decorating it we decided to stock it. It's a ~90 gallon pond and we keep it outdoors on the patio (we're in Houston so the temp is rarely a problem; although the water does evaporate at a rate of ~10 gallons/wk). OK! Great! So, off to Petsmart we go and get the following little starter set:

2 x Goldfish
2 x Swordtail Platys
2 x Marble Mollys
1 x Pleco

Current Problem:

Fast forward 10 months later and we have a metric ****-ton of Mollys and Platys! Like holy-**** schools of them! If they were were locusts, they would blot out the sun. I still remember the the lady at Petsmart asking us if we wanted male/female pairs so they could have babies, to which we replied, "oh, wow, yeah, that sounds great!."

So, anyway, we've given them out to friends. Our friends don't want any more and now despise us for giving them the most fertile fishes in the world. Our local elementary schools don't want any more either. Worse, none of our local pet stores want them, even for free (which is weird, right?).

TL;DR: I'm about to give away about a third of them (again!). What I really want to do this time around is introduce some other kind of fish that'll eat the new fry.

Any suggestions?

P.S. It's live planted and has plenty of caves and hiding spots which I'm sure if helping the fry survive.

P.P.S. The Pelco is now a leviathan, something else the bubbly Petsmart lady forgot to mention...

 

[exhumed07]

well first of mollies as well as platties, sword tails, mollies, and guppies, breed like crazy, one reason they are great feeder fish for predatory fish. fish that i can think of right off the bat that can handle the heat would be african cichlids. they are bright and beautiful and some like the peacocks and haps will eat smaller fish. thing is if u get males and females u will end up with the same problem so stick with just males, they are the colorful ones anyway lol. they will eat the fry that they find and can get ahold of and should leave the adults alone since they will have room to run away. another thing you can do is get small local panfish. I believe red ears are found in texas as well as green sunfish. thing with them is they will get big enough to eat the adults as well. those are the viable options i can see. also with the pleco odds are it's a common pleco which are sold very commonly without anyone knowing they can get 12-18 inches long or better given the proper food and environment. sounds to me as u have met those requirments lol. as of now thats the best advice i can give. short of buying small florida gar or some other larger predatory fish. which in a couple weeks they would be the only thing in the tank/pond. as for the pet stores not taking the fry thats not much of a shock. they probably get so many offers they are probably saturated. I've gotten permission from the illinois DNR to use tropical fish such as mollies and guppies and such as fish bait. they are generally weak fish that don't survive after a hook as been put in them and up here the winters kill them. no threat for an invasive species with them. I've never used them yet but i do use goldfish but make sure they get a mortal wound before i use them. i'll leave out the details on this site as it would probably bother some. but as a last ditch effort to get rid of them that may be a shot if u fish. get ahold of the dnr and see if that would be allowed. may be allowed to use them as dead bait by freezing them and then thawing them out as needed.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Welcome! That's a cool looking water feature. Do you do water changes on it, aside from what you add back in? Regardless, sounds like the fish are doing fine in there.

If a fish has a mouth large enough for a baby live-bearer to fit, they'll eat them. Like exhum- says, maybe a cichlid or three? A couple of Oscurs maybe?

 

[bac240sx]

Thank you both for your suggestions! I've been using my Google-Fu to check out some African cichlids. Seems like two or three of these guys might do the trick and our local Petsmart has them is stock:

Leaf Fish*

FreshyFresh, thanks! We really love the pond on our third-floor balcony. I built a custom spout for the fountain out of a cool looking piece of driftwood we found on the beach. The fountains that came with it actually look tackier in real life than they do in the pictures, if you can believe it.

I do change the water weekly. I take out 5 gallons in addition to the 10 gallons that evaporate and then put 15 gallons of dechlorinated water back in. It's quite the hassle but its sort of become a labor of love.

 

[OrangeCones]

If you want to worry about how to handle excessive fish, I would definately keep clear of live bearers. If you get a few cichlids, it would be best to get one gender, or different species that can't interbreed. I would also consider rehoming the pleco if its a 'common' variety. They can grow 2ft or more and are huge producers of waste.

I had an outdoor tank (75 gallons) on my balcony in Houston too. I lived on the 2nd floor and had an agreement with my neighbor below. I'd pass down the end of my siphon and she'd water her plants on her patio. She, in turn, would pass me the hose connected to her apt to let me refill my tank. Win/win. I got free water changes (just to pay for dechlor) and she got better water than she'd get from just tap to fertilize her plants! She had to replace a bit more due to evaporation, but we liked the arrangement.