Hi!

[itsahumanzoo]

Hi everyone. My name is Angela, I'm 19 years old and I live in Orange County, California. I just recently (less than a week ago) set up my very first fish tank. It's a Top Fin 20-gallon. With some help from the local pet shop employees, I filled it with a few live plants, a plecostomus, an angel fish, a male and a female dalmation lyretail molly, a male and female platy, and 5 neon tetras. Today my molly gave birth to some fry. I don't know how many, but I've spotted about ten so far. Some of them have fallen prey to my angel fish, unfortunately.

Anyway, is there any way to avoid this or is it inevitable that my baby mollies are going to become fish food to their tank mates?

-Angela

 

[revfred]

Welcome to the tank, Angela. And congrats on your batch of mollie fry. Not inevitable that they will become fish food ... some may survive. You might consider a small breeding tank at your LFS that you can float in your tank with the remaining fry in it. Feed them until they get a bit bigger and can fend for themselves. Another suggestion is to get some dense floating weeds so they have a place to hide. Again, welcome to the tank.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

I just recently (less than a week ago) set up my very first fish tank. It's a Top Fin 20-gallon. With some help from the local pet shop employees, I filled it with a few live plants, a plecostomus, an angel fish, a male and a female dalmation lyretail molly, a male and female platy, and 5 neon tetras.

Hi Angela,

Your tank is less than a week old and you have all those fish in there already? Did you use biospira or some other "instant cycling" additive to skip the normal cycling process? I sure hope so.

 

[FroggyFox]

Welcome to the tank Angela and congrats on your new tank.

Unfortunately if you havent cycled you'll probably soon be cursing the fact that you listened to your pet store employees on how to set a tank up. Sounds like you have quite a bit of stock for a 20G tank...even if they're small now, thats about 2x as many fish as you should have in the tank at their adult sizes.

Personally I would just let the molly fry fend for themselves unless you're planning on setting up another tank to grow them out or something...cuz you really dont have room in the tank to keep them there. Another thing to read up on is your livebearers (mollies and platies) because its usually suggested that you keep several females per male because the males will pester the females incessantly.

Anyway, welcome to the tank and look forward to seeing you on the boards.

 

[Leopardess]

Hi! Welcome to the tank, make yourself comfortable.

Ah, your first lesson at MFT: Don't listen to the pet store people...most of them have no idea what they're talking about, sadly.

As mentioned, you've definitely got some issues with the stocking of your tank. A common pleco needs on average upwards of a 75 gallon or more tank. And angel fish require a minimum of 29g per fish. Don't feel too terrible though, these things happen to almost everyone starting out. You're going to need to come up with some ideas about how to deal with that though. Except for the angelfish and pleco, it sounds pretty good If you really like plecos, perhaps try to find a candystripe pleco, they stay smaller, about 4" and would probably work out alright in your tank

That said, don't get discouraged, read up, and have a lot of fun. Thats what the hobby is for after all!

 

[itsahumanzoo]

That said, don't get discouraged, read up, and have a lot of fun. Thats what the hobby is for after all!

I did do a lot of reading, but I could get a big tank because I live in a house with other people, and out of respect for them, I got something small.

As soon as the lease is up I am getting a 55 gallon tank to move some of my bigger fish to. And I already bought a 2 gallon tank to put the molly fry in. I also bought another female molly.

 

[brit_s86]

If you want to cut back on some of your fish,you can borrow my pirhana......He is bigger than a pop can