I've got some new non horse babies here...

[RainSong]

Less then a week ago, I restocked my 5gal fish tank. 3 Longfinned Leopard Danios, 2 Glofish (genetically altered Danios), and 2 black lyretail mollies- both female.

The glofish all died, and so did 2 of the 3 other Danios. Just one left.

And well, I looked in the tank today and be darned, there was a little black squiggle butt in there! After a moment of panic (What the heck is invading my tank now?!) I realized what s/he is. A baby black molly!

Now I was expecting it, since they were fat and all, but not so soon! After chasing one and catching it in the net- and then seeing another... and finally ending up with three in the net, I decided I needed a breeder net for these guys or their Mommas were gonna make lunch outta them. Getting ready I found another THREE in the tank, but left them loose.

There I go, driving 1/2 hour one-way for a net. Ended up with a breeder net box, a smaller 3in soft mesh fish catching net, a new small-sized gravel cleaner (Thank god), and a Octinulus (sp) algae eater (maybe now the algae on the tank walls will get cleaned up? He'll only grow to about 2in). Came home and played "catch the little black squiggle butts!" for an hour. I think I finally have Momma in the net breeder, but I'm not sure.

No way in god's green earth can I count them all- and I don't have another bigger tank. Just my 5g and the 2g plant-grow tank with the betta and ghost shrimp. But I'll try to save them all and rehome them

That is A LOT of black squiggle butts! I wish I had a big tank to house them!

 

[Sterling]

Oh how NEAT!!! I used to breed and raise Fancy Guppies and Mollies. They're so much fun. Now I've taken it outdoors to my pond where I raise Fancy Goldfish...Orandas are my favorite.

 

[CrescentMinis]

It's been a number of years since I had fish, but the mollies I remember thinking were nicer than other livebearers because they never ate their babies! The original 2 fish went to town having babies and I had a whole new problem, too many mollies! A couple of generations in one tank all of a sudden. Luckily the aquarium store took them off my hands, but the population count sure zoomed up quick!

I could be wrong, but never needed to separate the adults as long as the mollies were the only type of fish kept together. I think they are vegetarians

 

[Bunnylady]

I could be wrong, but never needed to separate the adults as long as the mollies were the only type of fish kept together. I think they are vegetarians

I was thinking I'd heard the same thing about mollies. I call babies at this age "two eyes and a wiggle!"

 

[RainSong]

Mollies are vegetarians (would be nice if they'd told me that at the store; but then, what do I expect from Petco?), but will eat their babies apparently- Momma snapped up one of the fry after she was put in the net. However, she mostly left them alone- seems a bit creeped out by them, really LOL Since it's just the lone Danio and the algae eater in there besides the mollies, they were more worrisome.

She probably only ate the baby because they both still think they're starving, even when they aren't LOL The first day or two I had them, I was only putting fish food in the tank- then read they were more algae eaters then fish flakes (and that fish food was actually bad for them as a sole dietary source). So they're still realizing that food isn't scarce

Having them in the net makes it easier to feed them, and keeps them safe from Ghost Shrimp predation too- which considering there are two good sized Ghost Shrimp in the tank, they are a worry.

My husband asked why I didn't put them in the 2.5g - uhhhm. >.> because Mr. Awesome, the wonderful and beautiful betta, would make quick work of those poor lil babies!! He already killed the guppies I tried to house him with.

Which reminds me, I saw some HUGE guppies at Petco when I went in. WOW. Loved the Tiger Platies too!

 

[Lisa]

I had livebearers for awhile and I had a ton of fun with the babies. I love watching them grow and get their colours. Guppies are my favourite! If I saw one of those little black wiggles, I would spend the rest of the day looking for babies. I mostly caught them all (I think) and usually had 10-20 babies at at time.

 

[minih]

Congratulations on your babies! I love looking at the babies too, we used to raise guppies and the only problem we had with them is they are prolific breeders and every so often you would have a population explosion and then a bunch would die back down to a few. You can never find anyone thats wants guppies OH! Your tank will be full with them in no time, they are really very pretty to watch. Just a lot of trouble.

 

[Sonya]

congrats on your black squiggle butts! I miss my tank sometimes.

 

[RainSong]

If I saw one of those little black wiggles, I would spend the rest of the day looking for babies.

It's been a couple days... and I keep looking >.>

LOL I did sorta get a count this morning, and it looks like I have around 11 (could be more, could be less). They are still in the net breeder, which is taking up scary amounts of tank space- I don't want the Algae eater or the Shrimp to have a baby mollie meal. Or even TRY to have a baby meal!

I need to change some of the water when Nathan is down for his nap. I keep looking to see if there are more babies in the main tank, or if there are any dead ones- and there haven't been. It's a little alarming

That little 5g isn't big enough for that many fish!! LOL

I did get my best friend into the mess. She's actually how I ended up with the mollies- we got her a tank and fish and all (just a 5gal), and she got a single black mollie. He was so nifty that when my new fish died off, I went and got the mollies... and well, there we go. 2 became... 13!! She had a fish that got massively aggressive, plus lost a couple glofish. I went to visit her yesterday and she was down to the aggressive black skirt tetra, a smaller black skirt, and 2 glofish- the aggressive tetra got packed up. We got her two sunset Wag platies and another plain leopard longfin danio, and her tank seems happy.

Meanwhile, her nasty aggressive fish is now in my mother's 29g with fish who's fins alone are bigger then him! She has longfin black skirts and a slew of other tetras- he didn't attack anyone, and they didn't even seem to notice there was a new fish. Ah, all is well again.

... except I have the strongest urge for a bigger tank... or two... or three....