kitty

hi* . i got 2 dalmations mollies and 2 swordtails living together. and i have had them for a while. but last week i started noticeing eggs on the plants, rocks, and walls...eggs were just everywhere!! then when i woke up this mornig there was around 30 fry* ! so i put in my baby hide-out-grass and went to school. when i got home only one fry was left so i scooped him out and jus put him in my extra 3 gallon. hes seems well and everything but im not sure really how to care for him! does he need light? what does he eat? and how did he come to be...cause i thought that mollies and swordtails are both livebearers*
well i would love any help! thank you!

newbie101

right mollys and swords are livebearers. May be farfetched, but maybe the eggs are snail eggs and the fish were just pregnant. does the fry get a heater? you can feed it crushed flake, and if you want you can do tiny bits of bloodworms i think.

Jason

they'll eat anything that is small enough. I feed mine crushed flakes and other crushed dried foods.

Butterfly

Mollies and swordtails are both livebearers and their fry can eat crushed flake right away. As Emma said thise are probably snail eggs.
If they were fish eggs and hatched they would be very tiny and could not eat crushed flakes for about eight to ten days(or more)
Carol

kitty

ok wow! thank you everyone!
yeah i have a little snail in there that was givin to me by a friend! but there is only one and i didnt think they lay eggs. but jus a little update:
I now have 4 fry and counting! I get a new one about almost every day! and they all are very crazy and they eat ALOT! i feed them bloodworms and crushed flakes now so thank you sooo much!
does anyone know how long it will take before i can tell what kinda of fish they are?

Maida_gc

Is it by chance a pond snails that you have? If so, and if you still have those eggs on your plants etc - I would get RID of them, they really take over your tank quick. Most snails are asexual, meaning they can reproduce all by themselves - and they do, like rabbits - rabbit - anyway, here is what worked for me in riding my tank of snails eggs. Of course if you desire this.

- Remove all the adult snails you can see
- Remove all plants and accessoires that have eggs on them
- either use your hands to removes the eggs or give everything a bleach bath (or both)
Bleach Bath - Soak everything for about a minute or so in a bowl that is comprised of 1 part natural bleech for every 19 - 20 parts water. Rinse everything well in normal tap water after the bath.
- Keep an eye out for any you missed and you should be snail free in no time.

Good Luck with the Fry. I don't imagine it will be too much longer before you know which one of your parents deservese the cigars.

kitty

"Good Luck with the Fry. I don't imagine it will be too much longer before you know which one of your parents deservese the cigars."

lol thats to funny! and i didnt know that about the snails..thank you! im gonna get started on that tomorrow. i really dont want anymore snails! sadly ive gotten attached to him already...and i named him gary...

wow! i love this site! and you all have helped me sooo much thank you

Kidsmollies

Get yourself another snail that cannot reproduce itself!!! That way you don't have to miss the presence of a snail. As for the fry popping up, they are so small at first, they may have been experts (by nature) of hiding in plants, in the gravel and even in the uner gravel filters! I'm happy for you!

ricky2272

Hey, i feed my fish fry crushed food and algea. (sorry i dont know how to spell it) the baby fish could have been born prematurly in which case they wud have still been in there aggs so i have herd.

inari

One thing about snails tho...they will not populate past carrying capacity so if u have a ton of algea and such that would be a good reason for u to have a boat load of snail eggs since ur fish are live bearers...so that is one way u can take care of them is by making ur water conditions as close to perfect of ur fish so the algea remains reduced hope that helps