shadowavenger

Well it has gotten to that time. My dalmatian molly fry are about 3 months old now and have outgrown the breeder box and my 14 gallon tank infact. Its time for them to go out into the world.

I have a grand total of 37 alive from the original 50 or so that were born. I will be keeping 6 in my master tank (which brings my band up to 7 mollies, 5 danios, 1 platy, 1 CAE) and 3 have already been transferred to my grandparents 5 gallon tank. 4 will be going tommorow to a new home at a local car dealership in their show room tank. (Which is pretty massive!) And the rest will have to go to the pet store. Im just hoping that they get sold to a good home and not stuffed into the feeder tanks to be eaten. I tried to give some away to my friends but no one has a tank.

I wish I could keep all of them. I've grown very found of them and they are very affectionate. They always plow to the front of the breeder box whenever I come around because they think Im going to feed them. They have even gotten to the point where they will eat from my finger tip. However, I simply don't have the room for them. My tank is already over stocked. But I will risk the over crowding to keep the 6 I have chosen.

Out of all there were only 3 males, all the rest being female. There were 2 black mollies which didn't survive, and a couple of silver mollies (at least they haven't developed their spots yet.) All the rest are pure dalmatian. They have been fed a very well rounded diet. I powderized some of every thing I had, including flakes, brine shrimp, algae wafers, shrimp pellets, betta pellets, and blood worms.

They leave tommorow so I will try to get some video of them tonight. If I figure out how I will post it somewhere. I don't have a digital camera so I can' get pictures at all.

Its going to be sad sending them off . They've been really fun to watch grow over the last few months. Hopefully they will all have a good home soon.

Dozey

Never easy having to let pets go. I’ve had great success with Kijiji when I’ve had to re-home fish. I always get lots of responses giving me the opportunity to “interview” potential keepers to ensure my friends are truly going to good homes. Good luck!

shadowavenger

Thanks! I have been abit concerned about giving them up to the car dealership though. The tank is very big and has alot of plants and hiding places but there are some larger fish in there. Looks to be a couple of oscars and a few other larger fish. They're about 8 inches long or so. The fry are about an inch long a piece but still small enough to fit in their mouths. But Its either that or the pet store where they may be sold as feeders anyway. But I think they will be ok. if they can get to a decent size then they shouldn't have the risk of being eaten.

cmoreland

Howdy Shadow, I've got some Molly fry that were doing fine in my 10 gallon but were being chased occasionally by the mama Molly so I went out and bought a breeder net and put them in there. 3 of em died overnight in that thing!! I'll never use one of those again! I think it depressed them to death. As I said, they were free swimming around the main tank and doing fine for 2 weeks before I put them in that accursed net. So I let the remaining 3 fry out back into the tank and they have been doing fine ever since.

Your thoughts on that?

shadowavenger

Well I had a couple die in the breeder box. I don't think it would nessecerily be from actually being in it, but more so from just them not being strong enough to survive. When they were first born, I had them in my 2 gallon tank. A few died in there because they buried themselves in the gravel. I couldn't cycle the tank so I was relying on zeolite and water changes to keep the toxins in check. Eventually it got to the point where detoxing was getting to be a massive chore so I bought a plastic breeder box and began to transfer them over to that. As I netted them I counted them and at that count I had 43. I know at least 3 died in the small tank, and there were a few others that buried themselves in the stones so I imagine that there were about 50 to start with.

Once they were in the master tank I was able to manage them easier and they grew fast. A few smaller ones died and in the end I had 37. I kept 6 for myself in the master tank, and I gave 3 to my grandparents. The breeder box did stunt them abit, because within 2 weeks of taking the six out they grew to almost twice the size of the ones still in the box.

Today I took 22 of them to the fish store and I got 11.50 in store credit, which I used to buy a new heater, a gang valve and a small net! Not bad considering everything was practically free! The fry are going to be sold and not put in the feeder tank so I am happy about that. The remaining 4 went to the car dealership, which I have some concerns about since its stocked with some more aggressive fish like angels and cichlids. But there are alot of hiding places so hopefully they will be alright.

Overall, everything turned out pretty good. I will miss them. Its already sad just to look into the tank and not see the breeder box with them skimming the surface for food. But they are going to go to good homes hopefully.