smallfry

Hello, i need help, i looked into my tank the other day and i see a little, tiny black molly, now i only have one black molly so i realize that my fish must have all ready been prego when i got her a few days ago. I have been searching and searching for others but eggo is the only one (thats his name). I am worried the others ate the other babies, or... Is it possible that a black molly can only have one baby? And should i remove the tiny thing and place it in small container till it grows and dose not get eaten? PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Alessa

ideally, if you dont want your fry to get eaten they should be moved to a nursery tank.

Moliies give birth in times... tomorrow you may see more fry.

also I see other problems with your current set up:

1) in your aquarium info you say that you dont know about the nitrogen cycle.. http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/NitrogenCycle.htp this is very important to know, even if your tank isnt new.

2) You are severely overstocked. the rule is one inch of fish per gallon of water.

3) hatchetfish are schooling fish. they need to be in schools of 6+

4) those "skinny see-through fish" sound like ghost catfish and the "striped fish" sound like zebra danios... both are also schooling fish in need of the company of 6+ of their kind.
I would highly recommend upgrading to a new tank as soon as possible.
Welcome to fishlore... you'll learn a lot here

Mike

Yeah, kind of overstocked a little and the one inch of fish guideline only really works for the smallest of the fish species and even if you use it for small species it can make for cramped conditions and headaches down the road as they get bigger...

You could put the baby into a separate tank that is heated, filtered and cycled to care for it if you'd like to raise it or get one of those breeder nets and put it in there. Do frequent partial water changes until you get through the cycle to prevent losing your fish.

Check out the http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aq...itrogen-cycle/ forum too if you have questions on the cycle.

smallfry

Thank you so much for the info. I am new to this fish thing and i need the help. Thank you for mentioning the nursery tank but i have a bio orb, im not sure if you know what that is, but if u look it up and go to their website you will see it is a sphearicle tank with a lid so you cant hang a nursery tank on the side. This is a fairly new tank and i do not wish to get a new one anytime soon because the one i have was very expensive. I do not know what the nitrogen cycle is and im worried it might be a problem. Could you please respond back with any info on the nursery tank, what i should do with the overstock fish and the nitrogen cycle.

Thanks again

Erika Collin

smallfry

Thank you so much for the info. I am new to this fish thing and i need the help. Thank you for mentioning the nursery tank but i have a bio orb, im not sure if you know what that is, but if u look it up and go to their website you will see it is a sphearicle tank with a lid so you cant hang a nursery tank on the side. This is a fairly new tank and i do not wish to get a new one anytime soon because the one i have was very expensive. I do not know what the nitrogen cycle is and im worried it might be a problem. Could you please respond back with any info on the nursery tank, what i should do with the overstock fish and the nitrogen cycle.

Thanks again

Erika Collin

Alessa

With the nitrogen cycle... read this:
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle

Depending on how old youra tank is, and how long you've had fish there, it might no longer be "a problem" but the nitrogen cycle is something vital to know, because when something goes wrong in a tank id say 7 out of 10 times it has to do with something related to the nitrogen cycle.

and yes, I know what a biorb is. it is just a ridiculosly expensive fish bowl in which you can barely keep a couple of small fish due to its shape and size. (although I have to admit it looks cute).

regarding the overstocking, you have only two options:

1) giving back to the store the hatchetfish and the ghost catfishes. In which case you'd be left with three mollies adding up to 9 inches of adult fish i an 8 gallon, still, one inch overstocked but not too bad.

2) getting yourself a bigger tank (aside of the biorb) to put two schools of fish, 5 ghost catfishes and 5 marbled hatchets. which would be a bare minimum of 30 gallons.

You also need to know what will you do if your mollie has more babies. livebearers can have from 1- 50+ fry. Do you have any local fish store that might take them in case she has more?

-Alessa.

smallfry

Thank you Alessa, but i have you know that i did not pay that ridiculose price for the tank, we saw it at a local fish store and instead of the normal 250$ it was only 45$. Thanks again, and would it be ok to brouse e-bay for spare tanks for babys and maybe schools?
And i tried clicking on the nitrogen link and it didnt work.

~Erika~

smallfry

i just found the nitrogen cycle link, but would it be different since i have a bio orb and that uses a weird filter thing?

Erika

Alessa

yes, craigslist also has some very good deals! also people sometimes give tanks for free!

you can go to liveaquaria.com or any lfs to get the schools of fish, thats entirely up to you!

and make sure you read the nitrogen cycle thing!

-Alessa

smallfry

Thank you so much for helping me!!!

Alessa

No, it does not make any difference, no matter what filter you use it still applies.

also if youre planning on the other tank, you need to really understand the nitrogen cycle in order to set it up.

Youre welcome! were always here to help!

smallfry

thanks again, but where do i get free tanks!!??

Alessa

im saying that at draigslist (and sometimes ebay) people give away their tanks, or sell them for a very low price!....

look for a 30ish gallon tank, no less than that due to the fact that both hatchetfish and glass catfishes need a lot of room.

also, read the fish species profile for both! here on fishlore.com

just look for them and you'll find them.

biscotti

I wanted to add that I have 2 mollies that usually have 1-2 babies every 30 days. Also, they didn't start having babies until I had them for 3 months. They're all females, so I know she was holding things in for a while.