New to Forums - Some Molly Questions (Hope these aren't "repeats")

[Nicholaa]

I am going to post this here, since I put it in the comment section on Mollies before being smart enough to realize there were actual forums. I hope these questions aren't repeats - but I will try to look back through previous posts to see if my questions were answered a long time ago, or even recently - so if these questions are repeats, I apologize in advance!!

Question: I can't find information anywhere on this, but how long does it take for Molly fry to be considered "adults" or even "juveniles"? I have some of various ages in a separate baby tank and the oldest ones (about 2.5 months) are probably only about 1/2 inch long. They also seem to have very large bellies, almost as if they are "bloated". I work during the day, so usually only feed them 3 times a day (as opposed to the 4-5 times recommended by many breeders) and I still use the finely crushed flakes.

Also, at what age will Mollies become sexually mature?

What do the rest of you do with all your babies once they are big enough to sell/give away? My local Petsmart says they won't take them and I haven't checked with my other pet store, but I am guessing they'll say the same thing. I don't have enough friends to give them to, so now I am thinking I shouldn't have gotten into the Molly lifestyle. I have 1 male and 6 females (adults) currently and even if I take him out, theoretically I can have loads more of fry, but they do "cull themselves". Even with basically "perfect" water conditions, I do lose quite a few babies. I do love the Molly fish and my children enjoy the livebearing process, so I am torn.

-- Thanks in advance,

Lynne!
(PS: Merry Christmas!!)

[Nicholaa]

Well, lost the one F Molly I had in the hospital tank. She had shown no signs of further illness/disease and when I built up my new 29G aquarium, I re-introduced her. She seemed to do okay the first days, eating, etc, but she was "laying down" on the rocks a lot too. She was dead this morning when I went to feed them.

I just hope now that she wasn't still diseased and unfortunately died of being weakened from the original diseases. I don't want an infected tank. Ugg.

[chickadee]

I am sorry we missed your post. I do not know what may have been wrong with your little molly. I do not see that you listed what she was in the quarantine tank for. Laying on the bottom of the tank is one of the signs that a fish is ill, but since I do not know what problems she had been having, it is hard to say what was causing it.

I would do a large water change and watch the remaining fish closely for signs that were similar to hers and if any seem to be developing those symptoms, quarantine them immediately and administer medications if appropriate. If you are not sure of the appropriate treatment, you can post on the Fish Disease Board and it will be more quickly picked up.

Again, I do apologize that this post was not dealt with. I do not know how it was overlooked. I am so sorry that you lost the little Molly. It is always a sad thing to lose a fish that one has invested themselves in and they do become members of the family don't they? You have my sympathies.

Oh and I am not ignoring the question about how to deal with mollies and the fry. You see, I do not have livebearers and no mollies so I am hoping we can snag someone with that experience to answer those questions for you. Sorry.

Welcome to Fishlore.com.

Rose

[Izabela]

Hello,
I'm sorry about your molly. One question, was the tank you moved her to cycled? If not and she was already sick then she probably wasn't well enough to withstand the ammonia/nitrite spikes which occur during the cycling. In regards to the fry, my babies are just a little younger than yours and also have the big bellies. This is my first batch of babies, so I don't know if this is normal.

The best way I found to find homes for them is friends with tanks and also, there is a freecycle discussion group on yahoo (I think they have one for different areas of the country) and I posted there. I got a ton of responses and then chose new adoptive home from those...basically making sure that the new families are experienced or at least educated in how to set up and prepare for the babies. Since the babies are still too small to give away, this gives them time to cycle their tanks, etc. Sorry this response got so legthy. Hope this gives you ideas. Also smaller pet stores are more likely to take babies and give you store credit.

Izabela.