shatin

Elize from Hong Kong

my Mollie had babies - I separated the babies from the mother as she ate some of the babies. I have the mother in a tank on her own and the babies in a bowl on their own

When do I retun the mother to the tank to be with all the other adult fish.

Many thanks

shatin

Hello all
My name is Elize - relocated from South Africa to Hong Kong about a year ago. I live on Lantau Island in a small little village called Tong Fuk (Fook) close to the airport and a 20 minute bus ride away from the big Buddha as it is known in Hong Kong. My study has a view over the sea and I can watch the ferries as they go to and fro between the various islands or as they head towards Maccau.

The site has been a great source of information for me - being a total newbie to having fish as pets.

I look forward to learning from all you

Thanks for sharing information

armadillo

Hello Shatin, and welcome to Fishlore! I've landed in HongKong once, but didn't stay. I'm very envious, I'd love to live there for a while. You sound like you've got yourself quite a view.

Am sure the fishstores over where you are will have some real beauties, what with being a tropical location and all.

What sort of fish and tank have you got? Fancy showing some pictures? We looove pictures.

armadillo

Hi again, Shatin. You should be OK returning them when they're too big for her mouth, basically. To be on the verrrry safe site, I want to wait up to 3 months, but it's up to you.

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore Elize. after she drops her fry, the mother may need a couple days to rest. just watch her behaviour and when she eats normally and seems to swim around a bit, she's ready to go back in the main tank.

shatin

Thanks sooooo much for responding to my questions.

I bought the fish tank from a store - David the salesman and I communicate with each other by means of English and Cantonese words here and there. The tank is really nice and I spend hours just watching the fish as they swim around. I noticed that the black Molly fish seem to enjoy hiding from the other fish. I only got the tank and the fish a week ago - noticed that the one Molly seemed round - frantically called David who laughed and said move her to another container - I did so and lo and behold a few hours later I noticed all these small black little dots darting around - it was the babies - again I called David who told me to separate the mother from the babies.

Will take some pictures soon.

Work is taking me to Hawaii for a week in July and hope that the mother will be OK to be returned to the others - at the moment she seems to rest a lot - I do a 20% water change with her and the baby fish each day. She ate a little bit still seems to enjoy resting and just hiding between the plants that I have in the bowl with her.

Have a great week

COBettaCouple

it should be fine to put her back in with the other adults by the time of your trip. Do you have someone to care for the fry while you're gone? what are you feeding them? i think it's great that you have a store like that there.. i wish we did.

shatin

Friends will take care of the fish, the fry and my Poppy dog - a mini pinchure for the week.

I crushed flakes as small as possible and feed them 3 times a day.

The mother fish - am busy preparing some peas that I will mush up for her

Also will try boiled egg yold with the fry - read on the internet how good it is for them

All of this is so new to me but really enjoy the learning

Thanks
]

armadillo

You're welcome. That's why I love fishlore. There always seems to be an answer quite quick.

Yeah, you sound like youv'e got a great store there! Good on you for learning cantonese.

You mention your tank and fish have been in your house for a week. Have you read about the nitrogen cycle? This is important as your fish are at risk if your tank has not cycled. Here's a good article: http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/TheNitrogenCycle.htm.

Enjoy Hawai, you lucky person!

armadillo

You sound like you're going to take great care of them!

Oooh. Egg yolk sounds interesting. Anybody else tried this?

Pea is a great idea, but it shouldn't be her staple diet. Once a week or so.

Fish-sitting friends and good pet stores. Let's all move to Hong Kong!

shatin

David Fish as I call him sells not just the tank to you - it is sold as a kit - the tank, equipment, various liquids that you need to add to the tank - also told me to add one teaspoon of sea salt diluted in water prior to adding it to the tank - thus far all the fish are doing well - look healthy - i feed them about 7 flakes in *the morning and in the evening - there is 15 fish in the tank - excluding the mother and the babies. *They seem to finish the food soon after it has been added - is this enough or do they need more?

from time to time I give less flakes and add a small piece of dried bloodworms

Thanks

armadillo

1 teaspoon of water per gallon is OK for mollies, although not strictly necessary. I've stopped doing it and kind of start again if I feel disease start up (mollies are annoying for diseases).

It sounds like your tank has not cycled. Fish produce waste and this waste is converted into substances that become extremely toxic to the fish after a week or so in a new tank. Established (or cycled) tanks have been exposed to fish waste for long enough (about 5 to 6 weeks) for bacteria colonies to settle in there, and these bacterial colonies will transform the toxins produced by waste into less harmful form. People cycle their tanks in a variety of ways. You are cycling with fish. Please read the link I sent you to avoid catastrophe. It doesn't have to be a big deal if you do enough water changes and keep a tap on your waste levels (you'd need a liquid test kit for that).

I would treat the water with conditionner (which binds potentially toxic chlorine and chloramine sometimes found in tap water). The big brands are Seachem Prime, Amquel+ and Tetra AquaSafe. I'd favor Seachem Prime in that it detoxifies ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. I heard other people use AmQuel+ on this site (they like it because it adds vitamins + stimulates stresscoat growth, but it doesn't bind up nitrates/nitrites/ammonia). But basically, as far as I know, we all condition our tap water. Perhaps the Hong Kong water where you are contains no fish-toxic substances? That's very possible, but I'd check (mainly chlorine/chloramine).

Sorry I know it's a steep learning (and purchasing) curve, but the early stages of the nitrogen cycle are a biiiiig killer.

shatin

My tanks was fitted with an undergravel Filter, submersible water pump and air pump.

I was told to add water to the tank - leave it overnight pump the water out - add tap water that has been left for a day - fill the tank with this and add to it the following: Water decontaminant with special efficacy 10 drops, 5 ml of Bio booster and 5 ml Chlorine neutraliser. I was then to leave this standing for 5 hours - the fish was in the bags as I got them from the shop - these were left floating in the tank for the 5 hours - added the salt water then only did I open the bags to put the fish into the tank.

I was told to do a water replacement of about 30% once a week.

To clean the filter once a week and to add the drops once a week to the water that will replace the 30% but to mix all the meds in the water before refilling the tank - leaving it to stand for 30 minutes and then only to add it to the tank again with 1 teaspoon of salt.

I hope this is OK - I would hate my fish to die - already I feel so connected to them

armadillo

Bio booster sounds like one of these 'cycle in a bottle' products. Cycling on its own would take up to 6 weeks, so no way did your tank cycle without chemical help. People have had mixed results with the chemical cycling producxts, but I believe some work. Might be worth creating a thread asking other members if they've used that particular one?

I've cycled with fish on 3 tanks and all fish made it with Prime water conditionner (or another nitrites/nitrates/ammonia detoxifier if you can find one) and regular water changes, so your fish will be OK if you get a test kit and do water changes when you see the levels rising too much (that can mean once per day in critical periods of the cycle).

Have you had a chance to read the link to the article on the nitrogen cycle? It's one of those really really really important things to know about. Please read the article, then you'll be more informed to decide what to do to help your fish through it.

Oh, something else: when you clean your filter, please do this in a bucket with tank water, rather than tap water (again, to do with your bacteria). I also would only clean it when you see it is getting clogged. Once per week may be delaying the settling of the famous life-saving bacteria in the nitrogen cycle. *

shatin

I see the Bio Booster is an Australian product AA Bio Booster and it says on the bottle that it is set to eliminate the build up or organic waste, also to eliminate ammonia and nitrate build up due to fish faeces

Hope then that all will be OK

Do I feed them enough? or too much 7 flakes for the 15 Fish twice a day - at times once a day with dried bloodworms for the other meal

- oops before I forget yep did check up on the site you suggested - thanks for that

COBettaCouple

if you put the flakes in a sealable plastic bag and use a rolling pin, you can crush the flakes into powder. hikari first bites is also a good fry food, if you have it there. egg yolks and crushed up peas (if you crush them in the water, they can release a lot of 'pea powder') will be good for the fry too. we fed our fry a small pinch 3 times a day until they were a month or so, then it was 2 times a day.

We feed the adults a pinch of flakes 2 times a day.

shatin

Thanks for all the information and learning.

It is 10:21 PM here in Hong Kong - I need to head to bed now as I am usually up by 4:20 to be ready for the lovely sunrise and a walk on the beach at about 5am with my Poppy dog before heading off to work.
Later in the day it is way to hot and humid to even dare taking a walk at this time of the year.

Best wishes for a great week ahead to all of you

My name is Elize - Shatin is one of the suburbs in Hong Kong - has a lovely park and it is great watching people doing Tai Chi or Qigong as I wind my way to work

armadillo

OK, thanks for the extra info on Bio Booster. Now I know what it is. This product will slow down your tank's cycling process, which is arguably not good, as your tank needs to cycle eventually. To paraphrase what the cycle is, it's the process of your tank gravel and filter 'learning' to cope with fish waste by making it non-toxic, and that process needs the toxic waste in the first place.

What I would do is continue to use Bio Booster until you're back from holidays, or your fish sitter will hate you if they have to monitor the nitrates/nitrites/ammonia levels and change the water up to 1x per day at the worst part of the cycle. Once you're back from your holidays, try to get a hold of Prime, or another detoxifyer that does not eliminate nitrite/ammonia, but just detoxifies it. Oh, and while you're at the pet store, you'll need a test kit (not the paper kind) for ammonia, nitrates and nitrites so you can monitor the water and know when to do partial water changes.

Fish David is going to love you!

Oh, and about the food, I feed my fry very small amounts 3x per day. I soon tired of crushing the food for them, so I bought baby food (basically smaller flakes). For the adults, a good rule of thumb is to imagine the size of their stomach (generally speaking, a fish' stomach is about the size of one of its eye) and feed that much. I feed very slowly and very little, wait until they've finished what's on the surface, then give them food again, until I estimate that amount (eye amount) is reached. I avoid uneaten food as that contributes to increasing nitrate levels, which is a pain as it means more frequent water changes. Oh, and you could give them a slice of cucumber as a treat. They love it (my mollies do at least). It took them 2 attempts to understand what it was. First time, I left it in the tank for 1 day and not reaction. Did that another time and same result. Third time, they devoured the stuff overnight! Of course, this should only be a treat and not their staple diet, but varying food helps keep them healthy, and it's sooo cute to see them eat veggies. Other small tip: don't leave the cucumber (or any uneaten food) for more than 1.5 day or so, or it will rot and could foul the water.