So Many Fish

Hello All,

I am fairly new to this hobby so I apologize if I sound naive. I started a 30 gallon freshwater aquarium last August and have had a lot of fun and have enjoyed the hobby with very little issues. In October I purchased 2 black Molly's from the pet store. A few days later one of them gave birth and I had 9 baby fry. 7 survived and are doing well. The problem now is that at least one of them gave birth again and now I have 22 Fry. So far only 1 has passed and they are separated and I am feeding them fry food as I did with the others. Obviously this is turning into a cycle of events that I need to stop. I have 2 guppy's and 2 catfish to go along with my 8 Molly's and 21 fry Molly.

I enjoy the Molly's as they are very friendly and active but I started an aquarium to enjoy multiple species. Will a fish store take some of my fish? If so, do I need to wait until the fry have grown? Are there any other humane suggestions?

Thanks.

 

Hello All,

I am fairly new to this hobby so I apologize if I sound naive. I started a 30 gallon freshwater aquarium last August and have had a lot of fun and have enjoyed the hobby with very little issues. In October I purchased 2 black Molly's from the pet store. A few days later one of them gave birth and I had 9 baby fry. 7 survived and are doing well. The problem now is that at least one of them gave birth again and now I have 22 Fry. So far only 1 has passed and they are separated and I am feeding them fry food as I did with the others. Obviously this is turning into a cycle of events that I need to stop. I have 2 guppy's and 2 catfish to go along with my 8 Molly's and 21 fry Molly.

I enjoy the Molly's as they are very friendly and active but I started an aquarium to enjoy multiple species. Will a fish store take some of my fish? If so, do I need to wait until the fry have grown? Are there any other humane suggestions?

Thanks.

There is a reason people often breed Molly's for live food.....It honestly depends on the store...I know one store thst readily takes fish but another thst won't accept common fry from Molly's or convict cichlids because they are so common

 

Welcome to Fishlore!

I would call your LFS and ask if they'll accept some fry. If they won't, you can advertise them on Craigslist (or your country's equivalent).

I would rehome all of your fry and all of the adult female mollies, as they'll just keep reproducing. You can keep a few males in a 30 gal tank though!

What kind of catfish do you have?

 

I am new to livebearers, and bought a pair of creamsicle mollies recently. I was told that if they had babies they and the other fish in the tank would eat them immediately. Well, guess what? I have a very small community tank right now (10 gallons) with other fish in it that are established. I re-homed the Molly parents, but nobody wanted the fry. Can't have another tank, can't grossly overstock my current tank. No matter what people tell you, the fry DO survive. Out of one pregnancy I had all of that to deal with. I had to euthanize about twenty fry who were getting bigger than fry. And this was going to happen every couple of months? Just, no. Fry are almost impossible to re-home unless you live in big town (I live in a small town, one LFS 45 minutes away). I wasn't able to rehome, and time ran out for them. I had no humane choice but to euthanize them. I was flat out lied to that I would "never have to deal with babies."

 

I am having a similar problem. I started with 1 female, now I am literally watching generation three being born. I decided to just let the molly's have babies and those that live live. However, it will soon be out of hand.

How old do fry need to be before they can be sexed? My idea is to separate them by gender into two tanks. Is there a way to tell if they are male and female when they are small?

 

I am having a similar problem. I started with 1 female, now I am literally watching generation three being born. I decided to just let the molly's have babies and those that live live. However, it will soon be out of hand.

How old do fry need to be before they can be sexed? My idea is to separate them by gender into two tanks. Is there a way to tell if they are male and female when they are small?

As soon as the analfin starts to fold into a gonopodium you can sex out the males, however some are late blooming and you might not catch them until they have already bred. One male can quickly impregnate every female in a tank and then you have 6 months of fry to deal with (average timeline for male's sperm to run out from what the female has stored). You will get better with it the more you practice sexing them. I generally can sex my male gups as soon as they start to mature into males (male gups generally are skinnier imo, so that helps, but behavior and watching the fins and color to see changes are all helpful).

 

As soon as the analfin starts to fold into a gonopodium you can sex out the males, however some are late blooming and you might not catch them until they have already bred. One male can quickly impregnate every female in a tank and then you have 6 months of fry to deal with (average timeline for male's sperm to run out from what the female has stored). You will get better with it the more you practice sexing them. I generally can sex my male gups as soon as they start to mature into males (male gups generally are skinnier imo, so that helps, but behavior and watching the fins and color to see changes are all helpful).

What time frame on this? When does absl fin start to fold, aproximately?

 

Normally starts at 8 weeks old, depending on the species, late bloomers can be as late as 4 months (or even later in the case of swordtails), guppy females can be mated to as early as 10 weeks old (if warmer, normally they mature enough to breed at three months, males mature earlier, but before they are completely mature you will see the gonopodium developing at this point separate).
The analfin is going to look folded and thicker on developing males.

What time frame on this? When does absl fin start to fold, aproximately?