When to move pregnant molly into breeding trap?

HI all,
I have a pregnant molly and I will have to put her in a breeding trap, problem is I don't know when to move her. I know it will be stressful so therefore don't want to put her the trap to early, but would also like to get some young. Any help ??

 

well I don't know the answer to your exact question, but I do know mollies will eat their young

 

help

Hi,
yes I know that they eat their young, that's why I want to use a breeding trap.

 

I have Mollies and am working on my second batch of fry. While most livebearers do and will eat their young, I suggest getting some floating plants, (living or silk, your call,) to float in the tank so your fry have cover. You may not be able to save them all, but you will get some. For example, my first time around I only was able to 9, this time I between 25-30. Do you have a fry tank set up?

 

mollies

Hi,
no don't have a fry tank set up, but i'm learning !! What other fish do you keep with your mollies ?

 

platies, cories and a common pleco, (soon to have a bigger home, common pleco get to be 24 inches! They don't grow to the size of the tank, I was a newbie and didnt knwo any better.) I also have an invertebrate tank with RCS and MTS, probably going to transfer some of them to my 20high. What else do you have?

Edit; As of right now, since the females are still birthing, (I'm up to 40 btw...) I have them in a breeder net. Its just a plastic frame with a net that cinches down tight. I don't have a lot of plants in my 20gal High. But floating plants are surely the best way to house your fry until you get a breeder net/box set up. Depending on how many you get, you may not need to set up a fry tank this time. Once the fry are big enough NOT to fit int he mollies mouth, you can release them into the tank. However, because I have so many this time, I am going to transfer them to my invert tank.

 

When I had my black moscow guppies, I followed the rule of thumb I do in all my tanks. I do not separate out mothers/fry. I keep everybody in the tank they're already in and provide lots of plant cover for the fry. Then, I just let nature run its course. This way, I'm provided with just enough self-reliant strong fry and not overrun with any one species.

 

I would do that too, but my husband likes to watch the fry and we sell them to our LFS and let our 3 year old son put the money in his piggy bank. I also, do not separate the females. I simply let them birth in the tank and what ever I can catch, I then transfer to the breeder box. I have no doubt that probably about half of the fry have been goobled up!

 

I've been in a similar situation... you don't want to stress out the momma (especially mollies... they get sick so easily), but you don't want to lose fry. Best advice in your situation is to leave her out when you're home and able to watch her or at least check in often. When you're away (work, sleep, errands, whatever), put her in the breeding iso net / trap. Check it often so you can get her out as soon as she's done giving birth.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to setup a little 10 gal fry tank with a sponge filter or something that won't suck up the babes. Or get something like this and sequester them in your main tank:



Best of luck to you!

 

really? My mollies are probably the hardiest fish I have had. They have never gotten ill. My tetras on the other hand is another story.

 

Weird, I've heard the opposite... well, depends on the types. I've heard that black mollies always tend to get sick first and that skirt tetras will be the last to die. Of course neons are usually the first to go if anything changes much (temp, ph, etc.)

Again with the "well, this is what I heard...". I just got a black molly anyway, and she's doing fine. So maybe it's just something from my youth, who knows?

 

I have kept Mollies for years and in my experience they can be very susceptible to ich if not cared for properly. Some of the things I do to help prevent an ich out break is I always quarantine new purchases, keep there thank temperature in the low 80s and add plenty of salt.

Mollies are a very hardy fish if the fish-keeper does their part by keeping the tank clean and are put into well established tanks and not placed in a newly cycled or cycling tank. Mollies don’t do as well when they are kept in the lower temperatures ranges and no salt.

Because Mollies are very large waste producers they should be kept in limited numbers in any size tank. I normally only keep around 12 Mollies in a 30 gallon tank and at a ratio of one male to 3 to 4 females.

 

When I first set up my tank, I knew nothing about the nitrogen cycle and anything about fish, for that matter. I had a HUGE Ich outbreak... everyone was covered. I started with 4 mollies, and I still have 4 mollies and they are having mass babies! I started with 5 BHT and ended up with 3. They never really recovered and were constantly sick. (I seriously think they were infecting my tank from day one anyway, just from all the other problems I have had with my LFS...) I don't know, diet may also have something to do it. I don't have any salt in my tank, but I do regular water changes twice a week and gravel vac once a week.