# Fun surprise for my wife and I



## drew54 (Nov 23, 2018)

So, I just realized that my wife's female Molly is pregnant. She is freaking out at the moment because we don't have an extra aquarium to separate her. So, looks like we are going shopping and waiting patiently for our little babies to come! I'm super excited!

Any advice on this as it's been a long time since I've had to deal with pregnant fish?


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## EllieMay (Nov 23, 2018)

So Molly is a fish and a name???? I don’t know anything about fish so all I can say is congrats!! Lol


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## drew54 (Nov 23, 2018)

EllieMay said:


> So Molly is a fish and a name???? I don’t know anything about fish so all I can say is congrats!! Lol



Mollies are a type of guppy. No, my wife hadn't named any of her fish, but our girls named every fish in there though. I couldn't tell you which is which, but they can. It's actually impressive. Lol


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 24, 2018)

I've never had mollies, but sure got loaded up with platies for a while! I would think they would be similar.

I did not separate Ruby. She had about 30 babies each time, and they were all in a 20L community tank. I don't believe any of the other fish or the platy parents ever bothered the little ones. I do have lots of plants and hiding places on the bottom of the tank, as well as bunches of anacharis floating on top.

The babies did not grow as fast as Ruby put out new ones, so that's when I started putting them in my other tanks to grow a bit til I could take them to the fish store for sale. I had 90 of them when, much to my relief Ruby died unexpectedly. I was sad, but also rid of a big problemi.

Eventually took them all to the store to be sold.

Now ask me how it went when I decided to raise the eggs my mystery snail kept depositing on the glass of the tank!


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## Toddrickfl1 (Nov 24, 2018)

Just have a lot of plants and places to hide for the babies and a few of them usually survive to be big enough to not be eaten. Also you can take a piece of small netting and put it over your intake for your filter so the fry don't get sucked up.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 24, 2018)

Buy some plastic, bushy aquarium plants that you float in the tank for the babies to hide in.


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

Thank you all for the info. I think we have some good hides in the tank now. I will look into getting some bushy plants to let float. What do you think about live moss balls for hiding?


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

KarenSoCal said:


> I've never had mollies, but sure got loaded up with platies for a while! I would think they would be similar.
> 
> I did not separate Ruby. She had about 30 babies each time, and they were all in a 20L community tank. I don't believe any of the other fish or the platy parents ever bothered the little ones. I do have lots of plants and hiding places on the bottom of the tank, as well as bunches of anacharis floating on top.
> 
> ...



Platties give live births like mollies. They are pretty similar. Yes, how did that go? Do the other fish eat them? I have a snail and I keep teasing my wife that it's going to start laying eggs anytime. She doesn't like them, but I think they are very neat.


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## Toddrickfl1 (Nov 24, 2018)

drew54 said:


> Thank you all for the info. I think we have some good hides in the tank now. I will look into getting some bushy plants to let float. What do you think about live moss balls for hiding?


Moss balls work ok. When I was breeding livebearers I used to use a plant called Hornwort. It provides good cover, it floats and grows like a weed. You can get some from eBay.


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

Toddrickfl1 said:


> Moss balls work ok. When I was breeding livebearers I used to use a plant called Hornwort. It provides good cover, it floats and grows like a weed. You can get some from eBay.



I've seen these being sold in a few pet shops I went to last month. I will look for those again as I hope I can keep as many of those babies alive and feeling safe.


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 24, 2018)

I agree hornwort works very well too. Just don't put so much that you block your light to the other plants. You may want to make an airline "corral" to keep it away from your filter intake, and keep it floating.

I found that at first the babies stayed on the bottom, and only darted up for food. Marimo balls didn't work well for me for hiding. Plain anubias did, or take some hunks of java moss and weigh them down in the bottom tank corners for hiding.

My fish did not eat them. I had cories, glowlight tetras, the platy parents, ghost shrimp, and Amano shrimp. I did however provide my betta with a treat or two, but he is in his own tank.

The mystery snails...I ended up with about 200 of them! Had them everywhere til they got big enough to sell, when I took them to the fish store.

Parents...



At 8 days...



Snails everywhere!



A newborn, and one that's getting bigger...



An egg clutch...



Hello, son...


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

KarenSoCal said:


> I agree hornwort works very well too. Just don't put so much that you block your light to the other plants. You may want to make an airline "corral" to keep it away from your filter intake, and keep it floating.
> 
> I found that at first the babies stayed on the bottom, and only darted up for food. Marimo balls didn't work well for me for hiding. Plain anubias did, or take some hunks of java moss and weigh them down in the bottom tank corners for hiding.
> 
> ...



What's airline "corral"? That's a lot of snails! My would kill me if she found a cluster of snail eggs. I wouldn't mind though. How fast do they grow?


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 24, 2018)

Not fast at all! But they did speed up some when I put them into a large plastic bin of around 12 gal. I think I had them around 16 weeks to reach 1/2 in. 





I still have a few of those babies. 



Keep in mind these are mystery snails. You could safely have nerite snails. They lay tiny white eggs everywhere, but they will not hatch in fresh water. The eggs can just be left in place...they eventually dissolve. (unless you are an obsessive neat freak...then you can scrape them off. Be prepared to scrape a LOT!)

Corral...take a length of ordinary tank airline, put the 2 ends into an airline connector, or one way valve. This circle of line will float. You can let it float free, or hook it to something at the surface. It will keep your floating plants where you want them. Make it any size.


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 24, 2018)

The temp/hospital/quarantine tank.


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

KarenSoCal said:


> The temp/hospital/quarantine tank.
> View attachment 258064



I love this idea! Who do you sell your fish and snails to? Well is the pet shop a commercial shop like petsmart?


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

KarenSoCal said:


> Not fast at all! But they did speed up some when I put them into a large plastic bin of around 12 gal. I think I had them around 16 weeks to reach 1/2 in.
> View attachment 258059
> 
> View attachment 258060
> ...



That is s great idea with the airline. I will have to tell my wife all this fantastic info!


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## Tom (Nov 24, 2018)

drew54 said:


> So, I just realized that my wife's female Molly is pregnant. She is freaking out at the moment because we don't have an extra aquarium to separate her. So, looks like we are going shopping and waiting patiently for our little babies to come! I'm super excited!
> 
> Any advice on this as it's been a long time since I've had to deal with pregnant fish?


I wouldn't move the Momma or disturb things too much. I agree with everyone else about adding lots of plants top to bottom for cover and hiding areas. I'd also add a bit of sea salt if you haven't already, since mollies are brackish fish.

What other fish do you have in the tank?


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

Tom said:


> I wouldn't move the Momma or disturb things too much. I agree with everyone else about adding lots of plants top to bottom for cover and hiding areas. I'd also add a bit of sea salt if you haven't already, since mollies are brackish fish.
> 
> What other fish do you have in the tank?



Mostly mollies, but a glass fish and a couple tetras. I will not separate her and I'll just add lots of plants. Will the males essentially mate her to death?


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 24, 2018)

drew54 said:


> I love this idea! Who do you sell your fish and snails to? Well is the pet shop a commercial shop like petsmart?


It's a privately owned tropical fish store. I did not sell fish or snails. I was just happy to find a place to unload them, however, the owner gave me a few fish in exchange.


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## Tom (Nov 24, 2018)

drew54 said:


> Mostly mollies, but a glass fish and a couple tetras. I will not separate her and I'll just add lots of plants. Will the males essentially mate her to death?


If you have one female and several males, she might be in trouble. If you have a mixed group, a larger tank and plenty of hiding areas, she should be okay, but keep an eye on things.


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## surfergirl (Nov 24, 2018)

I always got the nursery hang on plastic bins. Has slot in the bottom for the babies , after they are all born I would just keep them in the small hang boxes, it vents the water from the whole aquarium but protects the babes...


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## drew54 (Nov 24, 2018)

Tom said:


> If you have one female and several males, she might be in trouble. If you have a mixed group, a larger tank and plenty of hiding areas, she should be okay, but keep an eye on things.



I am as I don't want anything to happen to her. Thank you for your help. I think now it's just a waiting game.


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 24, 2018)

I realized that Ruby, the pregnant platy, is in this picture at the top! Look at that belly! LOL!


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## drew54 (Nov 25, 2018)

KarenSoCal said:


> I realized that Ruby, the pregnant platy, is in this picture at the top! Look at that belly! LOL!
> View attachment 258085


Oh wow! I didn't pay attention to anything else but the snails.


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## Ben02 (Nov 25, 2018)

Yep definitely add more hiding areas, I used to use small white plumbing tubes, big enough for the fry to hide and bigger ones not getting in.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 25, 2018)

Get some live moss balls or some plants that babies can hide in.
They'll even hide in gravel that is large enough to have voids in it.
Mollie will eat babies. But there are about 15 to 20 each birth. And they breed so often that no matter what you do, you'll have dozens this time next year.
Feed the adults well and they'll be less likely to eat the babies.
Pinch some fish food in your fingers and "grind" it into a powder for any babies to eat.
Place a sponge over the intake to your filter. Most filters will suck up half the babies within the first few hours.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 25, 2018)

Also, as @Tom suggested. Mollies really only do well with a bit of salt water. Sea salt. Not the medicinal salt used for treating illness. Something like INSTANT OCEAN mix is what I'd use.
There are in fact wild green mollies here in south Florida. The water where they are found is very mildly salty. Purely fresh water mollies will live, but never really thrive for generations.
However, a lot of other aquatic fishes, etc have NO tolerance for salt in the water. Apple snails included.
So if you go the mildly saline way. Make sure you google any other fish or creature in the tank to make sure they can tolerate it.


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