Pregnant Fish: What to do

JeffinMS wrote:
I have two pregnant fish. A Sword and a black Molly. They both look like
they are going to explode. I was thinking when these fry come to just let em
fend for themselves but I recall someone here mentioning how the other fish
will eat them (I expect my pretty big clown loaches would gobble em up). I
do have one of those square fry net holders. Whats neccesary to feed them?
How many to expect from each fish? How long will they be pregnant before
producing?

First you'll need to give some more info:
Tank size?
Tankmates?
How many of each?

Live bearers have a gestation period of 28 days.
They can deliver earlier than that and have stillborns, as a result of
being scared or ill.
They can also "hold" them, meaning stop the process and end up killing
both herself and ther fry.
Now if you are planning on saving the fry, your best bet would be to
put the mom's to be in a separate tank with tons of plants, heater and
sponge filter.
After they give birth, put the mother back in her original tank.
Then the fry will be able to grow in this same tank until large enough
to go in with the bigger fish.
I really don't care for the net breeder and would never recommend the
plastic floater boxes.
The plastic ones do not let enough or even any fresh water in and they
also heat up too much. They hang at the top and since it's near the
light it really does heat the water too much and end up cooking the
little ones.
The net breeders also hang at the top, let fresh water through,
however, any of the tank mates can actually pick at the fry that are
resting on the net and end up killing them.
I found this out by accident. Wasn't fun.
The tank mates will try and try to get at the fry and it only takes
once to kill them.
Even when you have the net tied tighly around the plastic frame, it
still doesn't seem to be tight enough for the larger fish to not be
able to snap at them and kill them.
For feedings..live bearers are about as easy as they come.
Simply take your flake food and powder it between your fingers. They
will snatch it up quickly.
You can also buy frozen *baby* Brine shrimp. Not regular Brine, as that
is the adult shrimp and much too large for fry.
Since they need vegie matter too, if you have algae disks available,
chip off a little piece and drop it in with the fry. They will nibble
at it until it's gone.
Make sure it's a small chunk, as you don't want it to rot.
You can also take a chunk of Romaine lettuce (not regular iceburg
lettuce), blanch it on boiling water for about 4 seconds and then
remove it and run under cold water.
Make sure it's completely cooled off, as you don't want to burn the
fish.
Drop that in and they will graze on it too.
Now an odd little fact when it comes to live bearers...
Female can hold sperm. That means from one mating, they can have
several littlers of fry. Pretty neat, or kind of yucky, jury's still
out on that one, lol. = )~