Pregnant Fish: What to do

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?

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?


In my short experience (currently) with platy fry, Tetra's SunDried Baby
Shimp seems to do a nice trick. You can crumble them up to almost dust
and the fry gobble at it with vigor. I would assume this would be easy
on their digestion, as well.

"JeffinMS" wrote in message
...
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?

If I miss anything you can look up livebearer "most" are about the same in
having fry (around 30 days).
Good chance your loaches or even mom & dad will eat the fry, so do you have
another tank by chance?
If not and you want to keep the fry in that tank you can go get some
hornwort, or some other plant that will stay at the bottom for them to hide
in (they are good at that). If you have another tank like even a 5g you can
dip them out when she drops them and put them in there, you may not get all
of them, but I do that some times if I want to keep the fry.
People differ on what they think about those baby savers, I don't like them
and have lost a couple of my females from using them, if you do use them
make sure the fish is close to dropping other wise you will stress them and
they can die, plus I have had females eat the fry in there when I have not
caught them in time, however if she does have the fry in the main tank, you
could dip them out and put them in there so they are safe from adult fish.
As you will read some place, the way to know if a livebearer is pregnant is
see if she is a female, they are always pregnant, and will drop about every
30-35 days. Get a zip lock baggie and put fish food in it and roll the
bottom of food back and forth over it, that will make it small enough for
the fry to eat, they do have a food called first bites but its expensive and
you can do the same thing by crushing food up for them. I have fancy guppies
also livebearers and they have between 10-40 babies, I don't know if that is
a normal amount for them or any other but after having many dozens of my
females have fry that is what mine do.
If you think of anything else just post someone will be happy to help. Oh
what size tank do you have and how many fish?
Nik

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. = )~

"Tynk" wrote in message
oups.com...

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. = )~


I don't know about moving mom if she is with in a couple days of dropping
the fry, some people including myself have had problems with this because it
can stress her and cause her to die, if you get her a week or so before she
should be fine, but if you think she is ready i would not do it. I have a
female now who has been pregnant to long, I have raised the temp in the tank
a couple degrees and I am hoping she drops them soon, we shall see.
nik

"Nikki" wrote in message
...

I don't know about moving mom if she is with in a couple days of dropping
the fry, some people including myself have had problems with this because
it can stress her and cause her to die,

Which is exactly the problem I've had with moving them. Or they'll give
birth prematurely and most of the fry die, then they die. It's safer to
leave them where they are and add a lot of hornwart and Java moss for the
newborns to hide in. If the babies are really valued, remove the other fish
temporarily. That can be a real PIA if other established tanks are not
available. The plant route is the safest. Most PetsMarts where I live
carry hornwart. Java moss may he harder to find.

if you get her a week or so before she
should be fine, but if you think she is ready i would not do it. I have a
female now who has been pregnant to long, I have raised the temp in the
tank a couple degrees and I am hoping she drops them soon, we shall see.
nik

--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

"Köi-Lö" $##$$@$##$$.#$$ wrote in message
...

"Nikki" wrote in message
...

I don't know about moving mom if she is with in a couple days of dropping
the fry, some people including myself have had problems with this because
it can stress her and cause her to die,

Which is exactly the problem I've had with moving them. Or they'll give
birth prematurely and most of the fry die, then they die. It's safer to
leave them where they are and add a lot of hornwart and Java moss for the
newborns to hide in. If the babies are really valued, remove the other
fish temporarily. That can be a real PIA if other established tanks are
not available. The plant route is the safest. Most PetsMarts where I
live carry hornwart. Java moss may he harder to find.

if you get her a week or so before she
should be fine, but if you think she is ready i would not do it. I have a
female now who has been pregnant to long, I have raised the temp in the
tank a couple degrees and I am hoping she drops them soon, we shall see.
nik

--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*


I have a fry net which is nice, sometimes I can get a good bit of the fry
out of the tank if I really want to keep them. I use the net and go over the
rocks and they come up most of the time. the fry left in the tank in most
cases dont do bad fending for them selves.
Nik

I have a reasonable survival rate by leaving the fry in the tank....at
least to the level my bio-load can cope with and when I have tanks with
fish liable to reproduce I add that into the equation....and enough to
get satisfaction from the fact that my fish are happy enough to breed
and the environment that I have created is good enough for the best to
survive...

If I wanted to seriously breed and sell on the fish then I would take
additional measures...but I don't - those that survive and live are the
fittest of the fry and the strongest of the stock....question is are you
a pet keeper or a serious breeder of fish??? And it has to be said that
these surviving fry build up the stock of my tanks....fit, healthy and
used to the environmental conditions - sadly their parents do not always
conform to these criteria...but that is another story....

Gill