Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Sylver's Fish Updates

82K views 575 replies 13 participants last post by  Sylverclaws 
#1 · (Edited)
I currently have a beautiful female Creamsicle Lyretail Molly, who, until the other day, had never been interested in the boys. lol She is almost full grown, I think they get to be four inches long, she is just over three and a half inches long. To my knowledge, this will be her first brood! She took a liking to my male Black Sailfin Molly, and have been...dancing for the last few days. Now, she is about three quarters of an inch larger than the male fish, and she runs my tank. Haha, so if she gets tired of him, he'll know it. I have ten females and two males in the tank, and I haven't noticed any bullying from the boys, they seem to be rather gentle for males who usually practically attack the females while breeding...Bah. The two males are also interested in three other females at the moment, so she isn't getting too bothered, and to my knowledge only lets my black sailfin near her.

Well, in anycase, I was wondering what the estimate on the brood size is for Creamsicle Lyretail Mollies. I can't find anything on it when I googled. lol They usually add in all the molly species, and I know they can all interbreed and are basically the same species, just different sizes and colors. I also know that bigger fish can have more babies, but it is her first time, again, to my knowledge. She was pretty small when I got her. I've had her for several months now, and she's grown from about two inches to her near four inch size. She really is rather pretty, as is her male "buddy."

Also, for those curious, I have a breeding net which I will NOT be putting her in to have her babies. It has nine fry from a gold dust and silver molly in it right now. I was also afraid it'd be too small and stressful for her in that thing. I have improvised a roomey area for her. I made a large net that I have tied to a very large, two gallon picher(pitcher? I hate that word lol), that I will be putting into the tank, it's used only for my fish water changes and holding for big tank stuff the fish shouldn't be present for or if I have an issue that requires them moved, so it has nothing yucky in it they can't be near, like soap. I need a separate tank for this, really. LOL But I haven't gotten one yet, I intend to get one later this year.

Anywho, yes, makeshift net tied in there, and weighed down. The whole thing can go into the tank, only temporarily, no more than a few hours I am hoping, or the other fish might get upset with me. But this way I don't have to worry about her being in there out of the tank and risk a problem, like oxygen or tempurature, or a spill. I intend to have some plants in the bottom and some gravel for the babies. When they're born, they should fit through the net and be able to get to the plants and hide until mom is done giving birth. I've also made sure it's roomey and that the net wont move or collapse, and it wont catch on her and/or cause damage. This way I can try to minimize loss of babies to being eaten, and lessen stress to the mother and other fish, it wont really be a move, she will just get sorta scooped into it and stay in the tank. I did let a different, very expectant mother go in it last night, I thought she was in labor and I had been up almost two days, I had to sleep or be sick! She did not give birth and I removed her after I had a five hour nap, she seemed not to care. If anything, she wanted back in and tried to do so. ^^; Afterwards, I will remove the fry to the breeding net and let mom have an hour or so to rest before going back to the tank, I don't want the other fish picking at her while she is tired and smells of afterbirth. Would YOU want someone poking at your rump when you just shot out a bunch of babies? lol


SO, anyone have an estimate for me on the possible brood size, or should I ask later once she gets her size on? :3 Also, what do you guys think they will look like? Creamsicle Lyretail Molly with a Black Sailfin Molly. He's pure black except the top edge of his sail. It's bright yellow across the whole top edge! Mom is a very nice orange color with a lighter colored belly and dark eyes. The male has very odd eyes, the top half of his eyes are kinda dark brown/black, but the bottom half seems to be a bright shiny gold color, maybe copper would be a better wasy to explain it. Odd eyes. lol One of my gold dust females has a black eye and a silver eye though, I guess I am used to funny-colored eyes.
 
See less See more
#27 · (Edited)
Oh dear! Was I being critical??! I didn't MEAN in any way to criticize!!! I think you're doing a great job - all you can do with what you have on hand, and they're recovering, so FANTASTIC!!! I'm sorry if you took that the wrong way, I've been so exhausted and running around like a nutcase lately, lol!

I'm sure you're right and that it's a fungus, there are so many different types out there. . . and I'm nowhere near expert enough to even try to help out here, but it looks like you've gotten the situation under control! Definitely good to look into other meds. I suggested Melafix because it's something that I'm comfortable with, it's all natural, and I know it won't do any harm (I'm NOT comfortable with many medications!) but it is very mild as far as meds go. If you decide to get something else, be very sure to do your research on the med, make sure it's safe for Mollies, will treat what you want it to specifically, and don't mix any two meds together if you aren't absolutley sure it's okay. Also check and double-check to make sure that the med won't interfere with your beneficial bacteria, or your plants (you can always take the plants out if you have to) I know all this sounds obvious, but. . .you'd be surprised at what people do :shock: If you decide to use medications, make sure to remove the activated carbon from your filter, and keep in mind is that increasing the temperature and adding meds make it harder for the fish to get oxygen, so if you have a bubbler, or if you can turn up your filter, it's good to do so while the heat is high and/or medicating! LAST WORD OF CAUTION about medication . . . then I'll leave you alone! It is always stressful on the fish to be treated with meds. If this is clearing up on it's own, and not spreading. . . don't use them!!! Clean water is the best thing out there in treating your fish, and if you don't need it don't use it.

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious - just be super careful!!!

If you can get hold of a 5 or 10g QT tank, that would be wonderful! It's SO much easier to put the fish through QT before they cause a ruckus in your main tank - great that you are able to close her off from the rest of the group, good idea - if they were picking at her that certainty isn't going to keep her calm and stress-free! I was sad to hear about what happened with the ich. How horrifying. . . yeah, you shouldn't use that shop anymore! It sounds like they don't care very well for their fish. . . the GOOD news is that, with the rate your Mollies are reproducing, you won't NEED to buy another fish EVER again!!

Anyway, I NEVER mean to be harsh, so I'm sorry if it came out that way - the last thing I'd want to do is hurt the feelings of someone who cares so much and is obviously trying to do the best she can for her fishy friends! Hope all comes out well!
 
#28 ·
Not at all! I was just saying that helpful critisism is welcome. =)

I identified the fungus as Columnaris Flexibacteria. The images they had of it were exact, as were the symptoms. One of the broad spectrum treatments they suggested was Pimafix, it's all natural medications and works against several types of fungi, internal and external bacterias, as well as fin-rot, which usually acompanies this fungus and some other things, it shouldn't hurt anyone or anything in my tank. At this point though, it may or may not help her, but it'll help my black molly. Ballooney doesn't look NEARLY as bad as some of the photos did, tail-wise. A lot fo them had really rotted fins, hers is just starting to get there, so maybe I can save her life, and her tail while I'm at it. ^_^
Aquarium salts and high temps are also a treatment for it, but it's one of those might work, might not work, but it helps prevent others from getting it and looks to have retarded its growth and dried it up a bit. Yay for quick thinking. x.x

Oh yes, I've counted my babies finally, I have 42(Yes, the answer to everything, the secret of the universe). I had 46, but my filter of all things ate a few of them! I haven't had that happen before. They were big enough that should not have happened, the only thing I can think of, is they weren't very healthy. I did notice a few slow ones. They were stuck to it, not in it. >_>; I hate that, maybe I can get something to put around that part that wont hurt the cycleing abilities. I moved the littler ones into a different breeding thing I got...o-o; And yeah, I did it this time, can't blame my grandma...they FINALLY had some Dalmation Lyretail Mollies that looked absolutely gorgeous. I gave them my ten gallon and the fry get a smaller nursery I set up. I know I shouldn't have, but I had been looking for some of those for over six months! All this year they've had sick batches or ones that traveled badly, ich, fungus, irresponsible carriers and too much heat in the wrong traveling packeges have been their excuses for having really badly shaped Dalmations and Creamsicles. I got two of them for my ten gallon until I can find homes for four of my other adult fish.
I'm still waiting for my aunt, but I have decided to give her three adults instead of just the one. She'll actually be getting four or five really, two of my adult black mollies, an adult marble molly and if she wants, two of my gold dust jeveniles(Which will actually make five, but I never count the juveniles), I should have more than enough room after that! A ten gallon should be ok for my Dalmations for three weeks, they'll have it to themselves and one Cory cat. Besides, the female looks pregnant. She's lighter with a lot of nice spots, but the male...oh my goodness...he has a SAIL, and a good one at that. It's different from sailfins though. And he's very dark, he only has a few white lines over his black. He actually looks more like you'd expect a dark marble molly to look like, he's drop-dead gorgeous.
 
#29 · (Edited)
When I looked at my Balloon molly a little while ago, one of her "Patches" turned into a bump with big fuzz. x.x I really hope the Primifix does it's job! It certainly wans't fuzzy and swollen a few hours before. I don't like how fast it suddenly moved, it worries me.

Anywho, those two Dalmations I got today, they're in my nursery, the babies, as I said, are in the smaller breeding thing, it is supposed to double as a nursery, but doubtful for very long. I just want this yuck under control and wont add any fish until then, so my dalmations have the nrusery to themselves. It may work in my favor a bit, the female looks like she's pregnant, not too far along though! I'll be keeping them in the dark for a while to keep stress down. To my knowledge, adn to the petshops knowledge, they were just shipped in that day from a breeder and hadn't been with any other kinds of fish or mollies, just dalmations. I am hoiping to have full mollies, but you know how it goes with those girls. lol

They have that ten gallon to just the two of them, that's ok for them for two weeks with regular cleaning, right? I want to give away all my older fry and some adults, and also kill the fungus before I put them in the big tank(Or give any away of course lol)... or do you think I should do a little extra, but subtler cleaning like I was when the ten gallon was my main tank, even with just the two of them, or will regular maintenance do, you think?

Anywho, this is the male I got, he's gorgeous! I was so excited about them, I've been spamming this photo like mad to all my friends. LOL I also put it on here to make sure that glow on his tail wasn't something bad, but so far I've only heard news it's a "Normal, and desireable" trait. Apparently I got lucky if that's the case. The female is much lighter with speckles, he looks more marble-like color-wise. He's also a little bigger than my creamsicle female, I'd say he's about three and a half, maybe a little bit more, inches long. The female is about half an inch smaller.
 
#30 ·
He is BEAUTIFUL!!! My black molly used to be a dalmatian lyre-tail. His tail was nipped in the shop, though, so I never knew it! :( Since I've had him, he's lost nearly ALL of his dalmatian coloration, and is just black. He's so pretty! I love your new little boy. I can't BELIEVE you have 42 fry, lol!!! I'd think they'd be fine in the 10g to get through their QT. Good luck with the fuzzy babies. Columnaris can be one of the most vicious illnesses out there and wipe out a tank in a day - looks like you got lucky and have a more treatable strain of it, thank God for that! Hope everything goes well, and they're all feeling better in no time! You can use Pimafix AND Melafix together, and in this case, it might be a good idea to do so. . . just something to look into. Hopefully this fades away really quickly, it seems like things are going well so far.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Oh yes, I heard that I can use them together. However, it's just the one fish that is really bad, the Balloon Molly. This strain isn't supposed to be contageous, but my Black Molly got it. I can only assume it was because she was biting on the Balloon molly where the fungus was. When I found out what it was, I was terrified. I am a huge fan of the TV show "The Incredible Dr. Pol" And they JUST had an episode where Columnaris wiped out four calves, two of them over night! This is that one with the sorta saddleback kinda fungus that starts around the back of the head. I am actually wondering if she has two kinds of fungus, or if she just had a weakened immune system, which I am sure she did, and got the other effects that come with Columnaris. Like fin-rot and sore patches, unless it can spread to their eyes too. But it's deffinatly the saddleback strain that isn't supposed to be contageous. My black molly ONLY got it on her eye, no saddleback stuff or big fuzz. But it also took a few days for the Balloon molly to actually get that fuzzyness.

Also, I am kinda scared to use more than one medication. Infact, I was scared just to use the one, if I mess up the dosege I am afraid it could hurt them, so I mark the time very carefully when I use it, every 24 hours. I also have 13-14 of the juveniles in there and I'm afraid they couldn't handle it. The Primifix is a seven day treatement, 5 ml per ten gallons of water. It did not come with a measure! However, I had an empty bottle of AquaClear that had one with it in ML, so I use that over a medicine teaspoon for people. lol
The fuzz is actually going away already, so this is pretty fast acting. She's still a little fuzzy, but not swollen and nasty like she was last night. She still seems tro be alright considering. I figure once she looks completely cured, if she survives, that will mean my other fish are fine too. I'll give them a few extra days after the water change(Recommended on the medicine after a week), and see if anything goes wrong. If not, they are going to new homes. They grew extremely fast compared to when I kept my fry in the breeding net. They're double the size right now compared to the fry at two weeks older last time. Room is good, and so is the food.
Many changes have happened since I started giving them things you recommended to me. Less waste, less blaoting and big belly issues. They have brighter colors, which I didn't think possible since they were never dull to begin with, and seem happier and less easily stressed(They used to freak when I walked by the tank, now they beg foir food when they see me, although if I sit there and stare, my creamsicle always starts pooping a lot, but she hangs out near my face like she's curious, I try not to do that to her though, but I have to check everything good daily).
I keep seeing new plants I want to get too...but how many plants is too many in a twenty gallon? LOL I have one great big leafy one that takes up a bit of room, the rest are more viney, they were the ones you said they were, I've forgotten again though. x.x Anachris and Anubias? I probably spelled them wrong. Haha, those ones don't take up as much room, but I imagine they will once they sprout! I'm turning into a plant finatic...After I got my first plants and saw they didn't die in two weeks, I got really excited. I've always liked house plants(Can't keep them anymore because of kids and cats), and I know dense planting is good, but how far is too far with plants? Right now, I think I'm set on plants, those baby ones will probably grow in perfectly and I wont need more, if I did get more, it'd probably take up too much room. Currently they just love to swim around in the leaves. x)

I am also debating on giving away my Silver Sailfin/Lyretail male...I really don't want to, but my only other option is the Balloon Male...>>; And Grandma would be upset. v.v; He is a rather pretty color, but he reminds me of a drunk penguin. ^__^ However, the Silver is more aggressive than my other three males(The black one is either going a week from Friday to my aunt, or to a shop, it's really pushing my patience waiting several weeks for her to decide, I don't mind the extra work, but I DO mind the lack of female companions for the boys when there are so many, I think I'm at only two per male now, I have four boys right now, two absolutely have got to go). I don't like having more than three males, regardless of female numbers, two is preferable to me, but I'm stuck with the balloon and I am not giving up my sailfin or dalmation. Ha, the only option I REALLY have here....is more tanks. lol I don't have a constant job though, I dogsit, and with the economy, it's been less and less, people don't travel as much when low on money. x.x Infact, I haven't seen my relatives from across the states in over five years!
 
#32 · (Edited)
No worries, momma! You do whatever you feel comfortable with - I'm really NOT trying to push you into anything! Clean water is the very best thing for a fish. Period. The right conditions and time will heal pretty much anything that CAN be healed - and the ones that are affected are recovering so well under your care already! I know you've actively been doing all that you can to make the lives of the creatures you keep as happy as possible - I'm so proud of you! *HUGS* I really wish everyone showed as much concern and care over their fish as you do :-D

You're right, she rode into your tank with the infection, and it seems to me that she was very likely kept in poor conditions before she got to you. There are so many types of illnesses and fungi that live in our tank(s) that never become a problem until the poor little fish has a weakened immune system (unfortunately, one of the main reasons for the weakening is poor water quality - makes me so sad to think of what they've been through), and once ONE infection takes hold, it leaves the fish wide open for many secondary infections to flourish. The fact that she's healing up so quickly is really a testament to how well you've been doing over there!

Just for the record these two meds are about the ONLY ones that I am comfortable enough with to recommend to anyone, ever - and that's pretty much because, like you, I am SO leery of dumping crap into my tanks - these are more or less the only two meds that *I* am comfortable with using myself! I have used both Pima and Mela fix, both together and separate, on Mollies and Molly fry. The only issue that *might* come up is that it *could* lead to a bacterial bloom, which is really no big thing. Melafix is wonderful to promote healing in torn or ragged fins, and so, if you find that your fish could use a little bit of help in that direction (you did say she was showing signs of having been picked on, finrot, or nipped fins, right?) then Melafix is a safe way to promote rapid healing - and you want that baby healed up so she can stay well! Again, NOT trying to push you into anything that you aren't comfortable with - just letting you know my experiences! Clean water is STILL the #1 cure all, and it will always be - and it's free. . . and you've GOT IT!!!! HOOOOORAY!

Room IS good, as is food! Isn't it astounding to see how much more quickly they can grow in a larger tank? I can't tell you how HAPPY it makes me to know that I've been of some help to you in getting your tanks and fish on track to a better world! I'm glad I could help - but it's your care and concern that really has helped them to flourish! 42 fry. . . *shakes head*

Girl... if your mollies are curious about you... let them be!!! The fish that you've had in your tank for some time are used to things now, they're not stressed out anymore. Mollies are curious little critters, and they really seem to ENJOY being paid attention to! Go ahead and stare! If they don't want you to, they'll leave! You deserve to enjoy your babies! I've had to keep some of my Mollies, for one reason or another and from time to time, in QT. Either to break up an argument, or when fry were being born, etc. My QT tank is in a very quiet area of my home with little traffic - perfect for de-stressing and recovery. And I am absolutley certain that my mollies, provided that they are healthy and not stressed out, DO get lonely/bored when they're left all by themselves! Mollies are so much fun, they're silly and curious and very active. When mine were in community, they were always the first to explore changes to the tank, and ... don't laugh! ... I even play 'games' with them! They seem to enjoy a round of 'find where she put the food' when I 'hide' their meal inside of a tank ornament or under a sword-plant - it's so much more FUN than just nabbing it from the top of the tank! And sometimes we play ball with a skinned, uncooked, whole pea. They're so silly as one will get ahold of it and try to get a bite, only to have it be 'stolen' by another fish, or drop it and try to get it back before it hits the ground. You'll see that they DO take small bites when you do this, and the pea is entirely gone - but it does take them some time, and a LOT of play - to get it all eaten! (I only do this when they already have eaten, otherwise it'd be mean). I've also been known to move things in their tank - just for fun. A plant moved from here to there, an ornament turned on it's side - nothing to disrupt their entire habitat, mind you, but just enough to make life interesting. They're always all over the new change, trying to figure out what's going on. I'm not an expert, but I SWEAR - they LOVE this kind of thing! Now. . .my other fish? No. My rams prefer things to ALWAYS be according to schedule. Food goes here, lights on now - they thrive on routine and get VERY upset when things are moved from where they 'belong' in their tank. My tetra? Couldn't care less about anything one way or another. But the Mollies (and the loaches!) love to play. I really do think so!

Ummmmm.... I don't think there is really such a thing as too many plants - provided the fish still have room to swim, lol. They absolutley DO love to swim around in the foliage, and as long as the plants are thriving - they're excellent for water quality! I DO think you ought to do your homework on the plants you HAVE before adding to the pile - as well as on the plants you would like to get before bringing them home. Do you have proper lighting? Do you dose with plant nutrients? These things are very important to the well-being of the green stuff - but if you have that under control, plant away!

I agree with you - females galore and 2 males is MY ideal, too. 3 can work, too! Hopefully your aunt figures out what she wants to do so that you can move on from there. It's kind of a bummer that you're stuck with a fish you aren't terribly thrilled with, but. . . grandma deserves it for all the help she's given in making their world a happy place! NEXT TIME, she'd better pick NORMAL fish without fungus, tho - or we're going to have to fight! ;-)
 
#33 · (Edited)
She also picked the black mollies! =) I was there to help with that one though, but I mistook a male for a female, he was alone in a tank with swordtails and I adopted him so he could be with other mollies, but I thought it was a she, good sized fish too, so I shoulda been able to tell. Usually when females press their fins to their stomach, they go pretty flat, but when males do it, they usually have a bit of a hook/bump, and I didn't see that on him. lol I really like that male though, he is gorgeous. If I come into some money before my aunt comes callin, I'll just get a bigger tank and keep him. xD I wish I could!

Now, a bit on the matter we started with, my Creamsicle...I am wondering if she is holding. I don't think she stressed and dropped her pregnancy, but I think she stopped it...I am not sure though, she stopped getting bigger about a week ago, and hasn't gotten smaller either. She's got that nice round momma belly, but it hasn't changed in a week. I'd expect her to get bigger in that amount of time...I was so looking forward to her babies...I think I may cry if she aborted. But honestly, since illness got in my tank, even though she didn't get anything, I can't blame her. The temp changes, the water being all medicated and the two new fish being added in. She doesn't seem stressed, but I'm sure she is regardless. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If everything is fine, she should be due any day now! =) Actually, she should be due this week if she allowed the sperm to go where it was supposed to. August 21st was a few days after I saw them mating! Though I know full well it's impossible to actually guess it, it could be days or weeks from what you think. lol I shall be keeping a very close...closer eye on her from now on. She did act like she was going into labor a few days ago, but it seems it was either a false, or she changed her mind. This is why I am assuming she is holding the babies. She doesn't look or act sick, and I've had my sick mollies quarentined...do you think it would be safe to move her into the nursery now, I have some older fry in there in a breeder, and the two new dalmation mollies. The only difference in the water should be the medications. I keep them both with a little aquarium salt, and have started moving the temp in the big tank back to what it is in the little tank(I try to keep them exactly the same should I have to move anyone, or for when I move fry once they grow too much. Columnaris strain I have needs 75 degree water to hurt it, or so I read when looking into it, and I naturally keep the temp in my tanks at 79-80F). I would have moved her over there several days ago, but that columnaris scared me. ^^; The only other fish that got it or any other illness symptoms has fully recovered. That was my female black molly, she's the only other to get sick in any way. She lost that film on her eye and has acted like her normal self for about three days now. I think that may have been something else, but I have no idea what it was. Obviously heat and salt fixed that part, same with my balloon molly, that mostly went away on her as well.
So, do you think I might be safe to move her, I don't want to contaminate my nursery tank, but she and the others seem perfectly fine in every way. And when I move them to new tanks, I basically kinda get them in a pitcher or a container I can put right in the water and scoop them up. They usually don't seem to know they're caught!

The other reason is...I absolutely don't want babies born in the big tank, it'd be a disaster for both the mother and babies. x.x The babies would get eaten, the mother would get bullied, it'd be very hard to find and catch them all...and my breeder is currently in use. lol She would be in the nursery with my two dalmations though, but three fish after them is better than ten.
 
#34 ·
PERSONALLY. . . I wouldn't. For several reasons. . . one is that even though this medication is very gentle, (and I have reason to believe it is only active in the tank for 24 hours, anyway), it can still cause stress to go from one type of water to the next without an adjustment period.

Next. . . I would be VERY cautious about the possibility of spreading the disease. Again, I'm not trying to knock you, it sounds as if you've got the illness pegged, though you do have some lingering doubt as to if there may be more than one type of illness going on in there. The NEW fish are going to be a bit stressed from the move, and the younger ones will also be at risk. It's. . . just opening up the possibility of having two 'sick' tanks, and well. . . personally, I'd err on the side of caution!

Then. . . you aren't SURE! She *might* be holding. . . but there is always the possibility (however unlikely) that it could be something else entirely. . . or. . . stress-related. Mollies are amazingly adaptable in my experience. It takes them next to no time usually to adjust to whatever it is that you throw at them. But these guys have had a LOT of changes over a fairly short period of time if you think about it! All temp changes and medication aside, it wasn't that long ago that they were pretty cramped in a 10g tank, so she's had to deal with a lot, and she might not be ready just yet. You said she's showing no signs of being in active labor, NOR does she appear to be stressed out. . . so I don't see that a move now would in any way be actually beneficial to her - if that makes sense. If she was being harassed, or trying to hide away, that might change things a bit.

Again, personally. . . I don't try to save my babies. I think that it's more stressful on the mom to be moved while already under so much stress from the pregnancy. But MY experience has been very different from yours - my mollies tend to leave the fry alone for the most part, and my tank is much more lightly stocked, and planted more heavily, than yours - and each fish has their own personality, mine are so laid-back :)

It's your decision to make - do what you feel is right. I'd say you've been doing a good job thus far, go with your gut! Personally, yeah - I'd just wait and watch things closely for a bit longer. . .
 
#35 · (Edited)
My gut is telling me to hold off on any moves, but it's also telling me she needs to get used to her birthing place before going into labor. x.x; So, I suppose, as much as I HATE it, it's gonna be every fry for itself unless I SEE her giving birth. I actually usually like to have the mother in her own tank with a docil buddy atleast a week before she may go into labor. That way she's less stressed from the move, and used to any differences there may be in the waters. Moving them is stressful, but I've found if I move them in something I catch them with, say the breeder box or a pitcher instead of a net, they are less stressed from the move, or seem to be. Usually when you move a fish to a new location, they hide a bit and poop a lot telling you they're stressed out, but usually when I move them in whatever I caught them in, and I usually trick them by holding it there until they go in themselves and slowly move them out, they go into the tank as if they never left it. lol Usually as in most of the time, not always. Some get confused, but are otherwise ok. ^^;

Tomorrow evening I am going to let the Balloon Molly out of her box. Now that she's doing so much better, she's kinda getting miffed that she's not with the other fish and with the lack of space. Before she seemed energetic, but HAPPY to be in there with the plants, now she seems mad if anything, she tries to go through the net when I bring food to eat with the other mollies, she eats what I give her, then tries to get out and get the food the others are eating too. Since she only gets the one piece off a flake or a single small frozen bloodworm or brine shrimp(I defrost the frozen foods in warm water while in the container so I don't lower their internal temperature with cold foods). Usually give her the smallest I can find in the pack or break one(shivers it bugs me with the worms, the shrimp kinda come apart easily, but the worms always squirt red yuck in my face LOL) when my mollies eat them, they...well, unintentionally share, usually someone has a halfy sticking out and another takes it. lol I don't want her to over-eat, and when she's alone I can judge better.
I like that mixed frozen veggies stuff. I didn't at first because it kinda explodes and goes everywhere once it hits the water, but then I realized they have to work for each little piece and even have to search for it in the plants and rocks, and my cory actually gets something besides algae and flakes! I am having trouble getting food to my Kuhli though, I am worried about him. =( He doesn't seem interested in tthe veggies at all, slight interest in the algae wafers....but he goes berserk when he smells the bloodworms or shrimp, problem is, those are my mollies favorites, so even with the lights out, little to none is left to hit the ground. I tried hiding some bloodworms, he visibly wants them, but he can't seem to find them in the plants on his own, or under decorations(I have gravel, I wish I had gotten sand, but I have no idea how to care for a tank with sand substrate, so I can't put it too far under gravel, usually between one on top). I have managed to get a little to him by putting it in his rock, but the other fish mob in there as well. x.x They also get any I bury, they're greedy little brats, aren't they? You'd think I never feed them. lol I feed my adults once per day, either a small pinch of flakes, or one container of the frozen stuff. I'm worried he's not getting enough, and he wont eat from my hand or anything else I stick in there, he just flees and the mollies eat it before I can get it out. Any ideas for me? He doesn't LOOK malnurished, small though...but the way he goes nuts trying to get the protein foods, I am assuming he's not getting enough.
I intend to move him back to the little tank and get him a friend, since they have very low bioloads and don't get very big. He should get fed better that way without being bullied, but I still have to wait until I am done with the medication rounds and see how things go. I currently have one cory in the ten gallon, but he has to go with his "School" in the bigger tank, a ten gallon is no place for a cory, especially alone. Again, waiting on the medications to be completed. I'm also going to move his cave with him, the mollies can live with their bunch of plants. ^_~ His cave is his love, but I have to wash it in hot water to kill off bacteria and anythign that may have been in the big tank and stuck to it. I found soaking something in really, really hot water and aquarium salt with water purifier helps to kill off ich atleast. LOL Probably the fungus too if it's in that a few hours. I don't know of anything else safe to wash fish stuff with.

Ah yes, my Dalmations are enjoying their new home. (Did I mention they were kept in tanks waaay too cold and the shops wonder why they keep dying? >>; I'm talking 65-72 degree tanks here. x.x Mollies need an absolute minimum of 75-76 I'd think, they like it warm. I keep my tanks close to eighty, if not right at it!) I am starting to wonder what kind of people they hire, they need to know atleast the basics of fish care, sheesh! I KNOW better than that when I started keeping fish. There are a few tropical fish that like 72 degree water, but platies and mollies like it 75 and up. After traveling from where ever, a shock of cold water just isn't good, even if it IS only a few degrees from what they're used to, just a two degree difference can kill a stressed fish. I had to float them for an hour because when I felt their water, even though it was a hot day and I kept them close to me trying to slowly warm up the water, it FELT atleast ten degrees cooler than my 78 degree tank.
Anywho, rant over, sorry. It chaps my hide everytime I got to a petshop, it's a shame, they have some beauties that don't last long.
They are enjoying their new tank. They've also figured out when I'm near the tank, they wont be hurt, and occasionally get fed! The male does not like me though. ^^; Pretty thing, but he threat poses anyone that looks into the tank, he's gorgeous when he does it. lol I am sure he'll get used to me, they always do...if anything I think I might miss his threat display, but it's better for him to get over it. lol Now that they come out to see me though, I can see that the female is rather large...I wouldn't say she's got the balloon gut kinda pregnancy, but she's pretty darn thick! Maybe she will give me a few dozen pretty babies. That'd be a dream come true. ;D Have I mentioned the Dalmation Lyretail was my dream fish? Pretty simple for a dream fish some would probably think, but I'd always wanted one, for years I wanted a nice molly tank with beautiful dalmations that I could grow up and maybe breed if I was lucky. The two I got last year died soon after purchase, one stayed for a few months, but she was always frail, and my Gold Dust male, the one I gave away, pretty much killed her. -sigh- I haven't been able to find any until these two, none that were in good condition anyways, most of the time they had ich or didn't travel well, me "Rescuing" them probably woulda killed them with extra travel. ><
 
#36 · (Edited)
T_T My Balloon Molly died. I had a feeling she was going to. They always start looking better before they crash, and there's no way she shoulda been acting fine when that sick. Last night she started acting kinda eratic, so I had a feeling she'd be gone when I woke up, and she was. v.v Atleast she went out looking good, her fungus was almost gone. After all that, after starting to get better and even looking good, this just sucks.
Grandma wants to exchange her, but I put my foot down. No replacement will I get, period. She's still got the male and he's all pretty and as healthy as a balloon molly can be. I explained Balloon Mollies may be cute, but they aren't the healthiest fish in the world and that the balloon effect was originally a deformity they inbred and overbred. >>; So she let that go, but wants another fish to pick out. x.x; Oh joy. T_T Someone help me, I'm not allowed to tell her "no" Permanently.......My writing looks weird, what happened here?

I just looked in my nursery tank and saw a baby...it's a BRIGHT red baby, brand new, looks like it was just born...but it's bright red...That would be the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. I've been looking for Red Mollies about as long as I've been looking for Dalmation Lyretails. ^^; That's cool, if it's from my Dalmation Molly, she musta been with either swordtails or red mollies. =O It does look like it has some black spots on its head...She's the only female in there, aside from maybe my cory who I can't tell with. And I'm sure she's pregnant. How exciting, a night of loss, and a night of new life. Kinda cheesy, but that's what it makes me think. lol
 
#37 ·
Awwww. . . hon, I'm so sorry! You really did EVERYTHING you cold for her, you know you did. Great job standing up to your Grandmother on the 'replacement'. Sheesh! She sounds like a tough nut to crack, for sure, but you did the right thing. Hopefully this is the end of the line for that illness. If you haven't reached the end of the treatment, I'd say go ahead and finish out the course in that tank, just to be safe, and let them be in QT for a month before adding or removing any others from that tank. Better safe than sorry, and a month is the right amount of time to be sure.

Congratulations on your little red baby! How wonderful. . . it isn't cheesy at all, and it makes me happy that you've got your own in-house 'replacement!' Depending on how h/she develops, do you plan to keep this one? Good luck on the hunt for a red Molly. I've personally been searching for Liberty Mollies since the day I saw a picture of them, but I can't find them anywhere. Shipping is really expensive, but there are some gorgeous Mollies that come up on Aquabid. . .
 
#38 · (Edited)
Well, I am not going to get a replacement for my balloon molly, just a refund. It's a sad way for it to happen, but it's made more room in my tank. And I am wanting to keep one of my brown spotted fry. I've got my eye on one in particular. It's a good sized baby for its age, and it has both stripes and spots(When he's bigger, I'll get you a picture, I can try to get some now too). =) It used to only have two stripes down its middle, but one broke off and became spots just like you suggested it might, and it also gained a few more. So I suppose I ended up with a kinda marble/dalmation like baby, except instead of having white or silver between the spots, it's more of a brown/cream color, it's a very nice looking baby.

I'm not sure if I'll keep the little red baby. Honestly I'm not sure it's going to make it, and I have no idea where it came from. It's a pretty little thing, but it can't seem to swim off the ground. I'm used to newborns having trouble swimming up to the top after they've been chased and escaped sometimes, but this one isn't leaving the bottom still, but he can move around on the bottom just fine, it just looks more like it's crawling than swimming, it eats just fine though, seems to have a strong bite and jerk, it just can't seem to swim and it's too small for me to tell why. Other than that problem, it looks fully formed and ok, again, still too small to tell for sure, so maybe it'll perk up. Could be something wrong with it, but I don't know, this is the problem with mothers that aren't cared for very well, if it indeed came from my dalmation, or possibly was in the bag I brought home and didn't notice from some other mother). He is also extremely tiny. He might barely hit the quarter inch mark, but I doubt it. Tiny, tiny red baby. I probably wouldn't have seen him if he wasn't red. If there is something wrong with it, I'll either keep it, or give it to someone who knows it's not going to be a normal fish. So long as it can live a mostly normal life though, I don't see why not! It's kinda hard to both give fry away, and choose which to keep, because you never know if you may hit some snag and end up with too little room or other problems.

I have two pieces of good news today though! My little cousins came for a sleepover on Saturday(They usually come stay a night once or twice a month, my oldest is almost fifteen(Actually he might be, I seem to have forgotten his birthday, uhoh, don't tell anyone I said that!) and the youngest is almost 13), and my youngest one wanted some fish! He has a tank at home, a few actually(I'm fairly jealous), and had a QT tank as well. I told him I had a little something going through the tank and asked if he had a set up QT, which he did. I gave him some of the medicine I've been using if he needs it, told him what to look for. I also gave him my male black molly and four fry. Two of the black and gold ones, and two of the more orangey ones, one had a few spots and a striped tail. =) He and his mother like to keep fish, lizards and other critters, so I feel confident they'll all be good! His mother also has a 55 gallon tank she -might- be getting rid of when she gets a bigger one. I am going to ask if I can have it. x) Maybe I'll get some good luck, eh?

Another bit of good news: My gold molly gave birth again today! I've only got four of her babies though, there might be more. The rest may have been eaten though. =( She showed absolutely no signs this morning or this afternoon, I took a long nap and when I looked in there she was skinny! So I found her babies. She was as big as a barn, I've never had a pregnant female get so big. But I don't think she had as many as I thought she would. The reason for this is: She had some BIG babies. ^^; They're as big as my silver mollies which are a week or so old. lol Really nice looking, bright colored babies! This was her second batch in about three weeks, I had a feeling she was carrying a second batch because she was still slightly plump after her last birth, and usually they look kinda like a rail after they're done. Right now, she's happy as can be. She gets along great with the other three females in the nursery tank. She doesn't seem to be too weakened by it, is eating good and swimming around with the group instead of hiding or acting slow like they do after a rough birth(You'd think it was a rough one with how BIG they are). I may not have gotten too many babies this time, but the ones I did get are absolutely gorgeous little things! A little remorse here that I wasn't up to watch her and take care of her young(I was actually up for about two days on a three hour nap so I just had to crash, always seems to be the case on "Birthdays" lol), but that's how it goes sometimes, I just need to focus on the beauties I have and take care of them. I know I can't save them all, and I still feel bad, but it doesn't make me feel like a failure anymore. If you feel THAT bad over every loss, mother nature wont hesitate to rip you apart, but it's only natural to feel something when things die.

Also, my cousin says he knows a place that will buy them from me instead of just take them in. ^_^ So that will help me out a lot. His uncle will send me the info I need, he's the one that knows all the fish. =)

Actually, I have another piece of good/exciting news. My black molly is about ready to give birth as well. She's almost as big as my Gold molly was.(Just so you know, the gold molly is that little orange one I couldn't tell if it was a gold dust or not, I just call her "Little Orangey" and she's one of my favorite fish.) I'm gonna let Little Orangey stay in the nursery for the night and then move her back home, even though she seems just fine, I don't want to stress her out. I'm pretty good at moving them in ways they don't really notice it, but all the same, there's still the risk she may notice and get stressed which can do a good bit of damage to their systems right after birth regardless of looking good. lol
I can't wait to see these little black molly babies, I haven't had any dark babies born yet out of seven or eight past batches. Usually I am hopeful they breed with my black Sailfin, but I'm actually hoping she bred with both him and my Silver Lyretail and took to it, as I did see her dancing with both(Sometimes they don't get pregnant though). My best guess is they would come out speckled with my silver male, and maybe lyretail-like with my sailfin. Lyretails have a good sail, but it doesn't normally go head to tail like sailfin males do, and they get those longer corner fins on their tails. It still looks great. Of course, anything could happen, surprise babies are awesome.


As for matter on my Creamsicle...well, I don't even know anymore! LOL She still looks the same, and I -think- I see some babies in her tummy when she gets in the light just right....I'm wondering if she aborted and is trying to absorb them though, or if she just paused it. I guess there's no way for me to know though. She seems just fine to me...bit more grumpy than usual if that's even possible, so maybe she's getting ready, she is kinda hard to see through. I can see if my gold molly has babies once she gets on in her pregnancy, under the aquarium lamp, she's pratcically see-through.

Oh yes, I am still keeping up with the treatment. My black molly didn't have the columnaris, she got popeye. I identified that one. It's just the one eye, it did come with the columnaris, but was most likely something she got from her weakened immune system. Pimifix wont cure it, but it'll keep infections from happening and keep others from getting it. My dalmation male ended up getting it too, but his is from an injury. I am not sure how it happened, I think his girlfriend may have bitten him(She is kinda mean! She latched onto him at one point and they went around the tank locked together, but when she tried to pick a fight with my creamsicle, who let her for a short time, she was quickly put in her place and has shown no more aggression. I think having her alone with a male may have made her snappy, she gets along fine now with my three girls), it was bloody on the bottom corner and swelled up pretty bad. Luckily I noticed it fast and already had some pimifix in the tank. As of now, his eye looks normal swelling-wise, but you can see where he was injured on the bottom, it looks like a bruise. This happened about three days ago. I'm keeping a close eye on him! Making sure I keep the tank pristine clean and add in the stuff to keep infections down for injured fish. Salt and pimifix. They're preventatives, not cures.

Speaking of pimifix, did you know it has clove oil in it? Be sure if you recommend it to anyone, tell them to follow instructions exactly, as it can cause a build up of clove oil in the tank and harm the fish, and to keep a close eye out for any fish acting loopy. As with any medicine, it can be dangerous, but it's perfect if used right.
 
#39 · (Edited)
I found a few more babies, so I have six or seven. I am going to take a bunch of my older fry to the petshop today, the ones that weren't in the tank of whatever went on there. lol And I'm going to get some more Kuhli Loaches if they have any. I intended to get more sooner, but then we had all this Columnaris fun. I'm going to get three or four more. I initially got the one thinking it may not survive, sometimes I don't do well with a species of fish I've never had before, but she has flourished and needs buddies. She also eats all my snails aside from the two really big ones I have, which is kinda a godsend. lol A few weeks after I moved her out of the nursery tank, I got absolutely swamped with snails. Last night alone I removed atleast fifty of the little jerks. I did intentionally leave a few though, I have some that are pure white. =o I've got some caves and hiding places for the loaches already too, and I've turned over my fake plants and put their leaves half under the gravel, my current Kuhli loves that and it keeps her from beating herself up. Since I did that, she's started eating better, I didn't know that they could get lonely enough to stop eating! But she had a few snails today and a few bloodworms to boot.
I'm thinking I'll give sand substrate a try as well...Can I clean it like I would with gravel? I use the vacuum every once in a while, I know using it too often is bad for the fish and health of the tank so I don't do it too often, but will it work with sand, or will is just suck it up? If it wont work on sand...how do I clean it? =o That was my biggest worry about getting sand, I don't know how to clean it. ^^;
 
#40 · (Edited)
Well, I've got my sand. lol It looks really nice, actually! I was going to get white sand, but the bag had a huge hole in it! Worst part was...lol I went through the whole store with a leaking 25 pound bag of sand. Haha, the sand I ended up with is just normal colored sand. It really does look nice. Still murky waters though...But it's not too bad. I only have the Kuhli's in there right now. They're loving it. Speaking of Kuhli's, I now have five of them. ^_^ They will have the nursery to themselves for the most part, only sharing with mothers about to give birth and fry until they're old enough for the big tank. I -think- I have three females and two males, but two are too small for me to tell. It's hard enough to tell as is! They say there isn't a really definable difference between males and females, but there actually is...IF they hold still long enough for you to look. Females are usually larger and thicker than the males, and males first pectoral fins are supposed to be longer and pointier than the females. I have one male and two females for sure, I'm not sure about the other two. They're still pretty young. I am hoping they might breed naturally, though I know it's a very, very rare thing. I wont be putting any hormones or the like in there, if they don't want to breed, I sure wont make them. But they're nice little critters. =) I've got a lot of plants, their favorite foods, the sandy bottom they like to dig under, and a big rock cave with three ways to enter that are about half buried under the sand.
That's still going to be my nursery tank...but right now I think it may be too murky for them, even with the bio-magnet. That seems to have done it's job with the sand itself, but not the murk. Any ideas on how to keep it clearer? I DID get the sand that doesn't up the PH and stuff, but I think it said it lowered nitrates, which I didn't need, but hey. =)

Oh yes, onto my Peacock(I call my Dalmation male a peacock because when he tries to mate with a particular female he puts his fins up and looks pretty. lol He doesn't try to fight or hit her, just puts his fins up and tangos), his eye looks almost fully healed, He's got a small dot that looks like bruising, but it's almost gone and he's not acting weird or anything. ^_^ My new fish are getting on well with everyone, no nasties left in my tank. I actually cleaned it a little early because all my fish were starting to spin and act loopy, like hang with thier faces aiming upwards and spin....so I cleaned it out and they were all better by the next day. x.x I heard that was a side-effect of the Pimifix if the fish didn't handle it well, and only three were doing that. My silver sailfin, my gold dust and the dalmation. That was actually the day before, they haven't done this since about two hours after I changed out some water. I'm not going to be continuing with the medicine, I've seen no evidence of any fungal infections, no more pop-eye or anything else visible on them or in how they act aside from that. lol =) So I'm certainly pleased, now to give away more fry, but I'll still be waiting until next week to be sure.
 
#41 · (Edited)
I'm just full of updates lately, eh? lol I have some you might enjoy!

My black molly and my creamsicle have both been acting like they're in labor here and there, ESPECIALLY my black molly, and she is huge. Heh, but neither have had any fry, and they've been in and out of labor for several days now, it has me worried, but they both seem fine when they aren't acting like they're in labor. I was positive my black molly would give birth two days ago, she was really pushing and hanging in a plant for half the day, then she just stopped. Oh well, patience is a virtue I suppose.

On another note, today I gave away about 20 fry. All the ones I thought were big enough, the oldest batch was more than big enough. The lady that took them from me was kind enough to let me go into the back room to see where they put fish people bring in, they only keep them in back room tanks for a short period before putting them in the main tanks on display. I even saw a couple of my gold dusts I brought in a couple weeks ago, they got big. ^_^ They don't have many of them left though! I did however, bring home two red platy fry that were free...I had space and I wanted some red. LOL I am about to have too much space. ^^; I'll tell you why after I give you my next story, which you'll just LOVE. x.x

Next story...My grandma saw a pure white, giant goldfish, you know those fancy ones that get nearly a foot long, maybe bigger but I don't know, they have big bellies and butterfly like fins....She wants it. That fish is forty freakin dollars! O_O I don't have anywhere close to that kind of room, nor a tank that could house it in a comfortable temperature. Sheesh. >>; She says she was kidding, but I don't think she was, she keeps talking about it. Oi.

Too much room, as I was saying. I called my aunt and confirmed she has a 55 gallon tank she wants to give away when she gets a bigger one. She said she'd let us know. She wants to give it away for free, but there's no way I'll let her do that. I don't have very much money, maybe $60-$80 at the end of the month here...but grandma offered to help so I can give her more money. lol Gahaha, I hope she doesn't want to get a giant gold fish, I do think they are pretty, but the ones that size need so much space, and much cooler temps than my mollies need. And I want that huge tank for my mollies, it'll be more than enough room for what I have and thensome.

The other reason I want it, is so I can have my twenty gallon for my Kuhli's to live in. Sure, they can be in the ten gallon, they're only about three inches long and have a very small bioload, but I'd still like them to have more space. Did I mention I have nine now? I have my nursery tank set up perfectly for them, sand, plants, caves and hidden treats. I have two pairs that are also courting each other. We had an absolutely, huge, loud and amazing storm last night. Constant thunder and lighting, and the loudest I've heard in a while, it was like hanging out at a firing range. Let's put it this way...My pets have never shown fear of storms. Last night they were ALL piled into my room and my grandma's room, under beds and chairs. I had a cat and a dog, my grandma had a cat and a dog. lol The power almost died a few times, and the building across the street got hit by lightning three times in a row. Yes THREE we watched it. Lightning not only strikes the same place twice, but three times. lol The point of the storm story was...apparently they like to breed during big weather movements, and I had done a water change the night before which is also something you're supposed to do to get them to breed. Big water change before a big weather movement. lol. Supposedly that helps them get into tango-mode, I didn't know that until this morning though, I went to look up what that behavior was. But they didn't lay any eggs. I have a nice group that accepted my single Kuhli in, I was worried they may not since they weren't from the same group. With the four I got today, I ended up with two males and two females for sure. The thing I was reading on them said they can be in groups of 5+, but they are happiest in groups of 12+. I have nine and don't intend to get more until I have space worked out, same with fish. I also got some peacock ferns today, but they're going into the breeding nets because they need to have their tops out of the water....didn't see that until after I got them, my bad. Dur, and I knew better too. But it'll be alright. lol I am thinking of tying them aropund the top of the tank and see if they're ok with that. They may not like that.
SO, hopefully, within a month or two, I'll have a ten gallon, a twenty gallon, and a fifty-five gallon tank. lol I seem to already have Multiple Tank Syndrome.

My sand tank finally settled. It's now crystal clear, I wasn't expecting it to ever be that clear, but yay. =) My Kuhli's absolutely love it, I'm so happy I managed to set up a satisfying tank for them. Did you know they walk? LOL They use their little fins like legs, it's so funny. And uh, remember when I told you I had a snail problem? I had like a few hundred of them and no matter how many I removed every night, they would be everywhere the next day! Well...now I'm lucky if I see one. I've been removing empty shells here and there instead of live snails. Unfortunately, this included my white snails that I was hopping to keep and sell...Petsmart told me they would actually PAY for those. @_@; Oh well, they got a good treat. Haha.

On the matter of those two red platy fry, they are BRIGHT red, and, well, honestly I want to test if mollies and platy actually can interbreed for myself. There's so much speculation on it, some swear by it, others say absolutely no. And these are small fry, small enough I can't put them with my big fish yet, they only look about a week, MAYBE two weeks old at the most. I can't tell if they're male or female yet either, probably wont be able to for three or four months. If they're female that makes things very easy. I'll know for a fact they bred with my mollies if they are female once they get older and have fry. If they're male...well, I suppose if any babies come out red I'll know too, but it'll still be harder to tell, especially since all my females have been with the boys for months, and my balloon male is red/orange. x.x I am also thinking of having a platy tank again, it broke my heart when my platy tank was destroyed by ich, I had it for a long time and had some pregnant females. I may give the platy and Kuhli's my twenty gallon once I get the fifty gallon, they'll both get along just fine, and I don't intend to have more than five platy. I am hopeful both the reds are female, and later I will buy ONE male and another girl. =) Probably different colors, I had a white mickey mouse platy that was getting ready to have babies when the epidemic hit, I had no idea what ich was at the time. She was everyones favorite fish, my niece named her Moonrock.

YES, I am becoming sorta obsessive. I may as well live in a tank myself at the rate I am going. LOL What luck that my aunt just happens to have a 55 gallon tank to give away. Really. Those things cost nearly/more than a thousand dollars brand new!


I am actually keeping an eye on one of my female Kuhli's right now too. She is very plump! It's extremely hard to get them to breed naturally in aquariums, but I'm doing as much studying and reading on it as I can. I have the foods and tank set up perfectly for them to both live and breed, but it's more the water and weather, and coupling that are key here. That's why it's so hard. lol I have a few nice "thick" females, but one of them is pretty chunky even compared...Maybe I will get lucky. And she seems interested in one of the boys she came with too. I am sure it'll be hard to miss the bright green eggs when she lays them. lol I'll be gently scooping them up into the breeder with a plant when/if I get lucky enough to have them successfully breed. If they do, be sure I'll add a video up for you! During the evenings, and lately during the day as well(It's been nice and stormy), I have seen my Kuhli's A LOT. I don't see them much in the mornings, they usually hide when the light turns on, but they always come out a few hours later. Supposedly this is a sign I have done right with the set-up for them. The more hiding places you have, the more you'll see them because they feel secure. ^_^ I intend to make it a bit more hidey anyways. LOL I can't find any of those good floating plants...and shoot, I knew I forgot something, I went to get one of those big moss balls for them today and wlaked RIGHT by them...in my defence, I was carrying about ten things and lost my grandma in the store. x.x

This is pretty long. lol Sorry. I am a bit of a writer, so I can just go on and on!

Oh wait, I dunno if I mentioned this yet or not, but I found two little white babies in my adult tank. I think they belong to my dalmation, she's very thin now. Only two, they were, afterall, in with all my adults and about 30 of my juveniles, all of which are big enough to do some nasty damage to the babies, so I assume the rest were eaten. =( But I have two healthy white babies, I found them two or three days ago. They're already starting to darken a little bit, I see spots on one, just a few very small ones though. They grow those in later so I wasn't expecting to see any yet. If they were from her, they will be my first dalmation babies! X) The day I found them, I did notice two of my males following her around. I had all of them in the big tank because I had just redecorated the nursery. lol I didn't want them to have issues from the new sand. x.x
Well, wish me luck! I'll try to get some photos up of those two brown spotty babies for you. One has a black heart on its chest! They are really neat babies. They do NOT hold still though, so I am not sure the pictures I got of them will even come out. =( But I'll see.
 
#43 · (Edited)
I have babies! My Black Molly gave birth some time last night. I should say sometime this morning, I went to bed at midnight and I checked on them before I went lights out. I noticed mom looked to be in labor, but she'd been off and on for several days now. There are A LOT of babies. lol Nice healthy looking ones too. Usually I get a few slow ones, but none of these show any signs of being weak at all. I'm not used to new babies swimming around like normal fish right off the bat, usually they like to hang low and hide instead of swim. I have a 12 second video of the babies in the net, I caught them all and put them there, didn't want to stress mom by moving her around, she had A LOT of babies. Most of them came out black, but a few are lighter colored. In the video you can see five or so older fry in there, they're easy to tell apart though. =)

I am so pleased! So many healthy babies. Usually when they're born overnight, I don't have many in the morning. lol But I accidentally over-fed my mollies yesterday, so that coulda been a factor. I had tried to put a small cup of shrimp in for my Kuhli's, I was gonna bury the whole thing under the plant near the cave, but I dumped it. x.x I tried to bury and remove what I could, but they still stuffed themselves. v.v; Well, I haven't done that before, so it's hopefully a one-time accident. I don't want them getting sick or messing up their water quality from over-eating, but it was probably a saving grace for those babies. lol One-time over-eating wont...do any damage to them will it? They did both get constipated, but they worked it all out by the time I went to bed last night. I was worried they might hurt their insides or something. >< They are NOT afraid of my hands at all, I was in there trying to get all the food out and they were nibbling on me and going through my fingers for the food. lol Most of my other fish flee.

Anywho, video. If your comp lets you. You can open it in another screen or fullscreen it. I find that if I don't hit fullscreen, sometimes the videos just come out as smeary lights. Fullscreen should fix that. Hope you enjoy seeing all those little wiggly babies! They look soo good, I have no doubts they'll all survive, or most will if not all, I like to be overly hopeful. But then, I rarely have any die on me unless they were born too early.

 
#44 ·
AWWWWWWW! CUTE! Congrats on another brood!!!

Overfeeding is DEFINITLEY not the best or safest thing to do, but we all make mistakes, and one time they should be okay :) I'd fast them tomorrow, then feed some veggies to get things cleaned up. But I'm confused? You were burying the food UNDER the substrate for the loaches? I don't think this is a good idea. . . even if they'll burrow under to get it out, you'd be risking leaving waste to rot. Kuhli are REALLY good at getting in-between and under things to get their fair share of food - even with mollies in the tank, they're one of the easiest fish to feed (trust me, I know! It can be really tough to make sure everyone gets their share with Mollies on-board!)

Thanks for the cute vid, such pretty babies :)
 
#45 · (Edited)
Well, I always bury it in the same spots for that reason and another. That was something people told me to do for them when they aren't getting enough food. If I put it in at night, the mollies still get it, and if I put it on the ground near the cave, my mollies will actually go INTO their cave and drive them out rather aggressivly. One of my Kuhli's got his tail torn up because my usually placid marble molly latched onto him. =( I've found when I bury it, not deep just under it, there is no fighting and the Kuhli's know exactly where the feeding spot is and the mollies usually leave them be unless a piece flies up. It's also easier to clean it up when I know where I put it, right infront of the cave in one spot, and under the roots of a fake plant in another. I'm sure it still has the possibility of getting lost in the sands, but it's better than them fighting over it to the point of fin ripping. My Kuhli's are fairly peaceful, few spats here and there but nothing too bad. My Mollies, however, will literally rip up competition for the food. I tried the night feeding and it didn't work. My creamsicle finds it herself and will gorge if I don't hide it. She wont dig in the sand, but she would dig in the gravel. I try to keep an eye out for loose stuff and bits in the sand that they missed. I did think of things rotting in there, so I try to be careful. But they gotta eat, they get zilch when I feed them regularly. But if you have a suggestion that would keep the mollies from killing each other over it, I'm always open to new ideas. :3 SOMETIMES I can get away with hiding it on a leaf in a plant, but more often than not the mollies would still find it. lol Two peaceful fish, supposed to go well together...fight like dogs over food. >_>;
 
#46 ·
Woah, your Kuhli spat?!! You have to get that on video! Mine have always been very peaceful. . . I've personally found that keeping ANYTHING aside from another live-bearer with Mollies tends to be problematic, which is one of the reasons why my mollies are now in a speceis only tank. I found myself having to OVERfeed just to get the rest of the fish fed... not so good. They're really just so GREEDY! Luckily, mine have all been total sweeties, and I've never had a problem with them showing any aggression toward tankmates, and the Kuhli have always been the least of my worries food-wise, even when they were in community. As long as you're putting it in the same spot, and being sure to clean up any leftovers, I'm sure they'll be fine :) Kuhli can eat anything, it doesn't have to be the brine. Perhaps you could 'distract' your Mollies with flake, and get a sinking pellet food for the kuhli? By the time the Mollies are done with the flake, the Kuhli will have gotten their share? Or. . . get something TOO small for a Molly to fit into, maybe, and feed there? You seem to have hit on a method that works for you already, though! I'm sure you'll be fine... You take great care of your fish, love that about you! I'm enjoying hearing someone else who keeps some of my faves enjoying them as much as I do! Keep up the good work!!! :)
 
#47 ·
Yeah, they don't "Spat" like most fish do, but they get all tangled and chase eachother off. Usually if you get them together that doesn't happen but for a day while they get used to the place. =) I added a second group so they started over. lol Mostly at feeding time, they have a "Pecking order" and once that is established they go back to being peaceful. Unfortunatly I lost one of my Kuhli, I dunno what happened though. =( I think it was the one I had before and they didn't accept her as I thought. v.v; She was kinda chewed up...by kinda I mean really. But I didn't notice anything, I went to change the water yesterday and she floated out from under the rock. =( Her gills and fins were mostly removed, so I can only assume she either died and they tried to eat her, which I'm sure they will do, or they killed her.

Well, anywho, I have good news and photos to share with you! =) My black mollies are growing pretty quick. Some are staying black, some are getting more silvery, and a few are grey. I think this means she bred with my silver male. lol They're nice looking babies! Also, that little red baby I found a while back, it started swimming mostly normal after I put that up. It still swims oddly, kinda wobbly. That reminds me. The three fry I got from my balloon female are doing well, they don't seem to be "Ballooned" though, but I'm not sure how long it takes to tell. They are growing a great deal slower than my other mollies though, but they LOOK normal. Nice long tails and don't seem to have hunched backs.

Photos now. They didn't come out perfect, but you can see them ok. =) You remember those ones I told you about that came out sorta grey/green with stripes? I told you they started getting spotty. They are SO hard to get photos of! So I took video and tried to make some still photos, but they didn't come out perfect. x.x; You can see the orangey baby also has some spots. These are the three I decided to keep, they'll have the nursery to themselves with my Red Platies. For now anyways, I may make changes should anything happen that requires me to do so, and I may give away one of the spotted ones as well. Well, here they are! =)



 
#48 ·
The babies look so sweet! It's so hard to catch them in a photo - believe me, I know! I'm glad to hear that things are going well over there!

Sad to hear about your poor little loach! I have to say that our experiences with these animals could not be more opposite. . . my loaches have never shown ANY aggression at all toward each-other or any other fish. . . even when they were added. It kind of boggles my mind to even think that they would be capable of such a thing! Mine were not all purchased from the same group, and there is no loachy hierarchy among them at all. They don't have territories, or squabble over food. . . and when they wiggle in a group it's the most adorable thing ever - but nobody ever gets chased off. I wonder if you have a different species, or if the tank size (which is really too small for these fish) has something to do with it? Either way, I'm glad that all is well with them, and that they've reverted to their peaceful selves. I love my loaches, they're just so neat!

Happy to hear that the black mollies - all the mollies! - are doing so well. I hope the balloon babies fare well. I had a Molly fry that behaved like your little wobbler. He lived for quite some time, and then one day he wasn't okay anymore. He was about 6 months old or so, and though he grew, he was never nearly as big or strong as the others in his brood. I really think something was off with him genetically, but since he was more or less okay, and seemed happy - I just let him do his thing. . . hope yours continues to do well!
 
#49 · (Edited)
So if he makes it past the six or seven month mark, -maybe- he'll be ok. I figured out where he came from, he looks like the other babies my balloon molly had. They have sorta this purpley-red coloring, it's rather nice. I remember now, I had lost one in the gravel, I had assumed it either died or found its way out. I did find it after I cleaned up the gravel a bit and moved the rock. I think it looked so bad because it almost starved, it was under there for atleast a week, I'm shocked it lived at all. =( It still swims oddly, like it has to double-time its fins and tail to keep afloat, but it's plumped up a lot and doesn't hang on the bottom anymore. But he's about half the size of the others from his brood. You know me, ever hopeful. I'll do what I can to give him a boost, lots of greens, a little protein here and there and some algae wafers. They really love those! If I put it in their net, it doesn't make the water yucky either, I just suck it out with the turkey baster later on. That's how I clean out the nets anyways. This way I don't stress them out by moving them around a lot, I just stick it in slowly and suck up gunk. Most of the babies seem curious about it though, so I have to be careful not to suck any of them up, if I do, I just leave it there and they swim out on their own, better than shooting them out. ^^;

I seem to be having a run of good and bad luck mixed up, either really good, or really bad, never in between. x.x I blame the weather, really. We went from eighty degrees to snow within six hours on Thursday and we haven't gone above freezing since, that's when I found a dead loach too. In my adult tank, EVERYONE is happy and well except my precious gold dust female that's scarred up. =( I'm not sure if the weather affected her, or if it's the water, or maybe she took the change badly. I did a 10% water change yesterday morning, and then last night she started acting weird. I'm going to get my water checked, unfortunately we had cleaning day today and it's my nephew's first birthday tomorrow, so I haven't been able to get to the shop(I can't drive. lol). I may not make it until Monday, and I...well, I don't have a test kit for myself! I am going to buy one though. I have some money saved up for supplies like that.
Well, my Gold dust female is actually spinning around real fast, looks like she is chasing her tail like a dog would(And I mean really fast), and she isn't bobbing, but it looks like she has air pushing her upwards from her mid-section, although there isn't, that's what it looks like, other times she seems ok. She also kinda leans to the side and arches, like she's trying to touch her tail to her head and then rights herself. She also jerks her head from side to side every once in a while, like someone trying to pop their neck. I've never seen fish do that before. I haven't done anything out of the norm, and my other fish are fine...I'm still getting it checked though. She looks like she is in pain and I just don't know what to do to help. >< Any ideas what it might be?

Onto my Creamsicle molly. She skinnied up over night a few days ago, but I never did find any babies! I think they got eaten. v.v; If that's the case, what a bummer. Waited so long for it too. She looks happy and healthy though, got that weight off herself finally. lol Poor babies. She is breeding again too, she wasn't for a while there. My Dalmation Lyretail, Silver Lyretail and Black Sailfin all seem to love her right now. x.x Of all the girls I have in there and they just go for her, I kinda feel bad for fish. lol I'm keeping an eye out to make sure she doesn't get too stressed. She still acts like she is queen of the tank, and if she doesn't want attention, she lets them all know with a good tail slap. If I see her hide, I can distract the boys by walking up to the tank, they think I'm gonna feed them. ^_~ Kinda mean, but it works. lol

Ah, those babies I showed you, man they are GROWING! I normally don't keep them this long, these will be the first babies I've kept. Usually I give them away about two weeks before now or so. The gold spotted one is a giant, and the two lighter spotted ones aren't far behind. I know I'm probably imagining it, but I swear it looks like they all three grew half an inch in the last three days! They really are good looking babies, I'm proud of my momma fish. It takes a good healthy mother to have good healthy babies that can survive. They seem to have these growth spurts here and there. Ah yes, my black mollies are doing well too. I only lost one that I know of, the day they were born. The others are growing fast...and low and behold, they look like they will have sailfins. Some do anyway. It's very obvious on their tiny frames, the dorsal fins are about three times the size that any of my other babies have had at this age. I know growing those fins takes up a lot of energy, should I be feeding them anything other than the usual? The usual being flakes, mixed frozen veggies, algae, baby brine shrimp and small blood or tubifix worms, the protein foods being only twice a week with the plant matter 3-4 times per day(crushed flakes making up at least two of those because I know they need the calcium the flakes have, a small piece of algae for the final meal of the day, and some fresh veggies once as well, twice if I can make in a fifth feeding, but that's rare with how random my sleeping schedule is and I try not to feed them too close together. Usually every three or four hours), in VERY small amounts since babies have to eat more often and have tiny tummies. I make sure all their food is bite-sized for them, and also that nobody gets any overly-bulging tummies. They never leave me much to clean up, baby mollies are greedier than starving piranha, I swear!

Well, I'll keep you updated on my Gold dust molly. I hope she'll be ok, but considering how she is acting, and how scarred and weak she must be regardless of being healed for several months, I don't think the outlook is very good. I see nothing visible on her but her actions, and nothing with anyone else, and she eats fine too, she stops acting weird to go eat. But her weirdness other than at feeding time, is constant.
 
#50 · (Edited)
Ah, an update on my gold dust female. She seems a little loopy today, but I added in more water(I treated it and let it sit twice as long as I normally do,m which is half an hour), and added some more salt(I freakin forgot to add the salt last time I did a water change, I wonder if that messed things up, I CANNOT believe I forgot it, and they're so used to it so that had to have been a factor), because I noticed her gills had some redness to them. I assumed ammonia poisoning. I am going to purchase water testing kits today as well once the shop opens,(it's only six thirty-nine am here, I've been up since about three am. lol Sleep is not my thing this week), I'll be sure to keep those on hand, it's high time I learned to do my own water testing instead of having the shop do it for me once a week! Yes, I should have done this forever ago, but I thought I'd be fine if I let the shops do it for me since I don't know what is what! But, there are places on here that tell me what is what, so I'll be checking into that and keeping a calender to boot. I just hope I don't get too lost. x.x I've never been that great with numbers and levels and such.
The redness is starting to go away, and she doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, but she still is swimming slowly, she's just not visibly hurting(Doesn't look like it anyway, she's not going in weird positions and touching her tail to her head anymore, nor is she chasing it). None of my other fish are showing any of the same signs, I am thinking it's because she is just extra delicate, I'll have to watch it, she is one of my favorite fish.

Ah, oh yes. I am also going to give away one of my marble mollies and see about getting another creamsicle molly female. I am thinking about giving away the other marble female as well, but right now she is pregnant and I don't want to stress her out with a move. x.x But first, before I do any of that, I need to get my water fixed up. And...as much as it pains me to do it, I am probably going to give away my Silver Lyretail male. >< I WANT to give away my balloon male instead though, I am going to discuss this with my grandmother. I hate to bring it up, but I'd rather him go. xD He is pretty and all...but he breeds with all my females(Very passionately at that), and I just do not want those genes in my tank! Too late now, but better for the future...Ergh, maybe she'll let me after that last discussion I had with her before, and I'll ask her to pick out a female molly she wants that isn't a balloon! She also likes platy, so maybe she'll go for that...-sigh- I dunno, it seems like I've been adopting out all the fish -I- want to keep and keeping the ones my grandma wants instead, as is her right for all the help, but it's kinda killing me here. I'm doing ok on room as is, but I need, and want to make a few more changes. Maybe I'll move Romeo(Yes, I'm calling him that now instead of Frank lol), into the loach/nursery tank until a decision can be made, only babies in there and no females to breed with.
 
#51 · (Edited)
And another update for you. lol

My gold dust female seems to have recovered from whatever was going on and is acting completely normal. I wonder what it was.

Soon as this awesome thing happened, I had another bit of bad luck. =-= My silver Lyretail decided to rip my black sailfin apart. I don't think he's going to make it. He's not nearly as ripped up looking as my gold dust female was when she got beat up a while back, but he's acting way more injured and probably is. I made a help thread for him though and already took precautions to help him out. He took a huge chunk out of his belly and he can't swim right, he's hanging by a thread. I hope he pulls through, but I don't think he'll even last more than a few more hours. v.v; I have no idea what else to do to help him. I have him in the nursery where nobody will bother him, added some extra salt and a little pimafix to ward off infection should he survive.

Well, that's that. Today I am going to give my Silver male away, and see if my little cousin will take Romeo(The balloon male) and I will only have the Dalmation male in there. I had hoped to avoid male fighting by giving away the two males today as is, but I was a few hours too late. They haven't shown any aggression to eachother, but I was hoping to make it impossible by giving them away anyways. I only wanted the Black sailfin and dalmation male. T_T I actually cried. The black sailfin is trying to live, and I hope he will. But he can't even swim much now and just hangs in odd positions or thrashes here and there. =( How do mollies do such damage?! Until my last gold dust incident when I only had that one male, I didn't know they could do such a thing! And that was a male killing his girls. It didn't make sense for that one. This one does, and it's my fault for allowing it.

I am going to be asking for some Red Sailfin mollies(Or red dalmation sailfin if I can get my hands on them) for my birthday, I hope I can find some. That's next month. But right now, I am giving away my two boys, and three of the females with them. lol I'll have too much room then, but that's a good thing, right? X) I am hoping to replace three of them with the red sailfins, I have to order them in though, so I hope all goes well with them and the delivery, and I only get one male instead of three(I'm not sure if I can tell them that in the order, but if I can, I will)! Wish me luck, I totally need it, and it's going to be for my birthday, so I better get some for once. =p I am hoping to get that big tank too. ^_~ Regardless, aside from a red sailfin, no more boys! I only wanted two to begin with.

How many mollies could I have in a 55 gallon tank anyways? =o Would nine be too many for that? I could keep three in the twenty gallon with the Kuhli's if it is.

On a bit of a brighter, and confusing note: My Creamsicle has gotten a bit of her belly back and I can actually SEE the babies now. I wonder what happened there, maybe she had a blockage, god forbid. x.x She was pooping normally though, but she thinned down A LOT one night, never did find any babies, and she did keep a little roundness, but she was a bubble before that. I haven't given them anything that shoulda bloated her for nearly two weeks though! x.x I assumed the babies were born and got eaten, but maybe something else was going on there. lol She's extra grumpy too, but she's also been breeding A LOT with my Silver male and my Dalmation male. I figured out that once I start seeing eyes through the mothers skin, she's probably going to give birth within 3-5 days. That's how I tell with my Gold Molly anyway. lol I can't find this gravid spot people talk about. I may be mistaking something else that is actually the spot though!

I'll only have six mollies once I give a few away today. Well, 11 if I count the five youngins in the nursery that I'm keeping, but they are staying there, atleast for the next few months. I am hoping to put my six, plus the three red mollies I am -hoping- to get, in the 55 gallon tank and let those five have the twenty gallon. I want to make sure that nine isn't too much for the 55 gallon though! If you think it might be, I'll probably give away a couple more, see if my cousin wants them. I'd like them to stay in the family, I've gotten very close to all my fish, and it was as bad as losing my cat to a coyote a few years ago to find my black sailfin the way he was today. I don't think I've cried so hard over a fish before, but they're living animals, and family as much as any dog or cat! I hate learning lessons the hard way, but I was trying to find them homes. The gold dust male I took to petco several months ago is still there, but his color is really, really faded, so I know he's not as well taken care of as the ones that have homes are. Pestmart is so much better, but still meh...But I did learn my last visit that the majority of the fish brought in every day are adopted out the same day, or within three days usually. They go for free. =)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top