induce labor...

josh111310

how many fry did yours drop? her first fry she only had three that we know of and this was about 6 weeks ago. what are the most common symptoms of her going into labor? What should we be looking for?

BarbH

First I will state that I do not have any personal experience with needle nose gars. If the tetras look like they will not fit into the mouth of the gar, than you can try it. From what I can see about this fish it seems to be fairly aggressive. If it seems like the tetras are working in the community setting than definitly would add more to their groiup making sure that you get them as big as possible so that they do not become a snack for the gar. Again I do not know much about the gar but from what I have seen online they do seem to be considered an aggressive fish. I would definitly do more research and see what you can find from other peoples experience with this particular fish, they will be able to advise you better than I can on that particular subject. Also do you know the name of the tetra that you have, if you look in the fish profiles section you should be able to find out which tetra and their requirments. Right now I would hold off in the 5 gallon adding any more, since many of the tetras actually need to be in a space larger than 5 gallons, and adding more to the group in that small of a tank could actually cause more problems possibly.

josh111310

well ive been doing as much research as possible on the needlenose and everyone is pretty much saying the same thing...our mollies and gouramis are fine and once our smallest tetra grows a tiny bit more the gar wont even try to bother with it...she eats feeder guppies and our smallest tetra is bigger than all of the feeder guppies we purchased. the tetras seem to be doing very well now that they are in the community tank with the other fish, they stay in a group and havnt bothered any of the other fish. If im not mistaken they are fancy finned red tetras...(ill be checking on that here shortly. i have also noticed that in just the last couple of hours (since i moved the tetra) our molly seems a bit calmer and more relaxed...

Pisces47

I agree with Jakiebabie and Barbh, just leave her alone and let everything happen naturally. If you really think she is due within the next day or so, then you could drape a towel over the tank to darken it a bit and it will also calm her down.
Barbh mentioned about the number of Tetras you have and it is quite correct, they are a schooling (shoaling) fish and require safety in numbers, you should have a minimum of 6 but preferably 10....now for that bigger tank.

josh111310

so 10 would be the recomended number for that size tank? its a 35 gal...we have the needlenose, 2 red dwarf gouramis, 2 sailfin lyretail mollies a Common Pleco and the 3 tetras...will i be ok to put that many more fish in there? if so how many fish will the tank be able to accomidate? and i correct myself the tetraas we have are longfin red minor tetra.

Pisces47

Hmmmm, perhaps not 10 but certainly 6.
With the addition of another 3 Tetras I reckon you will have a good number in that tank.

Jakiebabie

I think that question was for me....? The first batch was 7, I rescued 5. She ate 1, and 1 died.
The second batch was 7, I caught all 7, and moved Momma Molly back to the community tank. but 2 days later I saw 2 more but they might be Mamma Swordtail's first drop. She ate 1 also, and I saved 1. So now I'm waiting on Momma Swordtail's 2nd drop I think. She and Mr Swordtail make googoo eyes at each other thru the screen divider all day long. Momma Molly could not be bothered with Mr Molly what so ever!!

Pisces47

Sorry Jakiebabie, I had a muddled moment!

josh111310

so really theres no tellin how many shes gonna have...i feel theres gonna be more than last time because she is HUGE lol and our tetras seem to be doing really well they are interacting with our male molly and he is lovin it lol he has someone to play with, they are even checkin out our needlenose which is an aggresive fish but she is showing no signs of any interest in them at all (thankfully) we will ad another 3 tetras to the clan this weekend to make them more comfortable...i do have a new question though, are mollies a "one mate fish" or something because with our momma molly they "go at it" all day everyday if shes prego or not, but we have a female dreamcycle sailfin lyretale in the community tank with him and they dont pay any attention to eachother but i guarantee that if i were to put momma molly in there he would go nuts lol...why is that?

BarbH

With livebearers they can drop as many as a few fry up to 50 or so in a drop. Most tend to drop more fry as they go along. I had one of my female platys that was dropping between 30 to 40 fry in a drop.