odd isnt it

[kelly]

how come when mollies have their young. some of the fry die in the first few days? is it because the fry are not fully devoloped? cus my silver mollie just had her fry. and when i looked into the breedin trap. there was the fry n some were not fully devoloped n lying dead. then there was actual little yellow embyos on the bottom of trap. i have never seen anything like it before. and ive been breedin mollies for years. is this normal? any advice would be helpful.

[Gayle]

It could be possible that she got stressed and went prematurely. I hear that putting them in a breeding trap stresses them.

[kelly]

thank you. i didnt know that it caused stress. i only use the trap to keep the young alive.

[Sounguru]

Yep the trap did it to her... Best way is to move the mom to a 10 gallon with lots of hiding spots 2 weeks prior to birth. I use plastic plants and lufas to provide the hiding spaces. I have not lost any fry doing it that way as a matter if fact my last batch was around 80 out of one silver and 60 out of the other.

[Northernguy]

Sounguru,Did you mean lufa sponge for the fry?
do you cut it in half or something?

[TRDNiteLife]

I wait until the fish gives birth, then catch the fry and place them in the trap. It's a pain to catch them sometimes, but it makes feeding them so easy. After a few weeks they go back out. I still have some fry die during this time though. Survival of the fittest.

[Eileen]

I had a stripped tiger platy that had 8 babies. Out of the 8 only 2 survived. I put them in the main tank now with lots of hinding places for them. I also had babies from mollies that all died in a breeder box that I had them in for 3 weeks. The water was tested daily and everything was fine. I got some advice and they all told me that it was due to stress also. I'm going to get some real plants to float so the babies can hide. I have all plastic plants now.

[kelly]

i have plastic plants. i would like to do live plants. my dad said real plants would be hard for me, could someone explain exactly what he meant.

[Northernguy]

Those breeder traps are more like a punishment for a fish ,but great for keeping fry for a couple of weeks.
Some plants need certain lighting and fertilizers.Some plants need only a place to grow out.


Good luck and congrats on the fry!!:19:

[Gayle]

I would guess he may have meant, that if you are fairly new to this, the added work it takes to keep live plants may be a little too much right now. Maybe?