# Breeding mollies.



## shadowlily89 (Feb 19, 2006)

Hello everyone. I just purchased 2 female and 1 male mollies that I am hoping on breeding (I have bred in the past, but Im a little rusty  ) My question is, Is a 2.5 gallon tank suitable for the new babies? I know they are awfully tiny when they are born and it seems like it would be ok for them, bu I just want to be sure and get some opinions. It has a heater,filter, light, rocks, plants, etc. Sooo, what do you guys think? Thanks!


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## piotrkol1 (Jan 12, 2006)

I think that will do until they get bigger, and make sure those plants are living


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## shadowlily89 (Feb 19, 2006)

Cool, thank you. Also I have been looking around for the best filter for young and I've heard a lot of good things about sponge filters. Do you think this would be good for a 2.5 gallon? Its says it does up to 10 gallons so I dont know if it would be too much for a smaller tank.

 Linky 

ETA: I just found a really good deal for a brand-new H-I filter on ebay, (you can see which one that is in the link) and I snatched it :-D . So I guess I will find out soon enough if it is good or not.


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## shadowlily89 (Feb 19, 2006)

Haha, I am so dumb! They are swordtails not mollies. Im not sure how much of a difference that makes, but anyways lol. 

Ok, so new change of plans. Ive decided to set up a 12gallon eclipse tank with the H-II sponge filter from the link instead of the 2.5. I will put mom in there when she is close and then transfer her to a breeder on the side of the tank when she is very close. (its the breeder that when a baby comes out it goes into a different compartment from mom) Then I will take mom out and let her swim around the tank until she is recovered from giving birth (a day, a week, 2 weeks??) and then once she is back in good health I will put her back in her big 75gallon with her budies and dump the babies into the 12gallon. So you experts out there, does that sound like a good plan? Please, be brutal, I want to do all I can.

Oh yeah, and do you think its best to feed them the prepared fry food or very small crushed flakes? Ive heard both.

Thanks everyone!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

No breeder box for swordtails. They really hate those.
Just plant the 12 gallon very heavily with live or plastic plants aplenty, or at least a huge glob of javamoss. The babies will do a good job of escaping her for several days, especially if you feed her very well.


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## shadowlily89 (Feb 19, 2006)

Oh wow, thanks. I never would have known! So you reccomend just leaving the mom in? Id be so scared she would gobble up all the babies! I have a ton of very dense, very short bush like fake plants that I can cover the whole bottom of the tank in so I guess I will do that. 

When do you reccomend taking the mom out after she has given birth?

Edit because I cant spell


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## doggydad38 (Jan 18, 2005)

You usually don't have to worry about the female eating her fry while she is giving birth. Once she's done, you have to remove her. I also agree that you shouldn't use those breeder boxes. They are too small and don't allow for much water movement. Start your fry out in a smaller tank. That way they don't use much energy chasing down their food. This allows them to grow faster. Move them up as they get larger. Crushed flake or powdered formulas (crushed between your fingers) is fine. I raise fancy Guppies and I only feed newly hatched brine shrimp for the first week before introducing other foods. If you don't want to deal with hatching them, you can use what you have available. Good luck!
Tony


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## shadowlily89 (Feb 19, 2006)

Ok. Thanks for bearing with me guys  You are great. So, how does THIS sound lol:

Ill have the parents in the 12-gallon instead. When she gets close to popping Ill put her in the 2.5 instead so that when the babies are born they can access their food better. When I see that the mom is done giving birth I will put her back in the 12. The babies will stay in the 2.5 until they are about an inch? long and then they will be put back with the parents again.

I got this baby formula called "first bites" that is supposed to be filled with extra nutrients, will that be ok?

Thanks.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Now THAT's a plan. 

First bites should work okay. Baby swordtails & mollies can easily eat pretty much any very small food you offer them. They grow faster with brineshrimp, but they'll eat finely crushed flakefood, too.


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