# Fish has had babies



## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

Tank is my only tank. Was not planning to breed. 25l and only been going for two months. Have discovered babies swimming in the tank. It's my first tropical tank never had babies before dont even know where to start with this problem I dont even know which fish have birth...
I have one balloon molly (only added 5 days ago) two harliquins, one black phantom, two black tetras, one endler guppy and one normal Male guppy


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## Guest (May 20, 2019)

All those fish in a 25litre tank?


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

Pet shop told me I could have that many. If your not going to be helpful to a newbie as I mentioned it's my first tank then please move along.


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## Acidic Angel (May 8, 2012)

Those are molly babies, so your molly has given birth.

That's too many fish for a 25ltr tank though. I would take them all back to the shop and swap them for a single male betta or keep your male guppy and get 2 more males and have a trio of male guppies. There's not much else aside from cherry shrimp that you could have in that size tank.
Most pet shops are after the sale, so will often spin the truth or outright lie to your face in order to make one.


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

Damn. That means they even sold me a pregnant fish as well. Was not meaning to be rude to the first commenter but trying to scolding me on something I didn't know wasn't helpful to my current situation. I will now be heading back to the store and showing them what you just told me and making a complaint they will be taking some of these fish back...


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## Acidic Angel (May 8, 2012)

With livebearers it's pretty much guaranteed the females will be pregnant, as they hold sperm for up to 6 months and continue to reproduce and give birth, even without a male present in that time.

And with balloon mollies it can be hard to tell when they're due because of their deformed shape.

I have to ask, did you cycle the tank properly before introducing fish?


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

I had the tank up and running without any fish and did water tests for two weeks before adding any fish in. And I have then slowly added fish in accordance to what I was told which was add 3-4 then wait 7-12 days if all is still good add a few more. So probably not, I most likely made a mistake as I was following the shops advice.


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## Acidic Angel (May 8, 2012)

jodie grimsdale said:


> I had the tank up and running without any fish and did water tests for two weeks before adding any fish in. And I have then slowly added fish in accordance to what I was told which was add 3-4 then wait 7-12 days if all is still good add a few more. So probably not, I most likely made a mistake as I was following the shops advice.


Yep, sounds about typical for a shop.
Leaving the tank up and running with nothing in it does absolutely nothing for a cycle unfortunately.

So, best plan is to take the fish you have back to the shop, then pop to a shop that sells pure ammonia and start the cycle. Here's an article that details the nitrogen cycle so you can research what you'll need and what to do. For the test kit, you want a liquid test kit not a box of test strips. The test strips are alarmingly inaccurate, whereas a liquid test kit is much more accurate.
https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_51/fishless-cycling-article.htm

It does take a while to cycle the tank, but it's much better and safer for the fish if the tank is cycled before you add them as it prevents them basically swimming in toxic soup.


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

It's safe to say I wont be listening to any advice given by pet shops now. they clearly don't care about the pets they are selling. Or about the potential problems that will arise from selling to first time pet buyers with their bad advice. I'm glad I signed up to this page now and you have been incredibly helpful with this thank you.


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## Acidic Angel (May 8, 2012)

jodie grimsdale said:


> It's safe to say I wont be listening to any advice given by pet shops now. they clearly don't care about the pets they are selling. Or about the potential problems that will arise from selling to first time pet buyers with their bad advice. I'm glad I signed up to this page now and you have been incredibly helpful with this thank you.


Don't get me wrong, there are some shops that are decent, but they are very few and far between these days... As pressure to keep a shop running gets higher, people have to start looking at profit over morals unfortunately. 
Then there are some that have just always been that way..

Two scenarios, thinking from a shop owners point of view..
Scenario one- Shop owner tells new keeper the correct advice, it will take 6 weeks to cycle the tank, etc. and only sells them a tank and test kit.
Scenario two- Shop owner negates to tell the new keeper the above advice, sells them a tank, fish, etc.. New keeper loses a number of fish due to ammonia build up in an uncycled tank, returns to the shop thinking it's their fault, shop owner sells them a useless bottle of something to "fix" the problem and more fis hto replace the ones they lost.

Of these two, which one is going to make a profit quickly? 
That's a rhetorical question by the way, it's pretty obvious and you don't have to answer it, it just puts things into perspective a bit.

No worries, always happy to help where I can


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## Jackleung828 (Jun 3, 2019)

Lets go back to the topic.

I raised baby guppies in my community tank, all I have to say is 'Java Moss is your babies best friend!' Have them loosely sitting in a quiet area of the tank, may be having a small piece of stone to weight it down, the babies will learn to hid in it and also the moss will trap fish food so the babies can feed on.

Your tank may be overstock, isn't this a good chance (or excuse) to get a bigger tank? lol Of course you can keep your current stock with frequent maintenance and the water quality will be perfect, but they need space to swim. What I learn myself is if you go to see the same fish species in a much bigger tank, they will behave much more naturally and bigger and more colorful, then you will not attempt to keep them in a small tank ever again.


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## niamh123 (Nov 4, 2018)

I can remember when I set up my first tropical tank within days I had Molly babies I had no idea what I was doing but we lost all but 5.A good shop will test your water for you for free


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

The shop I got my fish from didn't ask for water samples. I have been doing research on the place and I'm not the only person to have had problems with them but as they are the only pet shop in this town they have managed to stayed open. I now have a second tank much bigger than the last one a 90l and have split the fish up between the two and for now I'm planning on separating the male babies into the bigger tank and leaving the females in the small one once they are big enough for me to tell them apart so I can try and prevent more babies. Moma and babies are the only ones left in my small tank it's the best I can do for the moment. I'll get a new female tank next payday and the small one will be retired...


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

One of the babies moms fish and a pic of the new tank with 6 of the 7 current occupants in the pic lol


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

This has all been an unexpected and eventful learning experience where I am still several steps behind . At least I now know how I'm supposed to do everything instead of my current train wreck where I'm trying to correct the problems after the event has already happened and now I know how unhelpful the local pet shop is as they refused to take any of the fish back even though they knew they would likely die if I kept them as they had been I'll now research my fish more before I make a choice in future.


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

Jackleung828 said:


> Lets go back to the topic.
> 
> I raised baby guppies in my community tank, all I have to say is 'Java Moss is your babies best friend!' Have them loosely sitting in a quiet area of the tank, may be having a small piece of stone to weight it down, the babies will learn to hid in it and also the moss will trap fish food so the babies can feed on.
> 
> Your tank may be overstock, isn't this a good chance (or excuse) to get a bigger tank? lol Of course you can keep your current stock with frequent maintenance and the water quality will be perfect, but they need space to swim. What I learn myself is if you go to see the same fish species in a much bigger tank, they will behave much more naturally and bigger and more colorful, then you will not attempt to keep them in a small tank ever again.


I do have to admit that I am liking the bigger tank I have and am planning another one to separate the fish genders but I need to wait for enough money as the newer one cost 200 with stand alone not even including the gravel etc... but as difficult as my train wreck has been I am loving the fish....


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

jodie grimsdale said:


> I do have to admit that I am liking the bigger tank I have and am planning another one to separate the fish genders but I need to wait for enough money as the newer one cost 200 with stand alone not even including the gravel etc... but as difficult as my train wreck has been I am loving the fish....


You can often pick up second-hand tanks pretty cheaply on ebay, gumtree, Facebook marketplace etc. Both my big tanks were second hand


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## jodie grimsdale (May 20, 2019)

NaomiM said:


> You can often pick up second-hand tanks pretty cheaply on ebay, gumtree, Facebook marketplace etc. Both my big tanks were second hand


I'll have to take a look on all of those places as I was worried as to how big a tank I could afford for the third, in order to separate as it's only been a matter of months since getting the original tank, its been expensive...


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## Picklelily (Jan 2, 2013)

I feel your pain Jodie, my husband added 3 female balloon mollys to my long-term community tank and I am now over run with them. On the plus side, I did get to set up a much bigger planted tank whih I have been wanting for years. I now have a boys and a girls tank much as I get fed up of Mollys I do love them, such sweet personalities. 

Separating has over the last year reduced the baby output to minimal numbers. I haven't reached the point of trying to give them away or selling any as I feel responsible for their little lives and they do bring me a lot of joy.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

I also feel your pain. I had 90 platies once from a single female. This one kept reproducing over 6 months before she finally ran out of stored sperm. Separating males and females as they sexually matured was a nuisance as was housing all the fry in tanks divided by sex until they were big enough to home. I love live bearer personalities but not their reproductive tendencies.


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## LilRich (Jun 11, 2019)

Mate your not the first and you won't be the last to fall foul of pet shop advice. 

For anything you want to do with a fish tank Google yourself and read about it there are a few very good fish forums about which are dedicated just to fish keeping. 

I literally never ever listen to any pet shop about anything haha

As for tanks I never buy new anymore you can get immaculate tanks second hand at a fraction of the price some have not even been filled with water! I know because I had to sell a custom 2ft cube sumped tank before I even got to fill it up (that was a painful day)

I even buy the equipment all second hand except sand trying to get used sand clean enough to put in your new tank is a pain.

Facebook is OK for buying if your up for haggling people on there over value stuff alot but then the forums have really good classified sections too and those guys will price their stuff properly.


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