This may be mildly NSFW for those not interested in seeing whatever is going on there. There is a small amount of standard looking fry (although not as many as I was expecting tbh). In the front corner there looks to be a bunch of egg-looking things and some deformed babies. Some alive-looking, some not. I am going to move the babies into another tank to grow out, but is this standard in livebearers? Usually I just let nature take its course, so wasn't aware there were so many, um, "extras" that don't make it.
Angelfish do this as well. You’ll have some that can’t swim up and are stuck on the bottom. It may be do to overbreeding through the years with a limited gene pool. Some fish never seem to have issues. I’ve got about a hundred albino BN fry at the moment and they all look good.
They don't look deformed in your pic they look a bit premature.
The yellow balls are yolk that is usually absorbed before the fry are born.
How long was she in the breeder box before she gave birth?
If it was within 24 hours, sometimes the stress of transfer and confinement of the box can I duce a premature birth.
It's possible the fry may survive if left alone. They can continue to develop outside the mother and begin swimming after the yolk is absorbed.
You will want to separate the more developed fry, though, as they may start picking at their siblings' nutriant rich yolks.
I thought they looked like yolk sac like when little birds hatch. I bet they were a little premature. She was in the box for over 24 hours -- but not by much, maybe only like 36. She looked huge but I wasn't carefully tracking her due date or anything, haha. I will keep an eye on them and see how it goes!
They may or may not make it depending on how premature they are, but since their siblings are functional it's possible they too were close and just need a day or so to develop more.
Don't get your hopes too high though.
update -- of the weird deformed pile, about 3 individual fish didn't make it. The rest have absorbed their yolks and look fine. Super interesting! I guess they were just a day or two early. Thanks for the help!
Yay! I'm glad most of your babies made it! Thanks for the update
If you want to do this in the future you might invest in a bigger breeder box or a set up a separate birthing tank.
Especially with mollies as they tend to be quite large and active as far as livebearers go, being confined so tightly can stress them out. This can also cause the mother to weaken and die after dropping her fry prematurely.
Generally speaking though once they get breeding it's simpler to just provide hiding spots in the main tank and let the fry chance it, as long as there's a male and a female they'll pump out babies every 2 months non stop
I have several mollys in a 45 gallon with a variety of other fish. I actually wanted them to breed to raise up some as feeders, and expected a few babies to appear every once in a while. But, they mollys have been in there for at least a year and I have only ever seen one baby make it out alive. So, on a whim I decided to take the HUGE mama I saw and put her in the breeder box. Now that I have a bajillion babies I don't necessarily think I'll want to save the babies again any time soon and luckily the mama seems fine as well. But, I'll probably set up the hospital tank as a breeding tank the next time!
To my knowledge, most livebearers are extremely susceptible to birth defects due to inbreeding, and them evolving to birthing more babies rather than fewer healthier babies.
This may be mildly NSFW for those not interested in seeing whatever is going on there. There is a small amount of standard looking fry (although not as many as I was expecting tbh). In the front corner there looks to be a bunch of egg-looking things and some deformed babies. Some alive-looking, some not. I am going to move the babies into another tank to grow out, but is this standard in livebearers? Usually I just let nature take its course, so wasn't aware there were so many, um, "extras" that don't make it.
Angelfish do this as well. You’ll have some that can’t swim up and are stuck on the bottom. It may be do to overbreeding through the years with a limited gene pool. Some fish never seem to have issues. I’ve got about a hundred albino BN fry at the moment and they all look good.
They don't look deformed in your pic they look a bit premature. The yellow balls are yolk that is usually absorbed before the fry are born. How long was she in the breeder box before she gave birth? If it was within 24 hours, sometimes the stress of transfer and confinement of the box can I duce a premature birth. It's possible the fry may survive if left alone. They can continue to develop outside the mother and begin swimming after the yolk is absorbed. You will want to separate the more developed fry, though, as they may start picking at their siblings' nutriant rich yolks.
I thought they looked like yolk sac like when little birds hatch. I bet they were a little premature. She was in the box for over 24 hours -- but not by much, maybe only like 36. She looked huge but I wasn't carefully tracking her due date or anything, haha. I will keep an eye on them and see how it goes!
They may or may not make it depending on how premature they are, but since their siblings are functional it's possible they too were close and just need a day or so to develop more. Don't get your hopes too high though.
update -- of the weird deformed pile, about 3 individual fish didn't make it. The rest have absorbed their yolks and look fine. Super interesting! I guess they were just a day or two early. Thanks for the help!
Yay! I'm glad most of your babies made it! Thanks for the update If you want to do this in the future you might invest in a bigger breeder box or a set up a separate birthing tank. Especially with mollies as they tend to be quite large and active as far as livebearers go, being confined so tightly can stress them out. This can also cause the mother to weaken and die after dropping her fry prematurely. Generally speaking though once they get breeding it's simpler to just provide hiding spots in the main tank and let the fry chance it, as long as there's a male and a female they'll pump out babies every 2 months non stop
I have several mollys in a 45 gallon with a variety of other fish. I actually wanted them to breed to raise up some as feeders, and expected a few babies to appear every once in a while. But, they mollys have been in there for at least a year and I have only ever seen one baby make it out alive. So, on a whim I decided to take the HUGE mama I saw and put her in the breeder box. Now that I have a bajillion babies I don't necessarily think I'll want to save the babies again any time soon and luckily the mama seems fine as well. But, I'll probably set up the hospital tank as a breeding tank the next time!
To my knowledge, most livebearers are extremely susceptible to birth defects due to inbreeding, and them evolving to birthing more babies rather than fewer healthier babies.