Last week, I acquired a 20 gallon tank for my fish. I had 3 adult platys with 2 babies, and 2 adult black mollys with 3 babies. The black molly actually gave birth first, followed by the red platy a week later. I moved the fish to a bigger tank because I could see the 5 gallon tank they were in will be too crowded for the adults and the surviving babies.
A few days ago, the red platy gave birth again, beating the black molly this time. She had a whole bunch of infant fish. They have not developed colour yet so they flit about the tank like little white specks. I counted at least 12. Strangely, the adult fish are not eating them. I wonder how many would survive and what to do with them.
Last night, the black molly gave birth too. I see 6 this morning. They are big at birth. They look about 2 weeks old, almost as big as the baby red platys from the last birth. They must have been born late so they got big in the mother fish.
It is definitely a crowded tank now.
The stupid fish will be giving birth every month or so. Already, the crazy male platys are chasing the female around to impregnate her again. Why did I get livebearers? What am I going to do with all the fish? What do other people do with them? Drown them? Flush them down the toilet? Fry up the fry?
Who wants fish?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You should ask at a fish store how many fish can fit into a 20 gallon tank. You'd be surprised. You're anthropomorphosizing and projecting onto the fish, they don't need alot of extrapersonal space.
Maybe when the males start to get crowded out by their young, when they see the effects of their mating, they'll lose their libido. Or maybe I'm anthropomorphosizing and projecting.
My acquarium kit says about 1 gallon for an inch of fish.
Maybe I should train the males to be celebate Buddists. I think you need some first hand experience with livebearers to know what they're like. I'll bring some over.
Post a Comment