Tropical Aquarium Help - Little babies!
 

We've had our start kit acquarium for about 2 months now. The fish are livebearers and mainly mollies (molleys?). Anyhow we spotted a couple of baby fish today which was a total surprise. The little critters are hiding under a lump of wood but when they pop out they look pretty lively.

Anyhow a few questions

1) Should I feed them anything different. We been putting flake food in the aquarium for the last 2 months. They must be eating something as one of the little'uns has a poop trail as long as its body! :)

2) The aquarium water needs changing (ie, at least 1 qtr of the tank) as it's past due. Should I just leave it a while? I checked the water and everything is perfect (Nitrates, ph, etc)

3) Is it OK to still clean the algae away still as it's growing!

Regards
James

get an algae eater


as for the babies the flake food can be fine but grind some as thin as poss or will be to bigger flakes for them to eat

unfortunately it's quite likely that the babies will get eaten. to stand much more than an even chance of seeing adolesence, they need to be put into a nusery tank. i seem to remember you can get ones that sit inside the main tank. (sort of like a net)

My fish have had babies only found a couple to start with then found 13 of them ... i brought a breeding net £3.99 from my local aquatics and keep the babys in there until they are a bit bigger. I feed them liquifry 2 which is a liquid food and feed them 4 times a day as advised by aquatics. they have been in there just over a week and I will be releasing them back into the tank this friday as they are now a similar size as my baby neons who have survived almost 2 weeks ;)
As for algae i have 2 algae eaters and a plec which keeps mine to a minimum but remember if you buy algae eaters or a plec they need to be fed on algae wafers aswell as what they clean off the Tank :D
Good luck and prepare for more babys ;)

Becareful as the babies do have a tendancy to wriggle their way out of breeding nets etc.....


Jane x

Not mine they dont :eek: mine is a very fine net over a plastic frame which then hooks over the side of the tank :)
Good luck

What Algae Eater should I get? I have a 60 lite tank - so something small would be best.

i just got 2 small ones from the local aquatics i dunno if they have a special name or not. Brought 2 of them and they have grown quite a bit. however i believe that fish will only grow the size of the tank and i was informed that algae eaters only reach 3 inches in length and will stop growing so they should still be fine in there. :)

if anyones interested i have a spare tank for sale

2ft wide, about 15" tall, its got lights built into the top with a timer, and a pump heater built into the side unit thats easily removed for cleaning



great starter tank, over 100 quid new 25 quid buys it

Bristlenose Ancistrus is your best bet for algae,they will only grow to 5". Common Plecs and Gibbiceps will grow upto 18" - 24" and they are not resticted by tank size.

Give the babies a good chance by adding some dense plants - they'll hide out in there as the big fish can't get in.

apples24 - YHPM

never received one m8?