I was looking in my tank because my oldest platy, Dixie, has been bottom sitting for some time, and now he is hiding behind the filter. He has no symptoms, the other fish are fine, and I'm afraid he is going to go like Pixie did...with no apparent symptoms and no real reason that I can find.

While I was watching him, I suddenly noticed that I have 3 mollie babies! Star, one of my black mollies looked very fat, and I wondered if she was preggers. Lo and behold there are 3 itsy bitsy mollies swimming around the bottom and scarfing for food! There isn't any way to get them out of the tank without tearing the tank up totally. The other fish are just swimming around them and they don't seem to be bothered. I have a log and plants for them to hide in, but I haven't seen any fish take after them aggressively. Do you all think they will be okay in the community tank?

OMG...UPDATE!!!

Apparently Star wasn't finished!! She was kind of quivering in the corner by the shell house, and suddenly OUT CAME 3 MORE!!! I actually watched them come out!!

So now there are 6 and maybe 7 fry in the tank. Do I need to get them out? I don't have another tank to put them in, and I'm afraid they'll die if I take them out of the heated water.

This is an exciting first for me. I have had tropical fish that had live babies, but usually one day they weren't there and one day they were. This is the first fish birth I've witnessed!!!

You got to watch it?!?! That's very cool!

I had a molly that had fry a few years ago. I hoped for the best and left them in the tank and a few survived for weeks, but eventually none made it
If I were you'd I'd buy a little breeding basket to isolate them. Think you'd be able to suck them up with a turkey baster to get them in there?

They will probably die if you put them in unheated water. However you can use a breeders net, or let them fend for themselves. I have never seperated my livebearer fry and I still get lots that make it to adolescence. If there is heavy plant cover in one area of the tank, where the adults find it a bit harder to get in, the fry will usually find that and hide out. Or sometimes the adults leave them alone, you never know.

Oooh, how cool!! Livebearing fish, what will they think of next?

Can we get some pictures?

I know!!!!!

Right now they are so tiny I doubt I could get pics yet. I think I counted all of them this morning, though. I probably could get a breeding basket, but Star picked an unfortunate time to deliver since I have everything torn down in the room as I'm getting ready to paint. I was going to tear the tank down, but now I'll have to drain as much as I can out of it and move it. Fortunately the stand is on casters.

I don't want to disturb the tank any more than I have to, as Dixie is staying at the top behind the filter, and I think he's on his last days. Thats the thing about trops...I'll have them forever, and suddenly one of them will just start bottom sitting with no symptoms. Pixie did the same thing until the heater conked out and the stress did him in. Dixie's fins have been clamped for over a week now and he hasn't been himself. The water params are the same as they've always been. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates around 20, ph 7.8 and the temps stay around 76-79. All the other fish appear to be fine but they hang around Dixie at the top sometimes as if asking him if he's ok. I don't have another heater or a qt tank for him, and I think the stress of moving him would be detrimental. He has been eating, but I can't tell if he is now or not although I purposely drop some food by him.

As far as the fry, I'll just leave the lights turned off as much as possible for awhile to give them more hiding room and hope for the best.

What's the substrate in your tank? When I had fry they were able to hide amoung the large river rocks

Its gravel in the tropical tank Chrissy, but I also have plants, a ceramic mushroom house, and an artificial hollow log in there, so they should have plenty of places to hide out.

Yes I think they'll be able to hide until they're bigger, and by then you'll probably be able to catch them
If you feel worried you could always pop a few more hidey places in there.

I used to have guppies and they gave me, at one point, fry every month or so, and they never survived if I didn't put them in the breeder net, same thing with my cichlids, but my cichlids constantly bred and were mouth brooders, I guess with mine, they both eat their young so it's to be expected. If you really want to keep the fry, get a net, but if you don't you probably don't have to worry because once live breeders give fry, they'll probably do it again, soon you won't know what to do with your fry Then again, I could be wrong.

How exciting!!! That's so cool to have fry, I've been waiting forever myself. Sounds like the net would be best but if you can't, well, chances are they'll do ok if they have so far already. Sorry to hear about your platies--I know what you mean. They'll be fine and then just act "off" and that's it. I like them though so I always get another one!

Vickie this is soo exciting.. I don't know how but I missed this thread when it was new! I actually was seaching back through your posts looking for one in particular and while browsing throught I found this. That's so fun, I hope some of them make it!!! YAY!

I would get a fry net (i like the mesh better then the plastic myself) and put them in there