Bayou Mollies

[Mzungu]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Oh wow, greatness! I'm not going to expect something that great to happen, but you've convinced me to go ahead and move her to the 2.5. I'll do that this afternoon, and that way I can up the amount of salt in her water slowly, and not have her picked on by the hungry/exciteable males.    Maybe I'll even invest in some pimafix/melafix eventually...see what happens.

[SCOTT]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Missing gil plates is actually pretty common in domestic stock. Mostly it is attributed to overcrowding and water polutants. I'm not sure exactly why the gil plates would be suceptable to overcrowding, but it is a form of dwarfism that manifests itself, along with another common form which is stunted or no tail development, again, pretty common in domestic stock.

[Mzungu]

Re: Bayou Mollies

By "domestic stock," do you mean hatcheries and fisheries and such?

[SCOTT]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Domestic stock in general is any non wild caught,tank raised fish which is commonly bred without the introduction of wild caught species to strengthen the strain. Good examples would be the convict, yellow lab, green terror, and jack dempsey. These fish are easily spawned in captivity, along with many others of course, and as such it is infrequent to see wild caught stock. Most stock purchased is farm raised, often in highly overcrowded situations, leading to the deffects listed earlier. That's not to say that farm raised is worse than wild caught, in fact, in some ways farm raised is actually better than wild. It is just a known effect, overcrowding causes dwarfism. I am sure in the case of your molly this isn't the case. I am just pointing out that these mutations arent as uncommon as you might think.

[Mzungu]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Okay. Thanks.

Sigh...I moved the female to the 2.5 the other night. She doesn't seem to be taking it very well! For the majority of the time she's been swimming back and forth in one area on the right side of the tank, her nose pressed up against the glass. I guess she can see into the other tank? The tank with the other mollies is right next to hers on the right. I know she's a fish, but it's almost like she has separation anxiety...! The only time she stops this persistant activity is when I feed her, or when she sees a snail drop to the bottom of the tank and thinks I'm feeding her. Then she promptly resumes swimming against the glass.

I felt a little bad for her, thinking that being alone was maybe stressing her out...But then this morning I noticed that she's been rubbing her nose/mouth on the glass so much that she's developed a sore spot. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a good look at it, as she was still swimming right up on the glass, but tried to pry her away with food, which worked for a minute or so (they're pellets! I thought she would be interested longer), then right back to the side of the tank.

I guess I'm asking whether or not I should move her back with the others? There's one male in the tank that seems to be the boss, and he picks on everyone, but maybe it's the better solution between the two? And by the way, the fungus stuff on her gills hasn't gotten any worse, it's actually cleared up quite a bit. Then again, I can't see it very well as she is up against the side of the tank all the time, and I can only see her right side... :(

Thanks for all the replies, everyone!

[Ellen]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Can you put a piece of paper between her and the others? Maybe if she can't see them, she won't be as anxious?

Ellen

[daisymac]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Can you move her somewhere else, so she can't see the other tank? Or maybe try draping a cloth to block the view. I really have no idea what to tell you, but you have good instincts, so if you think that is the problem, go with it. Could you put one of the more docile males in there with her?

I hope she calms down, for your sake!

[szidlon]

Re: Bayou Mollies

I'd also try blocking the view and possibly adding another of her "Bayou Buddies".  Does she have plenty of cover, have you tried leaving the light off?

[Mzungu]

Re: Bayou Mollies

DUH! I never even THOUGHT of putting some kind of partition in between the two tanks! I am going to try that, thanks all!!

I think I'll do that first, and if she doesn't calm down, I'll add one of the smaller ones in there. And szidlon, yes, lol, I have tried keeping the lights off in her tank, but I think that just lets her see the others better! And she has lots of cover, I threw in a handful of anacharis when I first put her in there. Thanks again!

[szidlon]

Re: Bayou Mollies

This may sound crazy, but I think the move to a smaller tank confuses them.  The ability to see further than they can go but be restricted by the tank side may be a bit much for them to understand.  My second crazy thought it they can see their reflection in the glass and therefore think there is more space to swim in addition to seeing what they think is another fish.  Kinda like my foster dog barking at his reflection in the mirror.

[trademan]

Re: Bayou Mollies

I have had great luck with body/fin injuries, fungus and ulcers using Melafix, it's all natural and is based on melaleuca. definately won't put your mollies at risk either. Good luck.

[Mzungu]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Thanks. But I don't know if I should do anything now, as the fungus has cleared up and unfortunately I don't think the operculum is coming back.  :(

But, some good/weird news! I was checking her out last night, about to do a water change, and she apparently had babies! I counted nine so far, but they're still so small, as I would guess they were born yesterday morning. Strange, she didn't even look pregnant! I was pretty excited, I hope they do well. And I guess in a few weeks or so I'll be able to tell whether or not her "deformity" runs in the family, so to speak.

I'm still stuck on what to do with her, though. But I did put some construction paper between the two tanks, and she seems much less stressed and moves around all over the tank now. I guess I'm worried about the implications of the missing operculum, whether it's going to eventually get worse and make her life miserable. But, at least I know her reproductive system works!!  

[guppymax]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Life is very persistent. We animals can take a lot and still enjoy life. When I was hobbling around  in a hospital with a broken arm and a broken leg a few years back one of the nurses gave me a worried look. I told her you can have a lot of fun with just one roller scate if you have just one roller skate. She had a  worderful smile. I hope the missing operculum is not hereditary. I would not worry about it too much. Keep us posted. The scientific research is great!

max

[Ellen]

Re: Bayou Mollies

Its been almost a week since your last update. How's she doing? How are the babies doing? I hope they're all doing well!  

Ellen

[Mzungu]

Re: Bayou Mollies

:shy:  Thanks for the encouragement to keep updating!

She's doing great. I've been trying to get a definitive count on the number of babies...the largest count is 13. Average is about 11. They're still pretty tiny! But I've mixed up a combo of fry foods, which they love. Still no operculum, but no problems that I can see, either.

The 7 others in the other tank are doing well, also. There's one male in there who seems to be the boss of everyone, and as he grows up he's starting to get some color. He should be very pretty, ahem, handsome! They are fed twice a day with some spirulina pellets and/or flakes, about 1 pellet per fish, and he always wants to claim each one. He'll be nibbling on one of them, see another fish nibbling on another, and dart over there to save "his" pellet. He's getting to be quite aggressive!

At FOTAS, Rusty Wessel was talking about the montezuma (sp?) swordtails, and how there are 3 different types of males, one being the "alpha" and the others not developing as long a sword. Seems to be the norm, at least in my experience, with wild caught livebearers (mollies in particular). The first batch of sailfins I had, about two years ago (one still alive) consisted of 2 males and 2 females. The big male with the big sailfin died, and over the course of just a couple days the smaller male seemed to hit "fish puberty," or something, and quickly developed a large dorsal fin and the colors of a full grown male. Now that I think about it, he might have started the transformation just before the other male died, but I can't quite remember. And as these guys from the bayou are getting bigger, this one male seems to be the only one turning into that classic male sailfin.

Sorry for the long-winded update! But I'm interested to see what will happen with this group, and how their (apparent?) social structures evolve. If anything, they're fun to watch!