~Need a good Fry eater~

[peaches]

Hello,
I need a good hardy fish that would be a good fry population control for a bunch of Sailfin mollies who are reproducing like rabbits. I can't seperate males and females and even without a male the female mollies can retain fertilized eggs and continue having batches of 30 or more babies once every month for several more months. Take this times 7 females plus some extra females I have in another tank and I'm overrun. The female mollies in the second tank were just a mixed group of sailfin fry that I had raised up together, now I'm getting more fry in the "Fry" growout!

The bad thing is, I believe the original stock that I got my mollies from were wild caught nearby here. They were labeled "San Antonio River Mollies" and the bad part is, they are mostly dull colored. No bright oranges or striking markings that would make them sell well. I've taken some to my local fishshop but it's been months now and they still have the original ones I had brought in their tank..

So I can't just take these to the petstore, they don't sell. Poor things that nobody wants them. But I'm going to have a serious overpopulation problem and the only thing I can think of doing is to get several aggressive but small predatory fish in a seperate tank so i can slowly net out several of the mollies at a time to give to the "fry-population control fish"

I hate the idea of this, and I feel like it's cruel, But I don't know what else to do. Being miserably overcrowded in a tank is worse.


I basically have two questions here-

1.) What would be good fish to get that would be reliable snapper uppers of any small mollies or fry I put in the tank? {How about Convict cichlids?}
2.) With the 7 females and 1 Lyretail male sailfin in a 30gallon brackish tank, I would really need to find a brackish water fish that would control fry in that tank as well. Being the tank is brackish at 2 tablespoons of Instant Ocean marine salt per gallon I am extremely limited to my choices. I've thought of-
Golden Wonder killifish
American Flagfish (or is it florida flagfish?)
Needlefish (probably would take the s too....)
Australian rainbows?
But I worry my salinity and pH may be too high for the killfish and rainbows.
Any suggestions here?


In my eyes, these fish are very beautiful but to many people they just aren't popular because the females dont have the sailfins and my particular variety isn't colorful- Here's a picture of my male-

 

[straitjacketstar]

Too bad you don't live close by. I'd be more than happy to take fry off your hands.
It's a damn shame people can't appreciate nature. It's hard enough finding healthy mollies let alone the really nice naturally colored ones like yours.
I was able to find a nice wild-type male sailfin recently but I'm afraid the female a bought with him is of some cheesy color variety.
That male of yours is absolutely beautiful and exactly what I wish I could find locally.

By mentioning fry in your fry grow-out tank I take it your saving the fry you do find? If so, why not take the chance of letting them be in the tank? What fish are your females currently kept with?
For the brackish tank I would stick to smaller fish, since it is already quite overstocked with the mollies themselves. P. latipinna is a good sized fish at adult length and you may not be able to keep all of them in the 30 in the long-run.
A pair of knight gobies would do you well. They've got a voracious appetite on them, they're active, charming and cute to boot.

 

[peaches]

That male of yours is absolutely beautiful and exactly what I wish I could find locally.

Why, thank you! I really appreciate that! I didn't think anyone really cared for Mollies that much!

Too bad you don't live close by. I'd be more than happy to take fry off your hands.
It's a damn shame people can't appreciate nature. It's hard enough finding healthy mollies let alone the really nice naturally colored ones like yours.

It is strange that you don't see healthy mollies anywhere, and you rarely see Sailfins let alone the more common varieties such as the black molly. And what's worse is the little Sailfins I took the petshop there haven't sold of course. But i've been there in the past week to see how they are doing and they honestly just look terribble, not growing much, poor color, and they even look slightly emaciated. I've even considered buying the mollies back. But I can't since I'm already so overun. The 7 females I have in the 30gal brackish have just had a brood of about 25 or more little fry. I think they are lovely little fish, and getting to experience your fish having babies should be enjoyable and facinating.. But unfortunately I'm so overrun I am pretty much desperate.

By mentioning fry in your fry grow-out tank I take it your saving the fry you do find?

Well, what the 10gallon fry tank started as is last Summer I took a bunch of the young mollies that were in the main molly aquarium (30gal) and decided to just try to grow them out and then take them to the petstore. Well, it seems mollies grow slowly and now that I see they don't sell well. I'm at a loss. And it's the original fry that are now about an inch long who are having their own babies now!

What fish are your females currently kept with?
In the 30gallon brackish tank I have-
1 lovely big Dragon fish (Violet Goby)
2 Fiddler crabs (male and female pair)
8 Mollies (7 Females 1 Male)

Mr. Dragonfish definitely isn't a fry eater and can only eat tiny foods which he filters through his gills. And the fiddler crabs are too slow to catch any fish. The mollies allow their own fry to swim right past their faces and they don't even give a chase. They grow accostumed to the little fry being around and not even the male bothers with them.

P. latipinna is a good sized fish at length and you may not be able to keep all of them in the 30 in the long-run
Oh no!...

I happen to love the little Knight Gobies too! But I can't find them anywhere around here. I think I may ask my local fishshop if they might order some for me. Do you think a pair would be fine? I have a sand substrate, lots of rocks and caves, and a few plants as well as a powerhead and Cascade filtration in the 30gallon. I try to do up to 50% water changes at least once a week. Do you think Knight gobies would be suitable for this tank?

 

[straitjacketstar]

The only thing that worries me are the crabs. Although knights can zip around pretty fast when they want to I can imagine they can be easily cornered and pinched.

I had a 40gl brackish tank with a pair of O. chromides, a pair of knights, 5 BBG's, 5 mummichogs, 6 glassfish and for a short while a violet goby. The violet goby never did well and died. My fault for not buying a healthy specimen in the first place.
My chromides spawned often and were able to keep their fry alive for up to two weeks each time but with the gobies and mummichogs none ever made it alive for too long. The knights themselves would have been enough to eat off all the fry. They almost knew when it was about time for the fry feast. Whenever the chromides spawned the mummi's and knights got really anxious and would wait around the chromide's nest constantly trying to raid it.
Pretty funny. But even in this size tank I knew I'd have to upgrade because the mummichog's adult lenth was a max of about 6", same as sailfin mollies.

Eventually, you will have to upgrade. The violet goby alone will get pretty damn big if kept well enough. I think if you move the entire set-up to at least a 55gl tank you'd be ok. Personally I prefer 50 gallon tanks cause they have a bigger footprint than a 55.

 

[nomadofthehills]

That is one hell of a molly!

 

[sicxspeed]

very nice molly, i was thinking of getting these as opposed to cons for breeders to feed my fish, how hard are they to keep?

 

[sicxspeed]

oh yeah, I was gonna say, you can try a Pictus Catfish, they only get about 5-6 inches and are nice looking, plus at night, they will keep the tank clean of babies for you.

 

[peaches]

The only thing that worries me are the crabs. Although knights can zip around pretty fast when they want to I can imagine they can be easily cornered and pinched.

Possibly, but when I observed my Dragon fish (who is quite clumsy and rests on the bottom) the crabs (even the big clawed male) would tend to move away more so from approaching than try to stand a fight. If they feel like they are cornered or are protecting a piece of food they found they will "poke" at fish that get near them. But they are nowhere near aggressive, the damage is almost never seen and if the fish persist, the crabs will either abandon their meal or take it with them and scurry under a hiding place.

I had a 40gl brackish tank with a pair of O. chromides, a pair of knights, 5 BBG's, 5 mummichogs, 6 glassfish

I've never ever heard of Mummichogs! And I'm not sure the abbreviation for BBG's could you tell more about these fish?. You're very lucky to have gotten to keep such unusual and rarely available brackish water fish. I really like Orange Chromides too, but my petstore never stocks them...

I got very lucky with my Dragon fish. He is now about 6-7 inches long and very filled out and chubby. He has excellent fins and coloration too. I am very fortunate to have such a healthy fish compared to the ones in petstores which are extremely emaciated, beyond pencil thin, and what's worse is most petstores think these are vicious predators and they only give them feeder fish to eat while all the poor dragons starve.

In answer to sicxspeed

Sailfin mollies do best in a brackish aquarium though they can survive as freshwater. They grow large and need plenty of vegetable matter in their diet and frequent partial water changes because of their bioload and eating habits. They could be raised for feeders I guess. But you might want to stick to a small or more easier to care for fish like guppies for example or maybe even platies as feeders. Sailfins and just mollies in general tend to be more suceptible to illnesses than most other fish and they also do best at warm temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's.
~

I do have a 55gallon which could be cleared out for the Violet Goby. I am very attached to the little guy. He is so unusual and strange and I'm so proud to get him looking so good that I just couldn't give him away. Some day I'd also like to discover what are the triggers to spawning and how to raise Violet Gobies... That way they all wouldn't have to be wild caught and neglected in dealer's tanks.

{Oh yeah and the Pictus catfish idea is good, but remember this is a brackish-water aquarium and Pictus would not be able to stand the salt with their sensitive skin}

 

[X24]

if you want a fry killer, get a leaf fish or leopard ctenopoma. the cten is much prettier and can eat other things then live food, but usually you can only get them smaller.

the leaf fish can clear 2 dozen rosy reds in about 2-3 days, so i'm pretty sure i could more then control your fry population (just make sure you don't put it in with the mollies as these like actual fresh water, and you will notice all your mollies are gone in a while)

 

[killerfish]

leopard ctenopoma or charax would be the best choices if it were freshwater but i'm not sure how well they do in brackish thow
needlefish need a long tank mabye a goby of some kind