# First time with Molly fry



## gat896 (May 28, 2011)

Wow it has been a while since I have been on here!

Anyways, my 28 gallon now has three mollies (1 male, 2 female [one of the females is a balloon molly]) and 3 zebra danios (2 of them are glofish and they are both females, and then the other is a regular zebra danio and is a male).

When I bought the second female molly it was pregnant. It had some babies early yesterday morning. When I woke up and found them, I took some of the gravel out of the 28 and put it in a little 1 gallon tank I have. I took a small fake plant out as well and put it in there. I managed to get 8 molly fry in there, and somehow a little danio as well as some kind of algae eater which is very small. I did have a pleco in there at one time but it died months ago. 

So this 1 gallon tank, it doesn't have a filter or heater. The light on it keeps it warm enough, but I almost worry it might get too warm. I have an air stone in there just below the surface of the water. 

What should I do? I am feeding them regular flake food that I crushed into almost a powder. How often should I feed them? Should I feed them something else? Should I buy a bigger tank (one with a filter, obviously not one that would suck them up, but maybe a little under gravel, or a sponge)? What do I need to do?

When I first put them in there they were pretty active, but they only swim around a little now. I really don't know how I would do water changes because it is so small. But if I got a tank now with a filter, it would still have to be cycled... anyways I need all the tips I can get...


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## gat896 (May 28, 2011)

Anyone? Now I remember why I stopped getting on this forum...


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## GuppyNGoldfish (Mar 28, 2011)

You can put some plastic netting around the filter intake so the fry wont get sucked up. I would put them back in the main tank after you get the netting. I found netting at Home Depot, Ace, and even Walmart. Feed the fry crushed up flake food or brine shrimp. Its very easy to get eggs and hatch the shrimp. Only takes about 1 day for the eggs to hatch. Just make sure you have plenty of plants/hiding places for the fry. My mollies don't bother any of their fry. I haven't seen a molly fry get eaten yet. I also have platy fry in the tank too and they don't get bothered either. You can also buy a breeder net (I got a net type at Pets Supplies Plus for $5) which is about 5 inches tall by 3 inches wide and 8 inches long. Plenty of space for fry to swim around in for about 3-4 weeks til they are big enough where they definitely won't get eaten. If you buy a breeder net you won't need the netting on the filter intake and you won't have to worry about them getting eaten for sure. Plus since its a net, water will flow thru the net and you won't have to worry about sucking up the fry when doing water changes. Its also easier to feed the fry since they are all in one place. If you need anymore help just PM me, I check my email all the time.


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## cab3 (Nov 30, 2010)

We've had tons of baby molly fry, probably well over 300 since we brought home our first three about a year and a half ago. Whenever they give birth, we use a fish breeder in our normal tanks. I picked up two of these at PetsMart. They float in the top of the larger tanks, letting you keep the filter and heat adjusted accordingly. Anytime I needed to clean the tank, the breeder just floats down with the level of the water, so no big deal when cleaning either. 

For feeding, I've always just used flake food in near powder form. I start with a very small amount and if they eat it all, I'll add a bit more. I found that the normal flow in the larger tanks wouldn't let extra food build up, so I'd end up feeding the fry on the same schedule as the large fish. As for the comment about not observing mollies going after their young, I can disagree on that one. I've found more than a few that end up eaten (or partially so) by the other mollies in the tank, so I scoop them into the breeder just as soon as I can. The baby fry are amazingly easy to catch, I've found.


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## cab3 (Nov 30, 2010)

gat896 said:


> Anyone? Now I remember why I stopped getting on this forum...


By the way, some of us read the digest versions, so expecting a complete, detailed answer before the next digest comes out may be expecting a bit much, not to mention wanting a reply in under an hour.


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