# One smart, quick little guy left



## RebelAngel (Aug 24, 2011)

Well, last week my lyretail mollie dropped about 30 fry. It was so cool watching all the little guys swim around. I kept a pretty good watch to see if mama would start to chase. I have bred mollies before and never had any cannibalism troubles.

Yeah, she was just waiting until I wasn't around. I woke up a few days ago to a tank of one, overfed adult molly.*frown

Until yesterday. Yesterday my daughter's attention was attracted by the molly swimming around like crazy. "Hey! There is still a fry in there! She's after him!"

We got her netted then tried to get him. The little bugger was a pain. Near as I can tell he had camped out above the outflow rod of the filter, where he could get food and mommy dearest couldn't get to him. When I tried moving the rod to net him, he would swim along with it, staying in the "safe area"

I have him in the QT now. Next time she drops I am going to separate asap. Maybe I should test any other fish I get to breed with this one little guy and breed for smarts rather than looks, LOL.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Are you sure your filter didn't suck some up? What worked best for me was letting the mother do her thing in a breeder net and then removing her and letting the fry stay in the net for about 2wks. Usually at that point they are big enough to not be eaten, Be careful what you wish for though. If all fry live, it doesn't take too long to have a population problem.


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## RebelAngel (Aug 24, 2011)

They didn't seem to have any trouble with the filter intake, so I didn't worry about that. Still, no reason not to crack the filstar open and have a look. Thanks


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