MyFishkies

I started this in the Beginner section but then realized I might get more specialized advice here...

I moved, set up my tank and transferred my fish to it two days ago. Today I came home and my very pregnant Molly was now very thin, the fish were going nuts, and then I saw tiny tadpole looking things darting around. My first ever fry!

I caught 6 of them and I have them in a breeder net in the tank ( I left the Molly in the tank so she wouldn't get stressed). I figure I'll fish out the fry as I find them.

Questions:
1. Is she done or are there more to come? She's still doing the crazy swim up and down the glass...
2. What do I feed the fry?
3. What conditions do they need? I'm setting up a new tank for my soon-to-arrive cherry shrimp...should I transfer the fry, with maybe a couple of gallons of the existing tank water? How long can they stay in the breeder net?

Please help. These things are so darn cute I want to save as many as possible. They're fast little buggers too. Hope to catch a few more tonight.

matt6765

Congrats

Feed the fry crushed up flakes, brine shrimp, and/or fry food.
How big is your empty tank?

MyFishkies

I have a 5G that will be my shrimp tank and a 10G I wasn't planning on using yet.

Oops don't know how but my thread posted twice. Will delete the other

how long before the fry are no longer fish food for the other fish?

matt6765

When they are on to 1 inch to full grown

Marisseas

Mollies will breed around once a monthish. I've had mine reach 3/4 of an inch- maybe even a little less- and they've survived. After around 2-3 months of keeping them in the net I doubt they'll be eaten. They're quite easy to feed and with what Matt has suggested they should be fine. Though, they'll enjoy an algae wafer every now and then. If you do move them in the other tank, use all tank water or try to have it cycled before you do. You can add a bit of salt 1 teaspoon a gallon (I think) and that will help them health wise. Really, they should be okay without it.

omnitheforsaken

Congrats... I think. I have so many Molly Fry now that I don't know what to do with them. I can't even give them away.

Assuming you have Black Molly's as opposed to Sailfin Molly's: To answer your questions, I would say plan on more coming. My female mollies have continued giving birth months after having the males removed from the tank (just had some more this morning actually).

Invest in plants, preferrably real ones. They will seek shelter in plants such as Java Moss and also graze on them. This will provide comfort and food to your fry. I have long since stopped separating the fry from the adult fish and I've never seen them bothered by any of the other fish. I'm not suggesting that they wouldn't be, as I've read often that they are, I'm just saying that I haven't experienced that. Powdered flake food is also good as has been suggested. Just put some in a plastic bag and get it as fine as you can with your fingers then viola, instant fry food. Brine shrimp is extremely good for fry, even better if you manage to hatch your own and feed them within the first 24 hrs. Apparently brine shrimp have a yolk which contains a lot of nutritional value in them, but this yolk is gone after the first 24hrs of the brine shrimp life. I have a continous hatch-n-feeder and my fry just stay at the outlet of it picking off the brine shrimp as soon as they come out. I got mine from DrFosterSmith.com and it works pretty well but is hard to clean.

They will require the same water conditions as their parents. If you release them into a tank, make sure you have a sponge filter as I have found that they often get sucked into the filter during the night. Even after they looked to big to fit into the filter, I'd find some in there. The true answer to moving them to your main tank is "when they're too big to fit into the adult fish mouth." I would say if your net is in your main tank, watch the response that your other fish have to them. If they're constantly trying to get at them... then it's not safe for the fry yet. If they ignore them for the most part, then you might want to test the waters. Release 1 fry and see what happens. I wouldn't worry too much about the fry as they actually are pretty good at surviving on their own. I did this with my fry and my adult molly's did take an interest in the one I released into the tank, but as I said before, they never tried to eat it.

Congrats again. Hope I was able to help.