Sailfin Molly fry noob

[Hannya]

Well, much to my surprise when I was doing my weekly water change/fussing over my 40G 2 small fry came up to the edge of the glass and stared at me from beneath some fake floating ferns. After dropping the vacuum and checking the bucket to make sure I didn't nip any babies by accident I promptly began to panic.

I noticed a few weeks ago the female molly of the pair was much larger then usual and I thought she might be pregnant but I wasn't sure this is my first round with mollies (introduced into my tank about a month ago). Well I watched for any fry but never noticed any until yesterday.

Long story short, I pulled 2 small fry (1/4 to 1/2 in maybe? probably overshooting that) from the tank and put them in my 6G desktop with 3 small serpae tetras and some tall artificial grassy type plants. I was afraid they would be eaten if I left them in the big tank and I assume their siblings already had been. They seem happy and safe in the 6 for now. I keep checking the main for any more survivors but nothing so far.

I would like to try and raise these sweet things but no clue where to start or if I've done right so far. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Hara]

At this moment in time, I have roughly 250 baby sailfin mollies, from a total of 4 spawnings...be careful what you wish for!

I have acclimated both sets of my parents to saltwater so except for the first batch, the rest were all born in full salt. Other then that, there should be no difference in raising the fry. I would definitely keep them seperated. I took a mortar and pestle and ground up a spirulina based fish food for them and I feed them twice a day. I have sponge over the filter intakes and this works well to keep them from being sucked into the filter. You might want to check your filter for living babies...it happens quite easily and you may have some in there. Be sure to rinse this sponge every few days or your water flow will just bog down.

This is one of the threads with the story of my baby mollies..if you are interested.

 

[Zagz]

Congratulations. Feed the babies with finely crushed flakes and they should be fine. Feed small amounts a few times a day and keep an eye on the parameters with the extra feedings.

 

[Hannya]

Thanks so much guys. I tied some filter material around the intake as suggested (which also helped quiet the retardedly strong current in that little tank) and everyone seems to be doing very well. They are quite active and playful. I'm assuming I should keep them separated until they are at least big enough that the gouramis and mollies won't think them a snack.

 

[Hara]

Yes, that would be a good idea..here is a batch of mine.